Mobile Mansions: Taking Home Sweet Home on the Road

by Douglas Keister

What do Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Mae West, Howard Hughes, John Madden, the Partridge Family, Ken Kesey, The Who, and Barbie have in common? Each had a home on wheels-be it an old converted school bus, a massive RV cruiser, or elegant house car. These celebrity motorhomes are only the frosting on the cake in Douglas Keister's entertaining and informative new book Mobile Mansions.
From the eclectic to the exquisite, the luxurious to the rare, Keister's incredible photography showcases the history and diversity of some of the most historic and lovingly restored RVs on the road today. Keister documents an amazing range of vehicles, including small camp cars from the 1920s, house cars from the 1930s, campers from the 1950s and finally modern-day motorhomes that first emerged in the 1960s. Well-known brands like Winnebago, GMC, and Travco are featured as well as one-of-a-kind vehicles like the Lamsteed Kampcar, built by Anheuser Busch, the Zeppelin House Car, and Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion car.
Step inside a wide variety of motorhomes, from diminutive camp cars to diesel-belching, lumbering leviathans complete with saunas, balconies, and gourmet kitchens. Mobile Mansions details this fascinating chapter of America's history with lively text, luscious full color photographs, rare vintage photographs and offers a concise history of the recreational vehicle.

Genres: Travel

160 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2006

About the author

Photographer-writer Douglas Keister, has authored and co-authored thirty-six critically acclaimed books. He also writes and illustrates magazine articles and contributes photographs and essays to dozens of magazines, newspapers, books, calendars, posters and greeting cards worldwide.

Reviews

[Ellen Behrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a fan of older RVs, this is your book (or oe that should be included in your collection). Douglas Keister's beautiful book is organized by type (camp cars and house cars, campers and vans, etc.) which leads to some repetition, but skipping around to see the images for units he also describes in other places in the books is well worth the inconvenience. After reading a lot of books on the progression of RVing (from car camping forward), Keister's succinct summary and categorization was refreshing and simplified, compared to other accounts.

His "Personal Visions" chapter was especially fun, with a focus on the wild and wonderful ways individuals continue to make their rolling homes and businesses especially unique. I couldn't help wonder, though, if some of them are still considered street legal :)

At the same time, Keister includes enough details about the RVs he includes that those interested in how many horsepower, axles, and stuff like that will also find this book interesting.

His short but helpful "Resources" section includes some references I hadn't heard of, which was also welcome.

A great addition to any collection of RV history, and a wonderful gift (if you can find a nice used copy, as these are no doubt out of print) for the RV lover in your life.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great fun for anyone who has camped, spent time in a trailer, or traveled the open road in a motorhome.

[G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting picture book with a history of motor homes.

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look into how traveling homes evolved, great photos.