BOOK REVIEW: MOTORING - The Highway Experience in America

effects of automobile cultture on American society

MOTORING - The Highway Experience in America by John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle. U. of Georgia Press, Athens, GA; www.ugapress.org; ssharer@ugapress.uga.edu. 2008. 274 pages. $34.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-8203-3028-0. illustrations, notes, index.

Between 1994 and 2004, Jakle and Sculle coauthored five other books on the automobile and aspects of American culture. These were on gas stations, motels, roadside restaurants, parking as land usage, and roadside signs. In this newest book. they do not focus on a similar specific subject related to Americans attachment to automobiles. Rather, the theme of this work is the relatively amorphous highway experience they call "motoring"; a concept they "define as that experience by which drivers, machines, and highways become integrally linked. Content such as roadside scenery and objects, design of highways as conducing to dream fulfillment, and the growth of ubiquitous convenience stores connected to gas stations with plentiful associated illustrations evince that the authors drew on their previous books--so that this is something of a synthesis of them, "Motoring," however, has a limited critical dimension not found in the earlier works. "As the wisdom of America's passionate embrace of automobility has come into serious question" in light of urban sprawl, environmental deterioration, energy waste, and class and racial issues surfacing in recent years, "reassessing how American became so dependent on automobiles seems more important than ever." To the extent they engage in criticism, Jakle and Sculle mostly point out excesses and heedlessness and occasionally silliness rather than engage in a fundamental critique of the automobile in the culture.

The book's eclectic content is also brought into the perspective of visual culture, a relatively new field which is being applied to many aspects of American culture. "The pleasure trip, as with all forms of auto trip taking, also came to privilege human visuality." Highways were planned so that at least in some parts they passed by scenic areas; and about the mid 1900s, funds for roadside landscaping were included in many highway appropriations. In other places, however, roadsides inevitably became highly-commercialized with the great numbers of Americans and their families traveling by car. "The commercial roadside evolved as a linear array of conveniently accessed places, positioned and designed specifically to entice." No matter what the roadside sights, motoring changed the pace of the visual experience to "a rapid kaleidoscope seeing of things overwhelming slower, more studied apprehension."

The changes in visual experience, psychology of boundaries, motives for involvement, social life, and expectations Jakle and Sculle link to the automobile compare with similar changes linked to the computer becoming central in the society. While the open road has not lost all of its romance, the notion that it offers an escape from the routines of daily life and a way to new horizons seems outdated, as the authors imply. Just ask anyone stuck in rush hour traffic.