Airstream: The History of the Land Yacht [Paperback]

Bryan Burkhart (Author), David Hunt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

Sleek and shiny, Airstream trailers have been turning heads on the highways since they first started caravanning across America in the 1930s. These "aluminum skinned, gleaming silver bullets" are currently enjoying a revival in popularity. Praised for their clean lines and timeless aesthetic, movie stars and design buffs are snapping up these vintage beauties. Airstreamequal parts travelogue, cultural history, and biography of Wally Byam, Airstream's charismatic inventorcelebrates the trailer's enduring appeal as an icon of simple, aerodynamic living. A dazzling array of images tell the story of how Byam, the father of modern trailer travel, created less a product than an entire culture. From the Eiffel Tower to the pyramids of Giza, from the Acropolis to the Golden Gate Bridge, Airstream caravans continue to travel to the far reaches of the earth. Amazing photographs from the Airstream archives document this metallic nomad's significant place in the history of design, from its streamlined origins to its current vogue. Airstream has always been synonymous with the freedom of the open road. Today the dream lives on.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Adventure is where you find it any place, every place, except at home in the rocking chair. Wally Byam, creator of the Airstream

About the Author

Bryan Burkhart is a designer, storyteller, and Airstream enthusiast, who owns a restored 1962 Airstream Flying Cloud. He lives in San Francisco.

David Hunt lives in New York. He writes regularly on art and culture for art/text, Flash Art, and Sculpture.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811824713
• ISBN-13: 978-0811824712
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 10.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Professional & Technical > Automotive > Classic Cars
  • #70 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Acoustics & Sound

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb graphics, archival photos, and historical text!, March 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Airstream: The History of the Land Yacht (Paperback)

This coffee table book is a great gift - striking images, an original topic, really interesting text, and it's reasonably priced. The book follows the inventor of the Airstream, an eccentric wanderer named Wally Byam, as he spreads his gospel ("Adventure is where you find it, any place, every place, except at home in the rocking chair.") and organizes Airstream caravans around America and around the planet. We see these Zelig-like aluminum torpedoes with every famous backdrop: the Egyptian pyramids, rice fields in Thailand, the leaning tower of Pisa, and Red Square in communist USSR. The photos are at once kitschy and nostalgic and hokey and beautiful, and the layout of the book allows each image to really resonate before leading you to another page or chapter in the life of Wally Byam's "land yacht." A terrific piece of Americana, and a great, reasonable find...

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A visual feast, along with the interesting content., August 7, 2000

By 

"mclev" (Des Plaines, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Airstream: The History of the Land Yacht (Paperback)

Well, although this book does talk a lot about Wally Byam (how can you not when refering to Airstreams), I found it to be very interesting, and a lot of fun. The book is designed beautifully, the pictures are fantastic, and it is a visual feast.

I just bought my own used Airstream, and love it. If you've ever owned an airstream, or if you've just admired them from afar, this book is just too much fun to own. It makes a great coffee table book, or a great gift for the enthusiast.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a far cry from trailer trash . . ., March 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Airstream: The History of the Land Yacht (Paperback)

After flipping through just a few pages of this amazing book, you'll want to trade in your daily routine for the life of a global nomad. But if circumstances won't allow you to hit the road in your own shiny silver bullet right away, Airstream's fantastic words and pictures will provide a wonderful escape. You'll travel vicariously to exotic locales from Egypt to Moscow and will be quoting "Byam-isms" in no time like "Adventure is where you find it, any place, every place, except at home in the rocking chair."