Motoring: The Highway Experience of America (review)

In Motoring, the prolific authors John Jakle and Keith Sculle shift gears in their study of the historical landscapes of automobility, moving away from specific aspects of the commercial roadside towards a broad exploration of how roads and elements of the roadside shaped, and in turn were shaped by, Americans' experiences of driving. They define motoring as the practice of driving for pleasure, and identify this practice as being located at the intersection of private enterprise, government, and the desires of ordinary automobile users. Jakle and Sculle argue that ordinary Americans' motoring experiences need to be better understood because "touring and the delights of visual landscape encounter grounded America's infatuation with a motorized transport system." (5)

Motoring is not as tightly focused as the authors' previous books on roadside landscapes, but this is not surprising given the complexity of the subject being addressed. Half the chapters focus on roads, and show how the experience of motoring was transformed by the transition from the improved wagon roads of the 1910s and 'named highways' of the 1920s to the scenic parkways of the 1930s and limited access highways of the postwar years. These chapters outline the diverse ways that American roads have been planned and constructed, and Jakle and Sculle pay special attention to how different types of roads molded motorists' experiences of the landscapes they traversed. For example, the "highway hypnosis" associated with safer, smoother, faster travel along highly standardized and regulated highways could only have come about with the advent of the interstate system. (159)

The chapters on roads are interspersed with chapters that address a wide assortment of topics, including car dealerships, garages, tourist attractions, convenience stores, and two oft-overlooked modes of automobility: long-haul trucking and interstate bus travel. These 'detours' emphasize the important role that small and medium sized businesses played in shaping the motoring experience. However, because these chapters are scattered amongst the ones about roads, but not directly tied to them, they distract from the book's most coherent narrative. The chapter "Motoring by Truck" seems especially out of place. Even its title suggests a contradiction in terms, given that the authors define motoring as driving for pleasure. Trucking undoubtedly played a key role in shaping the American highway network, but here Jakle and Sculle provide more of a thumbnail history of the trucking industry than an examination of how the intermingling of pleasure travellers and commercial truck traffic affected the popular motoring experience.

Motoring is full of interesting photos, editorial cartoons, and maps—there are images on almost every other page. Although somewhat uneven, it belongs in the library of anyone—generalist or specialist—who is interested in the history of American automobility. Motoring also merits serious consideration as a textbook for undergraduate courses on car culture and mass culture, so long as students are provided signposts to help make sense of the 'detours' Jakle and Sculle take in their otherwise cogent study of pleasure driving in America.