Customer Reviews

American Buses: City, School Yard and Highway (Crestline Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Greatly recommended. Good nostalgia book for anyone who travelled extensively by bus or for anyone who works in the bus industry.

Over 300 black & white photos of every conceivable type of bus. It would have been nicer if the later pictures had been in color. I think it would have add zip to the book.

Each decade has 2 to 3 pages of text, giving the highlights of the industry at that time, followed by pictures of each type of bus in use at the time.

Interesting tidbits and little known facts are also given. I learned that the official color of school buses is "national school bus chrome".

The quality of the books is good. The pictures are nice and sharp. Every bus aficionado should have this book.

A reasonable book for bus fans to start with. It covers makes from 1900 to 1989 and author Donald Wood has done his research and crams in plenty of facts for the introductions to each decade. This is primarily a photo guidebook though and as another reviewer has commented, it is a pity some of the photos are not in color.

The three hundred black and white photos are mostly good quality. To bulk out the pages the definition of a bus is stretched, for example, on page 76 a photo of some Chrysler limos and on page 80 a Mack truck that just happens to have seats added. There is an index and bibliography.

I was disappointed by the dull layout (why is it that these fan orientated titles always look so bland?) because most of the photos are to predetermined widths there are plenty of large empty spaces and it is a shame that the publishers did not care to put a bit more creative effort into the layout.

Still, this book will be good start to your bus library.

A recent inclusion to my bus and coach book collection. Author Donald F. Wood has painted his subject matter with a very broad brush, to the extent that for most bus folks, the inclusion of some of the vehicles such as limos etc is a bit of a stretch (pun intended). Wood justifies this in the introduction by citing obscure government regulations that define a bus as any vehicle carrying ten or more passengers. The non-bus buses are a minor distraction though in this otherwise deftly researched book. The photographs are all black and white, but they offer a facinating retrospective to the material in conjunction with the well written text. Not all the buses are American, though all discussed operate or did operate in the USA. All in all good value for money and well worth adding to the shelf.

As a bus/coach enthusiast I can highly recommend this book to anyone.This book is ideal as general identification guide to a reasonable history of buses in America.The photographs do the book justice.Even those trying to decide on a base vehicle for converting to a motorhome will enjoy this book.

There are more bus and coach books available from this site to add to your collection.

very good book. great for any one in the bus industry or a collector of motor coaches.

A very well presented book with "tons" of interesting and varied photographs.
A brief history of the American Bus Industry which was not "bogged down" with meaningless statistics.
Well worth it for the photographs alone.

For a general history of buses built and operated in the United States, this is a good place to start. Because the topic is so broad, author Donald Wood cannot go into great detail into specific models of buses; those wanting a deeper look at a particular make of vehicle may want to consult a book specifically on that subject. This book is particularly welcome, as buses are not terribly popular in the United States. Fans of buses and coaches in Great Britain, however, will have a greater selection of books for vehicles in their country.

As this book is arranged chronologically, with chapters divided by decades, a title such as "A History of American Buses" would be more suitable. That said, this arrangement has both its pluses and minuses. The advantage of the historical layout is that the reader can see the evolution of buses and how designs were adapted to the ages. Thus, the reader has some context in which to place a particular vehicle. The disadvantage of this arrangement is that it imposes artificial boundaries on what is included in a particular chapter. Moreover, America's cultural history cannot be divided neatly into decades. For example, the chapter covering 1941-1950 will included vehicles built during the war and the post-War period. In addition, some models, such as the GM "Fishbowl" series, cover multiple decades. If I were writing this book, I would have divided it by type of vehcle (e.g., intercity buses, urban buses, school buses) or by manufacturer (e.g., GM, Flxible, Brill, MCI, other [including buses built on standard Ford, GM, or Chrysler chassis]) and with each of those sections arranged chronologically.

As for the claim that the author includes a wide veriety of vehicle types under the rubrik "bus," that is true. In my mind, that is an asset for a book of this type. If one were to write a book about buses of the world, one would have to include an even wider variety of vehicle types. In addition, early buses were often car or truck chassis with a custom-built body to accommodate passengers; it was not until the 1920s that buses with bodies and chassis built by the same company started to appear. During World War II, to streamline factories to produce much-needed material for the War effort, buses manufactured during that period were often little more than modified tractor-trailer trucks. And then, there are those vehicles that are often retired buses pressed into service for other duties, such as transporting oil rig crews, tethering blimps, and servicing other vehicles. In my mind, the author's including such vehicles makes it all the more interesting.

Unfortunately, there is a dark side to the history of American buses that the book does not cover. That is the efforts of such companies as GM to encourage the destruction of trolley cars and some passenger rail lines in their quest to sell more road vehicles (buses and cars). It is ironic that in some cases one form of public transit would be used to undermine all public transportation and increase America's dependence on automobiles and the fossil fuels they burn.

The above critiques notwithstanding, I found this to be a very enjoyable and interesting book and am happy to recommend it.