Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.2 / 5.0

Ike's Excellent Adventure:

American Road by Pete Davies is the story of the first large group road trip ever taken in the United States. Between July and August 1919, the Army sent a truck convoy from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco along the then largely unpaved Lincoln Highway. Ike was there as a young officer. The truck and tire companies were there assuring good product placement. The Good Roads Movement was there. American citzens were cheering [and booing] and Congress was watching. This was the point in history where... more info

A great story--and very readable!:

You will find Davies' book to be a highly readable and epic account of the genesis of our nation's road system early in the 20th century as Americans commenced their love affair with the car. His history of the First Transcontinental Motor Train and the Lincoln Highway is well researched, and well deserving of being brought to light, given their impact on the development of the American primary route and interstate systems later on. I learned a lot (now I know how the Lincoln Tunnel in NYC and Lincoln Park... more info

American optimism and patronage:

It's strange to think that America's massive national highway system was brought about by a loose conglomerate of aligned and interlocking companies, including Ford and Firestone--a vast publically funded project built to the specifications of a handful of private enterpreneurs. The background to the quest Davies outlines remains startling, even though it has later analogues (such as NASA).

Davies does a lot with his story but can't overcome its basic inertia. I thought that Dwight Eisenhower would... more info

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