The use of cars and trucks over the past century has remade American geography—pushing big cities ever outward toward suburbanization, spurring the growth of some small towns while hastening the decline of others, and spawning a new kind of commercial landscape marked by gas stations, drive-in restaurants, motels, tourist attractions, and countless other retail entities that express our national love affair with the open road. By its very nature, this landscape is ever changing, indeed ephemeral. What is new quickly becomes old and is soon forgotten. In this absorbing book, John Jakle and Keith Sculle ponder how “Roadside America” might be remembered, especially since so little physical evidence of its earliest years survives. In straightforward and lively prose, supplemented by copious illustrations—historic and modern photographs, advertising postcards, cartoons, roadmaps—they survey the ways in which automobility has transformed life in the United States. Asking how we might best commemorate and preserve this part of our past—which has been so vital economically and politically, so significant to the cultural aspirations of ordinary Americans, yet so often ignored by scholars who dismiss it as kitsch—they propose the development of an actual outdoor museum that would treat seriously the themes of our roadside history. Certainly, museums have been created for frontier pioneering, the rise of commercial agriculture, and the coming of water- and steam-powered industrialization and transportation, especially the railroad. Is now not the time, the authors ask, for a museum forcefully exploring the automobile’s emergence and the changes it has brought to place and landscape? Such a museum need not deny the nostalgic appeal of roadsides past, but if done properly, it could also tell us much about what the authors describe as “the most important kind of place yet devised in the American experience.” John A. Jakle is Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Keith A. Sculle is the former head of research and education at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. They have coauthored such books as America’s Main Street Hotels: Transiency and Community in the Early Automobile Age; Motoring: The Highway Experience in America; Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age; and The Gas Station in America.

130 Harnessing and Driving Two-wheeled Carriages by Tom Ryder 136 The Splendor of History by Ken Wheeling 141 Sounds of the Road by Colin Pauison 145 The Dating of Carriages, part 4 by Christopher Nicholson 151 Those Bright, Shiny Horse Brasses by Carol Brown Departments 156 Memories, Mostly Horsy 160 Collectors' Corner> Hat Boxes 161 From the CMA Library 164 The Bookshelf [reviews} 165 CAA Bookstore 191 Your Letters 192 The View from the Box {by Tom Burgess}

Hit the open road for fun and wackiness as the Butkos visit offbeat attractions from coast to coast--dinosaur parks, miniature golf courses, populuxe motels, vintage amusement arcades, classic diners illuminated in neon, and even the world's largest ball of twine. More than fifty fellow authors and artists offer stories about their favorite attractions or recall memorable trips. Visitor information is included to help plan quick visits or an entire road trip.

Over the past two decades, Brian Phelps and his family have been busy making countless memories while traveling to national parks and monuments. With the intent of helping other families plan and enjoy their own best trip ever, Phelps shares a travelogue that highlights six of his familys great adventures and unique trip itineraries from 2006 to 2014. Phelpsan avid traveler since childhoodbegins by chronicling a 2006 trip to Yellowstone National Park that includes proper planning steps, travel costs, and vivid details of an unforgettable adventure that took the Phelps family from South Dakota to northwestern Wyoming and beyond. As Phelps leads travel aficionados through the where, when, how, and what just happened of his travels through America, he details five additional vacations that include the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park, Acadia National Park, Olympic and Glacier National Parks, Yosemite, Zion, and the lost Utah national parks and monuments. Your Best Trip Ever! shares one familys travel experiences that provide practical tips and valuable advice for anyone interested in stepping outside their own front door to experience the beauty and history of our great country.

Between 1972 and 1974, the Mighty Macs of Immaculata College—a small Catholic women's school outside Philadelphia—made history by winning the first three women's national college basketball championships ever played. A true Cinderella team, this unlikely fifteenth-seeded squad triumphed against enormous odds and four powerhouse state teams to secure the championship title and capture the imaginations of fans and sportswriters across the country. But while they were making a significant contribution to legitimizing women's sports in America, the Mighty Macs were also challenging the traditional roles and obligations that circumscribed their Catholic schoolgirl lives. In this vivid account of Immaculata basketball, Julie Byrne goes beyond the fame to explore these young women's unusual lives, their rare opportunities and pleasures, their religious culture, and the broader ideas of womanhood they inspired and helped redefine.