Diners, Bowling Alleys, And Trailer Parks: Chasing The American Dream In The Postwar Consumer Culture

by Andrew Hurley

The years immediately following the Second World War witnessed a dramatic transformation of America's working-class suburbs, driven by an unprecedented post-war prosperity and a burgeoning consumer culture. Chrome and neon were the new currency in this newly vital consumer culture, and no post-war consumer products trafficked more heavily in this currency than diners, bowling alleys, and trailer parks. Through these three distinctively American institutions, Andrew Hurley examines the struggle of Americans with modest means to attain the good life after two long decades of depression and war. He tells the story of the humble origins, explosive growth, and gradual, sad decline of the diner, bowling alley, and trailer park in expert fashion. This is cultural and social history that knows how to entertain.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Andrew Hurley, Ph.D., is with the Department of History at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. He is interested in urban history, environmental history, 20th century United States, and public history.

For the translator, see Andrew Hurley.

Reviews

[Kamakana · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you like this review i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com

221113: this is a world i have never known, a world that even predates my parents, a world i have only known in the abstract- as a cultural tourist. otherwise derided as 'slumming' when i went with a girlfriend to an actual 'truck stop'...

having grown up comfortably upper-middle class, in a suburb, then in an acreage community, where we might have had no indoor swimming pool but three neighbours would- this is a portrayal of another world. the first diner i ever visited is a renovated older one a few doors up the street from my usual coffeehouse, the only time bowling was as part of anthropology club at u, the only trailer i have visited that of a girlfriend's mother but on a small ranch with peacocks, in the mountains...

this is a world, a reality, far from my life, an urban life where people were blue collar, where they were aspiring to middle class respectability and this was so much in consumption of material wealth. this book is kind of a companion to another world, another world i do not know: see below. this makes me think of how much of present culture will be regarded through lenses of nostalgia, through the changes in society, in another sixty or seventy years. great book.Moment of Grace: The American City in the 1950s

http://www.michaelkamakana.com/favour...

[Ralphz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like a good start that did not end well.

In the prologue, the author said he intended to write just about the history and development of diners, but was encouraged to add bowling alleys and trailer parks, too. What emerged is a mixed story of postwar culture that doesn't hold together as it should.

Ultimately, the stories of diners and bowling alleys are of upward mobility and blue-collar distractions becoming white-collar entertainments.

But the trailer park story doesn't work that way, staying as it does largely in the lower-class world. As much as the author tries to tie it all together, it doesn't quite work.

And although the author addresses class and race in each section, the book finishes with a large section that, I guess, was supposed to be a history of postwar racism. It felt like it also was suggested by the publisher, and also felt like it was inserted from another book.

Again, a nice and interesting start, a mixed ending.

[Emily Hewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, but some chapters I personally found to be more interesting than others. I really learned a lot in the chapter about Trailer Parks and the Conclusion/Epilogue sections were very informative (which was surprising because I usually find Conclusions to be repetitive and sometimes not necessary). I found myself more engaged as the book went on. This is not a book I’d recommend to anyone because the subject matter is so unique and specific BUT for anyone interested in 20th century American history, marketing/advertising history, or sociology I would highly recommend!

[Edward Champion · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure if you folks realize this, but there are very few books outlining the history of bowling out there -- despite bowling being one of America's most popular pastimes, especially in the 20th century. It was because of this that I obtained this book, which is very well-researched and has all sorts of facts (on bowling and more) on the seedy infrastructure that was, for many, an assertion of middle-class family life. Hurley's very fun book is bogged down by a lengthy and extraneous afterword, but it is a useful resource for those of us evermore obsessed with the origin of things.

[Wendy McBain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good historical information. Just goes to show how much we've changed! Trailer parks no, but bowling alleys are not so important anymore and diners - the old school, boxcar type diners - too bad they're gone. Let's go have a soda!

[Andre Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads like something someone dreamed up in a college anthropology class. This could easily be three books. Interesting how all three subjects are tied together. I would have given it a 4 but the epilogue really goes off the rails and really has nothing to do with the rest of the book.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

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