Route 66 : Iconography of the American Highway

route 66 : iconography of the american highway

Route 66 : Iconography of the American Highway

Editorial Reviews
Review
John Jakle :

"Route 66 is a scholarly tour de force. No other book comes close to establishing just what the road's 'roots' really are. It should stand for years as the definitive voice regarding Route 66 and its physical and social origins."-John A. Jakle, coauthor of The Gas Station in America and Lots of Parking: Land Use in a Car Culture

Brock Yates Wall Street Journal :

"The road is gone, but it will hardly be forgotten -- thanks, in part, to the author's labors. Since Mr. Krim delves into the historical at the expense of the breezy, some casual readers may find the amount of detail daunting, but others will be grateful for it. And the book will almost certainly be embraced by another group: future historians who seek a single-volume chronicle of the most famous stretch of highway in the U.S."--Wall Street Journal

Book Description
Route 66 was the iconic highway of twentieth-century America, stretching from Chicago and Chicago and the Mississippi River basin to Los Angeles and the Pacific coast, and it connected Americans not only physically but also culturally as an enduring symbol found in classic songs, films, television, and pop art. Arthur Krim explores here the fascinating and complex symbolism behind the famous roadway in this vibrantly illustrated and innovative study.

Route 66 traces the iconography of U.S. Highway 66 first as an idea, then as a fact, and finally as a symbol in American culture. Krim chronicles the history of Route 66 as part of a larger plan to conquer and settle the Native American lands of the Great Plains and Southwest. While the antecedents of Route 66 are to be found in the wagon trails and railroad routes of the nineteenth century, the construction of Route 66 in the twentieth century ushered in the revolutionary era of the modern highway and automobile travel.

Krim looks at how the highway transcended its gravel and concrete physicality to become a metaphor for the American spirit of exploration and democratic freedom. He draws on a wealth of examples to examine how Route 66 evolved through each generation, from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath to Bobby Troup's carefree "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" to the anger and alienation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Combining history and metaphor, literature and images, Krim explores how Route 66 compressed disparate events and cultural ideas into the treasured national memory that the road is now.

Route 66: Iconography of the American Highway,Arthur Krim,Denis Wood,Center for American Places,193006635X,Travel,Travel - United States,United States - General,Travel & holiday guides,Travel / United States / General,USA

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