American Road: The Story of an Epic Transcontinental Journey at the Dawn of the Motor Age

by Pete Davies

A fascinating account of the greatest road trip in American history.On July 7, 1919, an extraordinary cavalcade of sixty-nine military motor vehicles set off from the White House on an epic journey. Their goal was California, and ahead of them lay 3,250 miles of dirt, mud, rock, and sand. Sixty-two days later they arrived in San Francisco, having averaged just five miles an hour. Known as the First Transcontinental Motor Train, this trip was an adventure, a circus, a public relations coup, and a war game all rolled into one. As road conditions worsened, it also became a daily battle of sweat and labor, of guts and determination. American Road is the story of this incredible journey. Pete Davies takes us from east to west, bringing to life the men on the trip, their trials with uncooperative equipment and weather, and the punishing landscape they encountered. Ironically one of the participants was a young soldier named Dwight Eisenhower, who, four decades later, as President, launched the building of the interstate highway system. Davies also provides a colorful history of transcontinental car travel in this country, including the first cross-country trips and the building of the Lincoln Highway. This richly detailed book offers a slice of Americana, a piece of history unknown to many, and a celebration of our love affair with the road.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel, American History, Transport, United States

341 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 3, 2002

About the author

Pete Davies is best known as the author of All Played Out, the classic account of the Italian World Cup in 1990 that's been continuously in print ever since it hit the bestseller list. He's also the author of three novels, and eight other works of non-fiction.

Davies has written about sport and politics, history and science, travel and weather. He's flown in hurricanes over the Gulf of Mexico and off the Carolinas, chased tornadoes on the Great Plains, and followed stories around the world from Central America to East Africa, from India to Japan, from Hong Kong to the high Arctic.

Davies was born in 1959 and lives in West Yorkshire, England. He was prolifically productive in the 1990's, but after American Road came out in 2002, he disappeared from view. In deteriorating health, he was told in 2006 that he had two years left to live.

Davies defied that diagnosis, and in 2017 - after fifteen years of silence - he published his novel Playlist. A wildly inventive comedy, Playlist marks a stunning and unexpected return to print for one of the most original voices of his generation.

Reviews

[Stew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well told story of the War Department's transcontinental convoy from D.C. to San Francisco in 1919. What I like is how Davies' stealthily inserts the history of the development of our highways into this narrative. It's a largely untold but important part of U.S. history. Why did a Brit write this quintessentially American story? One has to wonder. But hats off to him for doing a fine job.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pete Davies did a fine job researching and writing this book. I just wish there had been a way to get into the heads of the men on the convoy, many of whom (I assume) had recently returned from the war in France, through personal journals, etc. The limitations of his sources (i.e., the US Army, newspaper articles from the time, and literature put out by the Lincoln Highway Assoc) and the necessary day-by-day summary of the trip caused the narrative to feel a bit rote at times. Still, I really enjoyed the book and learned a lot from it.

[Brad Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about the early development of roads in America from this book. Hard to believe that in 1919 when the army went on the road trip across the country there were basically no paved roads wherever you went. Mostly dirt tracks, either terribly muddy or thick with dust.We get accounts of the trip from some of the officers and leaders of the convoy but virtually nothing from the soldiers and workers who went through hell keeping the vehicles moving. Hats off to these men.

[Sheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy read for fans of the Lincoln Highway. It does get repetitious, but I suspect that's somewhat deliberate -- the reader is sharing the travelers' monotony.

I have always wondered why the modern-day Lincoln Highway follows such a different route through Utah and Nevada, and this book does an excellent job of explaining it.

[Andy Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is story about the incredible journey across the nation before there were uniform or, in some spots any roads. To think they crossed rivers, climbed mountains and crossed deserts before there were roads is incredible. Great story.

[Barb G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not typically drawn to books like this, but I saw the author on Booknotes on C-SPAN and I became interested.

While I wouldn’t say I loved it, there were a lot of interesting bit of information. The journey across America sounded grueling and the guys didn’t get much rest.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amazing story that's amazingly all true. The book covers an incredible amount of info sometimes to it's detriment as it sometimes reads like a series of bullet points.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can you imagine driving across Utah without a paved road?

