Jakle, John A. Motoring (0820334154)
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.'