From Publishers Weekly
Route 66 was, from the 1920s to the 1970s, the principal highway from Chicago to Los Angeles, until it was displaced by interstate highways. As this splendid contribution to American popular history shows, it played a significant role in our national development. Witzel (The American Gas Station) profiles many kinds of travelers, from carefree vacationers to weary Okies headed for what they hoped was a better life. He covers four principal subjects: attractions along the road (from phony totem poles to snake pits), filling stations, roadside eateries and motor hotels. While his text is very good, it is carried by 200 photos, more than half in color, which pay tribute to the twin gods Schlock and Kitsch. Readers will also pick up much Americana along the way, including the origins of corn dogs, carhops, chicken in the rough and house trailers. A minor defect is the absence of a capsule history of the highway, telling exactly when it began and ended, and, above all, a map. Even so, Witzel has produced a gem of nostalgia.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Vette Magazine, October 1996
Author Michael Karl Witzel is a very enthusiastic historian of America's car culture and roadside phenomena, and it shows. His writing style is easy and thoroughly enjoyable to read, and the book's layout and design are first-rate and very creative. The book closes with a chapter titled "Mother Road Memories": life on the road. Here you'll read personal stories of the Route 66 experience from others, and see their family photographs. Simply fascinating.
--Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
