Route 66: America's Longest Small Town

by Jim Hinckley, Jim Hinckley

Take a road trip down the iconic “Mother Road”! Route 66 tells the stories of this highway's people, legends, and funky roadside attractions.

Part legend, part nostalgia, part working highway, part touchstone to an America of the past, Route 66 is the only road in the United States so fascinating that both Americans and international visitors read about and may never actually travel. Route 66: America's Longest Small Town takes you on a virtual road trip, telling you about the highway's legends, stories, people, and businesses that are the essence of the Route 66 experience.

You will be introduced to the road's past, present, and future, including a nostalgic look at vintage diners, signs, advertisements, and roadside attractions. Featuring all-new photography along the existing and former 2,000-mile route of the highway, this book, from America's foremost Route 66 author, combines the nostalgia of a storied past with the intriguing realities of an evolving present to create an intriguing portrait of the Mother Road of America.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2017

About the author

Telling America's story. Inspiring road trips by telling people where to go. Sharing the adventure. It's what we do at Jim Hinckley's America.
We do this with books, 23 published to date including Route 66: 100 Years, Here We Are ... On Route 66, Backroads of Arizona, The Big Book of Car Culture, Ghost Towns of the Southwest, Murder and Mayhem on The Main Street of America: Tales From Bloody 66, Ghost Towns of Route 66, and The Illustrated Route 66 Historical Atlas. And we do it with the weekly Coffee With Jim podcast on Podbean, an official Route 66 centennial program. This as well as presentations made internationally illustrate why author, historian and humorist Jim Hinckley has earned the reputation of being a master storyteller.

Reviews

[Dolf van der Haven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great pictures in full colour!
The text seems mostly to lament the reduction of business due to main traffic taking other routes than 66 and relishes the intersection of past and present in some places.

[Jana Eichhorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Route 66 enthusiast, you get used to reading in the past tense. This building Was here, this business Was on the road, people Used To stop there, etc. The thing about this book is how much focus there is on the road NOW. There's some history too, though less of it than you find in other 66 books, but this book's focus is on the road as a living, breathing entity instead of a relic of days gone by. I really liked that take, and it made me excited to plan another trip down my favorite road.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filled with pictures and stories and facts - almost overwhelming. It took a long time to read because there was so much information. Lists what seems like hundreds of towns and places to stop; touring would take weeks, months; I'd like to try.

The pictures are great, clear and varied. The book is divided by states so easy to follow. I would have liked an inclusive map to see the full coverage.

There is also a depressed aura about the book. So many comments on how so much of the history is lost and no one is trying to reclaim it.

[Yvonne]

As with all Route 66 books with loads of pictures: after some years they become relics themselves. I'll be traveling part of the Mother Road again coming spring. By then, when you see a car that stops every 3 minutes so the driver can take 'some' pictures that will be me!

[Freyja Vanadis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of great pictures and a lot of information, but Mr. Hinckley could use a good editor. That being said, it did awaken an interest in Route 66 that I never had before. Since a good portion of 66 runs through my state (Arizona), I think I'm going to have to do some exploring.