"The phrase "open road" has long captivated the American popular imagination. Americans have long believed in the open road with such fervent passion that it has served as a secular faith built around aspiration and optimism. Though the longing for the open road has animated the United States from its beginnings, the boom following World War II centralized the automotive road narrative in popular culture. In "The American Open Road," Jeffrey Melton taps into that restless energy with engaging prose, an impressive display of creative scholarship, and a wide array of compelling illustrations. In Part One, he delves into the cultural context of the post-World War II boom that catapulted car culture to the forefront of American society and consciousness. In Part Two, he defines major patterns and conventions of the road narrative as revealed in a wide range of seminal literary works that earned popular and critical attention in the key decades from the 1950s to the 1980s. In Part Three, he focuses on persistent challenges to the open road experience arising from the cultural tensions of race, gender, and ethnicity. Although Melton draws upon a variety of sources--from automobile advertisements, magazine covers, and public-service documents to song lyrics andpoems--his discussion focuses on well-known literary and cinematic narratives that have engendered the greatest impact upon American culture. Those prose narratives (both fiction and nonfiction) and films (including television) are the most illustrative expressions of the open road, as Americans tell their road stories forever with an eye upon the horizon. The open road cuts a broad swath through American culture like the roadways that form an ever-changing matrix on the landscape itself. Every mile holds a narrative of some sort, and every car is tied to ever-evolving American dreams."--
The rearview mirror perspective of a road trip across the American “open road.”
The American Open Road: Narrative and Popular Imagination offers a rich exploration of how the mythos of the open road has shaped, and been shaped by, American culture. Beginning with the post–World War II boom that solidified car culture as central to American life, Melton reflects on how roads, automobiles, and landscapes have been represented in literature, film, and other cultural texts, highlighting the interplay between mobility and narrative.
Drawing on a wide range of cultural texts, from traditional classic road novels and cinematic presentations, to advertisements, poetry, and prose, Melton examines how the open road functions as a symbol of autonomy, reinvention, and resistance. He highlights how road narratives have also exposed deeper tensions in American life—especially around race, gender, and power—and how historically marginalized voices have used the road to reclaim space and tell new stories.
From the romanticism of Route 66 to the political edge of modern road films, The American Open Road offers a thoughtful, engaging analysis of the narratives that continue to define American identity and longing. For readers interested in cultural history, travel literature, or the enduring pull of the highway, this book offers a compelling view from the passenger seat of America’s most iconic journeys.
The rearview mirror perspective of a road trip across the American “open road.”
