Road Sides: An Illustrated Companion to Dining and Driving in the American South

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Road Sides: An Illustrated Companion to Dining and Driving in the American South
By Emily Wallace
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019
Hardcover, 188 pages. $24.95

Reviewed by Ralph S. Wilcox

Emily Wallace’s book, Road Sides: An Illustrated Companion to Dining and Driving in the American South, is a delightful exploration of a wide variety of Southern institutions and phenomena related to the roadside. Liberally illustrated with Wallace’s own sketches, the book is an easy read, but chock full of interesting stories about many things Southern.

Described as “an illustrated glovebox essential,” Wallace notes that “There are hot dogs and hot sauces herein. But this is not a guide to singular Southern foods or where to find them at their very best. Rather, this is a handbook that examines some of the ways we’ve gotten where we’re going: the signs that bait, the burgers that sate, the maps that guide, and the mixtapes that score the ride. As they do on the road, chains appear in these pages … but there are also detours to spots out yonder and beelines to specific destinations—oftentimes a road trip’s reason for being.”

Pennsylvania in Public Memory: Reclaiming the Industrial Past

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Pennsylvania in Public Memory: Reclaiming the Industrial Past
By Carolyn Kitch
University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012
260 pages, $23.99, Paperback

Reviewed by Harold Aurand Jr.

Our Statement of Purpose appears inside the front cover of every issue of the SCA Journal: “The purpose of the society is to recognize the unique historical significance of the twentieth-century commercial built environment and cultural landscapes of North America.” That means we focus on stores, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, tourist attractions, and their advertisements and ephemera.

American Autopia: An Intellectual History of the American Roadside at Midcentury

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American Autopia: An Intellectual History of the American Roadside at Midcentury
By Gabrielle Esperdy

Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019
384 pages, Cloth, $49.50

Reviewed by Ralph S. Wilcox

The introduction of the automobile into American life in the early 20th century brought a myriad of changes to the landscape. American auto travelers required new types of facilities that weren’t needed with wagon and railroad travel. Gas stations, service garages, motels, and tourist courts sprouted up along the highways of the U.S. like plantings in flower beds along a sidewalk. The book American Autopia: An Intellectual History of the American Roadside at Midcentury examines how the development of the automobile changed the American landscape, and how the changes appeared to contemporary sources.