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A literary history of Americaâs most storied highway, featuring work from Raymond Chandler, Joan Didion, John Steinback, Sylvia Plath, and more. Even before there was a road, there was a route. Buffalo trails, Indian paths, the old Santa Fe traceâall led across the Great Plains and the western mountains to the golden oasis of California. Americaâs 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 by lane, 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 Americaâs 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 culturesâNative American, Mexican American, and African American, as well as Angloâwhose experiences run through the Route 66 story like the stripe down the highway. So put the top down, set the cruise control, and âmake that California tripâ with A Route 66 Companion. âRoute 66 has a long and interesting history, and Dunaway . . . has done a fantastic job selecting works of literature about âAmericaâs Main Streetâ to tell its dynamic story, supplemented by the editorâs own invaluable commentary. . . . [An]all-around remarkable anthology.â âPublishers WeeklyâA 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.â âOral History Review |
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