Utopia on Wheels is a readable, interesting, and accessible introduction to contemporary social issues and theories. Through an exploration of the Green Tortoise, a San Francisco travel company that is dedicated to counter-culture adventures, McGettigan uses three separate journeys as a means to examine the relationship between self and society. In this manner, he provides an entry-point for mass audiences to consider important sociological issues including the nature of social power, the problem of social order, and the ways in which individuals may produce change in a global society.