Route 66: The Highway and Its People

by Susan Croce Kelly, Quinta Scott (Photographer)

U.S. Highway 66 was always different from other roads. During the decades it served American travelers, Route 66 became the subject of a world-famous novel, an Oscar-winning film, a hit song, and a long running television program. The 2,000 mile concrete slab also became a seven-year obsession for Susan Croce Kelly and Quinta Scott. They traveled Route 66, photographing buildings, knocking on doors, and interviewing the people who had built the buildings and run the businesses along the highway. Drawing on the oral tradition of those rural Americans who populated the edge of old Route 66, Scott and Kelly have pieced together the story of a highway that was conceived in Tulsa, Oklahoma; linked Chicago to Los Angeles; and played a role in the great social changes of the early twentieth century. Using the words of the people themselves and documents they left behind, Kelly describes the life changes of Route 66 from the dirt-and-gravel days until the time when new technology and different life-styles decreed that it be abandoned to the small towns it had nurtured over the course of thirty years. Scott's photographic essay shows the faces of those 66 people and gives a feeling of what can be seen along the old highway today, from the seminal highway architecture to the grainfields of the Illinois prairie, the windbent trees of western Oklahoma, the emptiness of New Mexico, and the bustling pier where the highway ends on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Route 66 uses oral history and photography as the basis for a human study of this country's most famous road. Historic times, dates, places, and events are described in the words of men and women who were driving the highway, cooking hamburgers, creating pottery, and pumping gas. As much as the concrete, gravel, and tar spread in a sweeping arc from Chicago to Santa Monica, those people are Route 66. Their stories and portraits are the biography of the highway.

Genres: Travel, History, Photography, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1988

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous history of this historic route and why it disappeared. The businesses along the highway went through boom and lean times over the decades but many persevered. Fascinating journey.

[Dolf van der Haven · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went through this book as a companion to reading The Grapes of Wrath. This book has mildly interesting texts, mostly related to the construction of and the businesses along Route 66. There is a decent chapter related to the Great Depression, mentioning Steinbeck's novel. The pictures are mostly of the businesses along the road and are mostly overexposed.

[Jeffrey Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan Croce Kelly did an admirable job in capturing the stories of people who owned businesses along the heart of U.S. 66 and covering its history from beginning to the rise of the interstate highway system. This book contains a wealth of information and a fabulous photo essay by Quinta Scott.

Of course this book was released in 1988, so that makes a lot of this material dated, especially the ending when she states that the Eisenhower Interstate System was "slated" for completion in 1990. However, that gets off-set by the number of interviews that she conducted with people who are no longer with us who owned businesses along the route.

The hardest part of writing any book about Route 66 is deciding whether to organize the material in geographical or chronological order. There is no doubt that Kelly grappled with that too. Unfortunately, that means the material skips around quite a bit. One moment we're in Illinois in the 1920s, and then soon we're in Arizona in the 1950s. Perhaps it needed a little bit more thought to the structure, but with Route 66 that just might be a challenge of writing about the Mother Road.

I'm giving this four-stars because I think the work is solid but could have been organized a little bit better, which would have made the book more of an impactful work.

[Will Plunkett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living near parts of Route 66 (here, called Foothill Blvd.), having travelled by car from the Midwest, and being a fan of Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, I have known about and been able to appreciate "the Mother Road" for most of my life. There is a mix of history and memoir in this book, along with the photo essay that also appears in parts of the text of the book (this reminds me of the Steinbeck and Bristol LIFE magazine photo essay), but its main point is to preserve what is still there and what cannot be seen but can be remembered.

[Bethany Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing. It is such a great book with stories from those who lived through the heyday. I couldn’t stop reading it was a great read with beautiful pictures!

[Kirby Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-researched book providing a wealth of information about the Mother Road.

[Spooky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book on Route 66 given to me by my girlfriend. The stories from the folks who lived on the this road during it's upbringing, heyday, and eventual decline is excellent. Straight from the horses mouth as it were. I can't stop picking this one up. The photo essay included in the book is always a treat, and it says so much. Anyone who is in love with the road should pick this one up...

[Kristena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Includes an excellent photoessay.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 3 out of 5]

Subtitled a "photographic essay" this overview would be good for the armchair traveler or researcher rather than the current road warrior. Also includes notes and an extensive bibliography.