[Edna Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I especially enjoyed this book as we have traveled a lot of I 80 and recognize many places. Also, the
Lincoln Highway went through Goshen and on to South Bend, Indiana, near our home.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a road story telling the history of a 1919 military caravan that made a historic cross-country journey. Eighty-one vehicles set out to follow the not-fully completed Lincoln Highway http://lincolnhighway.jameslin.name/ ; in some locations the highway was little more than a dirt road. This military endeavor was also a promotion to gain local support and funding for completion of the highway. The cast of characters included a young Dwight Eisenhower, the future military commander in WWII and later U.S. president. Not for everyone - - but this book intrigued me with it's descriptions of travel via dusty or muddy traces and numerous mishaps and breakdowns. Ironic that the journey captured the nation's interest and spurred road building across America, but the Lincoln Highway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_... was never fully completed. (lj)

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful read about the Lincoln Highway across America. Davies uses the tale of the US Army's motor convoy across the country in 1919 using the Lincoln Highway as his 'vehicle' for telling the story of the first road to go all the way across the country. One of the more well-known participants on that convoy was an obscure Army officer named Major Dwight Eisenhower. This experience and his knowledge of the autobahns in Germany during WWII convinced Ike that a national road system was necessary in America. Our Interstate highway system is the result.

Twice as long and a dozen years older than it's better-known cousin Route 66, the Lincoln Highway was declared in 1913 and had it's final portion of paving in 1937. For many of those years, mainly in the western states, it was not much more than a dream. It took some innovative thinking and persuasion to get it completed.

[Sue Bridehead (A Pseudonym)]

Warning - this is not a traditional review... more like a reading log.

Oct 2009:

Book club freebie from about 5 years ago. Finally getting around to browsing it, and remembering why I put it on the list - because my great-grandfather allegedly rode his motorcycle across the United States. Timing-wise, this had to have happened in the early days of cross-country travel, during or shortly after the era described in this book.

Nov. 2009:

Dry book, but skimworthy. Apparently in the early days of autos, farmers reviled cars because they frightened livestock. This was a major impediment to auto sales, because at the time, most Americans were farmers. When cars would sputter by on dirt roads, farmers would yell, "Get a horse!" This was a valid insult at the time.

Of course, once the sale price dropped, farmers saw the appeal of tractors, trucks, combines, etc.

[Kathleen McRae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this read because it was a journey through America by a convoy of soldiers, starting on the east coast at the White house ending on the West coast in San Francisco.The convoy of eighty vechicles and 300 men drove 3250 mi anddrove an average of 5 miles an hour.It was epic because it was 1919 and there were very few roads just dirt tracks through most of the territory.Their objective was too raise interest and funds to promote road building across America.The car was just becoming an item and many filks across the nation were not receptive to the idea that a car could supplant a horse The soldiers slogged and sweated for most of the journey,rebuilding bridges and working long hours keeping their vechicles repaired.it was a very interesting story

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting story, but tends to get a little boring. Once they get to Ohio, I recco skipping to the last few chapters because (SPOILER) every chapter is the same. Roads are horrible, cars breakdown, they finally get to the destination late and are given cigarettes, ice cream, beer (sometimes lemonade), then dance with the local ladies, get up the next morning and do it all over again.

The most insightful thing about this book is that this journey is responsible for Eisenhower's push for a US highway system. It's interesting reading about a little known, but obviously influential area of Eisenhower's life.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting from a historical point of view, and whet my appetite to learn more about the Lincoln Highway, but not a riveting read. Feels kind of like a paint-by-numbers offering. It would have been interesting if the author, who apparently did drive a version of the Lincoln Highway (in whatever form it's in today) to do research for the book, interspersed the writing with his personal observations from his own journey.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read about the beginnings of modern automobile travel and an event that heavily influenced the creation of the Interstate Highway System and, by extension, a large part of American culture. As the centennial of the Lincoln Highway arrives at the time of this writing, a good book to check out to add to your motoring knowledge.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

i didnt finish the book. While well organized and detailed, the topic wasnt compelling. i'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in the early history of the automobile and the developing auto industry.

[Kevin Edmonds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. A little slow in the first half but picks up as they get into the western states. Interesting to find out about how the US road system began!

[Rob Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story about the building of the transcontinental highway; from the political to the actual building of the road. Lots of fun historical facts in the story.

[Carrie]

American history

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will resonate well with anyone who's taken an epic road trip and feels their next one can't come soon enough.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Godd account of little know US histroy

[Kimb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun historical read that will prevent you from complaining about traffic forever.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story of the Lincoln Highway and beginning of the auto age, focusing on the trans-continental journey of a large military convey.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2016...