NOTE: Book reviews featured here are “reprints” from the SCA Journal, both recently published and from our archives. Not all titles may still be in print, or if in print, offered at the price or in the format listed.
Signs of the Signs: The Literary Lights of Incandescence and Neon
Signs of the Signs: The Literary Lights of Incandescence and NeonBy William Brevda
Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 2011
Hardcover, 405 pages, $129
Reviewed by Paul Sherman
Brevda’s book is primarily a compilation of journal articles that the Central Michigan University English professor (now emeritus) wrote in the 1990s and 2000s, supplemented with a few more recent chapters. F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, William Faulkner, Raymond Chandler, Nelson Algren, and Jack Kerouac are among the authors Brevda tackles.
Lakefront Anonymous, Chicago’s Unknown Art Gallery
Lakefront Anonymous, Chicago’s Unknown Art GalleryBy William Swislow (text and photographs) and Aron Packer (photographs)
Chicago: Interestingideas.com, 2021
Softcover, 160 pages, $40
Reviewed by Joseph Marlin
Who would have thought there would be a book about graffiti and vernacular stone carvings on Chicago’s lakefront? Not I, and I live here! But William Swislow, an SCA board member, has spent three decades photographing and documenting these works typically created by untrained, anonymous carvers.
Neon: A Light History
Neon: A Light HistoryBy Dydia DeLyser and Paul Greenstein
San Francisco: Giant Orange Press, 2021
Softcover, 88 pages, $25
Reviewed by Douglas C. Towne
There’s a new book on neon signs that excels at, in the authors’ words, bringing “the light of the past into the present.” The cleverly titled Neon: A Light History beautifully and meticulously illuminates the evolution of this electrifying advertising medium. But that’s only the start. The text goes a step further and connects neon signs with the larger economic and societal forces that impacted them, placing them in the crux of American history.
Two Up and a Bag of Chips! George’s Coney Island
Two Up and a Bag of Chips! George’s Coney Island: Serving the Worcester Community for Over 100 Years By Kathryn Tsandikos with Holly Robinson
Cambridge, Mass.: TidePool Press, 2021
Softcover, 144 pages, $30
Reviewed by Harold Aurand Jr.
I’ve never been to Worcester, Massachusetts, and so, of course, I’ve never eaten at George’s Coney Island either. As soon as I saw this book, though, I knew I needed to have it in my collection. I have other books on restaurants, but usually, they’re about certain types, like diners, steakhouses, or chains. Books on just one restaurant are rarer, or maybe they’re published and marketed locally and harder to find.
The American Roadside in Émigré Literature, Film, and Photography 1955-1985
The American Roadside in Émigré Literature, Film, and Photography 1955-1985By Elsa Court
Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020
193 pp., hardcover, $84.99
Reviewed by Paul Sherman
Ever since Alexis de Tocqueville roamed the fledgling United States and wrote Democracy in America, the idea that the fresh eyes and ears of a foreign intellectual can provide insights that natives might miss has become something of a trope.
Highway 101: The History of El Camino Real
Highway 101: The History of El Camino Real By Stephen H. Provost
Fresno, Calif.: Craven Street Books, 2020
170 B & W and 33 Color images
248 pp., paperback, $20.95
Reviewed by Barbara Gossett
Stephen Provost has once again documented the course of a wonderful road trip while providing detailed and entertaining commentary about the history, geography, and (of course) commercial archeology of U.S. Highway 101.
Road Sides: An Illustrated Companion to Dining and Driving in the American South
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
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.
