Motoring

This is a 2008 choice outstanding academic title. It covers the myth of the open road and the reality of the American driving experience. ""Motoring"" unmasks the forces that shape the American driving experience - commercial, aesthetic, cultural, mechanical - as it takes a timely look back at our historically unconditional love of motor travel. Focusing on recreational travel between 1900 and 1960, John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle cover dozens of topics related to drivers, cars, and highways and explain how they all converge to uphold that illusory notion of release and rejuvenation we call the 'open road.'

A comprehensive panorama of the American highway from the first auto tourists to recent road rage. In between is a bit of business history, a pinch of psychology, a dose of technology, and a full account of the architectural forms that created the current freeway suburbia. Motoring should serve as a guidebook to the history of the open road in American culture, wonderfully illustrated with authentic photos and advertisements.--Arthur Krim "author of Route 66: Iconography of the American Highway ", A fascinating trip from the first auto tourists to road rage. . . . Solid scholarship and engaging storytelling combine to make this a book as important as it is interesting.--Dan Danbom "Time Out for Entertainment ", Highly recommended . . . The authors provide fascinating information about automobiles and American history and culture in an attractive, approachable volume that can serve as both a scholarly resource and pleasurable reading.--C. J. Myers "Choice ", In their sixth collaboration, John Jakle and Keith Sculle offer a wide-ranging and readable synthesis of 'motoring' in the United States. . . . As in their earlier works the authors deftly unpack the many symbols and themes that allowed 'the fantasy of the open road [to take] on a life of its own'. . . . Their book aids both scholars and general enthusiasts in defining and then addressing . . . important yet volatile civic values.--David Blanke "Journal of Illinois History ", Jakle and Sculle, the deans of the American roadside, shift their focus from the flanks of the highway to the driver's seat. Motoring transports the reader through the rough roads of early automobiling to the superhighways of today. It is an exquisite and informative journey.--Craig E. Colten "author of An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans from Nature "

John A. Jakle (left) is an emeritus professor of geography and landscape architecture at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Keith A. Sculle (right) is the head of research and education at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.