February 20, 2008
New book on road trips and American culture coming out
I link to this article hesitantly because I fear the comments that may follow but I do think this book is likely to be worth reading: Are We There Yet? The Golden Age of American Family Vacations by Susan Rugh. Apparently part of the book is dedicated to how difficult it was for black Americans to experience the freedom of the open road.
Coming out in May, the book's press release notes say: "Rugh's study recounts how postwar prosperity and mass consumption - abetted by paid vacation leave, car ownership, and the new interstate highway system - forged the ritual of the family road trip and how that ritual became entwined with what it meant to be an American."
I think road trips are a pretty American experience. I don't think they are nearly as big a part of the culture in most European or Asian countries for example.
By the way, if anyone knows of an article or TV episode or documentary that talks about the importance of road trips in American culture, please leave a comment here because I'm teaching a course on US culture and would like to consider including this as a topic in my class.
And of course there are some related blog entries:
California road trip
Baseball road trip
Elizabethtown
With kids
LA to San Francisco
Memphis to Portland
Jamaica
Baseball (out of date but a good example for a more current plan)
Give me a break. In the 50's my family never took vacations either...they couldn't afford them. My dad worked on the railroad in the summer and my mother and sister and I followed him along the trail in our care in order to spend time with him. We slept in our car too. Do you feel sorry for me? Maybe we should have Congressional hearings on my story?
Posted by: travelfan at February 21, 2008 9:01 PMYour students might enjoy this video, driving vacations through the ages, which gives an entertaining overview of driving vacations from the early 1900's thru the 1990's. Just google MSNBC driving vacations.
Posted by: Sharon at February 22, 2008 3:00 PMMaybe Ms. Rugh's next book can be: Are We Dead Yet? The Golden Age of Family Travel in Darfur. Then she could follow that with: A Slave's Guide to the Sudan:Places You Can't See Becauses You're Not Free. Rather that celebrate how ALL people in our country have overcome injustices and have more liberty, opportunity, and quality of life than any place on earth, I'm sure focusing on what used to be is much more "worthy" than what is.
Posted by: RJ at February 23, 2008 4:01 AM