A Route 66 Companion

Published by University of Texas Press 2012

A Route 66 Companion

Edited by: David King Dunaway

https://doi.org/10.7560/726604

Overview
Contents

About this book

Even before there was a road, there was a route. Buffalo trails, Indian paths, the old Santa Fe trace—all led across the Great Plains and the western mountains to the golden oasis of California. America’s insatiable westering urge culminated in Route 66, the highway that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. Opened in 1926, Route 66 became the quintessential American road. It offered the chance for freedom and a better life, whether you were down-and-out Okies fleeing the Dust Bowl in the 1930s or cool guys cruising in a Corvette in the 1960s. Even though the interstates long ago turned Route 66 into a bylane, it still draws travelers from around the world who long to experience the freedom of the open road.

A Route 66 Companion gathers fiction, poetry, memoir, and oral history to present a literary historical portrait of America’s most storied highway. From accounts of pioneering trips across the western plains to a sci-fi fantasy of traveling Route 66 in a rocket, here are stories that explore the mystique of the open road, told by master storytellers ranging from Washington Irving to Raymond Chandler, Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath, Leslie Marmon Silko, and John Steinbeck. Interspersed among them are reminiscences that, for the first time, honor the varied cultures—Native American, Mexican American, and African American, as well as Anglo—whose experiences run through the Route 66 story like the stripe down the highway. So put the top down, set the cruise control, and “make that California trip” with A Route 66 Companion.

Author / Editor information

David King Dunaway has written about American culture for publications ranging from the New York Times to the Virginia Quarterly. He is the author of nine volumes of history and biography, including How Can I Keep from Singing?, a biography of American folk singer Pete Seeger, which won the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers’ Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing about American music. Dunaway is currently a professor at the University of New Mexico, Distinguished Professor of Broadcasting at San Francisco State University, and a DJ for KUNM-FM radio in Albuquerque.

Reviews

Route 66 has a long and interesting history, and Dunaway...has done a fantastic job selecting works of literature about "America's Main Street" to tell its dynamic story, supplemented by the editor's own invaluable commentary.

— Publishers Weekly

A Route 66 Companion is a great read and should find its way to the hands of any armchair traveler or lover of the history of the American West.

— Oral History Review

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Foreword: America’s Road Michael Wallis Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
INTRODUCTION Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
I. RAILROADS AND THE PREHISTORY OF ROUTE 66
Buffalo Hunting on Route 66 Dave Edmunds Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
A Tour on the Prairies Irving Washington Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
On the Western Tour with Washington Irving Count de Pourtalès Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
The Journals of the Superintendent of the Wagon World Edward F. Beale Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
Railroaders’ Route 66 Michael Amundson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
One Night in the Red Dog Saloon Hal G. Evarts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
The U.P. Trail Zane Grey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
Recalling Route 66’s Trail of Tears Man Susanyatame Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
A BIOREGIONAL APPROACH TO ROUTE 66: AN INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
II. PRAIRIE 66: ILLINOIS, MISSOURI, AND KANSAS
The Santa Fe Trail Vachel Lindsay Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
Too Many Midnights Carolyn Wheat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
The Lost Boy Thomas Wolfe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
The Boy: Okie Passage on Route 66 Jay Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
Blind Corner David August Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
West on 66 James H. Cobb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
III. PLAINS 66: OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS
Working with Will Greg Malak Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
The Autobiography of Will Rogers Will Rogers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
Back Road 66 Lance Henson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
Wild Boy of the Road Karen Hesse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
The Negro Motorist Green Book Victor H. Green Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
’53 Buick Gary Phillips Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Black on 66 Edmond Threatt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
Mr. Route 66 Michael Wallis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
Kicking 66 Robert M. Davis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
On Route 66 in Texas Delbert Trew Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Cadillac Ranch Stanley Marsh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
IV. MOUNTAIN 66: NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA
Mining Along 66 Raymond Wierth and Joe Miller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Hot Saturday Harvey Fergusson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
The Thin Mountain Air Paul Horgan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Laguna Exile Mary Toya Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
The Hitch-Hiker Lucille Fletcher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
The Air-Conditioned Nightmare Henry Miller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
Hispanic on Route 66 Rudolfo Anaya Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
V. DESERT AND COASTAL 66: CALIFORNIA
Gunslinger Ed Gorman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
The High Window Raymond Chandler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
Indian Farm-Workers on 66 Louis Owens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	132
The Music of 66 Ry Cooder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
Soul in the Desert Robert Ervin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
Blue Time Earlene Fowler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
Sleep in the Mojave Desert Sylvia Plath Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream Joan Didion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
Sleeping Beauty Ross MacDonald Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
VI. THE FUTURE OF 66
A Rocket Scientist Looks at Route 66’s Future Peter Friedman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
Rogue in Space Fredric Brown Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Brave New World Aldous Huxley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
A Select Route 66 Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Credits Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 200

eBook

Published: July 25, 2012
ISBN: 9780292735736