Customer Reviews

American Diner Then and Now

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4 star:		(1)
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This is actually the third edition of this work. In 1979, Gutman took the plunge with the simply titled "American Diner" published in hardback by Harper & Row. Done in collaboration with Elliott Kaufman and David Slovic, it was shorter and more loosely organized than the later edition, but a nice and welcome diner book at a time when there still weren't many such books around. In 1993 Gutman came out with "American Diner, Then and Now" which sported revised and substantially enlarged text and better-integrated photos (the Kaufman photo portfolios had also been dropped). This revamped '93 version was a high-water mark for diner books, a now numerous field. With it's perfect balance between individual diner stories ("dinerlore"), photos, and history, and great attention to detail which bespeaks a real love of the subject, this has been an unofficial bible for diner afficionados for the last 7 years.

Now here is the 2000 edition, published in paperback by Johns Hopkins (apparently Barry Levinson's hometown has more interest in diners than the folks at Harper). This is basically just a reprint of the 1993 edition, with a different cover, a new introduction, and a few names added to the diner index at the end. While on the one hand it's great that this modern classic is available again (it had been out of print for several years) I had hoped that there would be some new material in it. To be sure, this book still teaches you how to tell a Paramount from a Mountain View, or a Fodero from a Worcester Lunch Car, and makes a fine gift (Christmas or otherwise) for someone who doesn't have the '93 edition. Nevertheless, at the risk of sounding like an ingrate, I would have to say I slightly prefer the '93 edition, mainly because the cover photo, an interior shot of a restored Worcester Lunch Car, with all that luscious wood, is more attractive than the rather bland shot of Ford's Diner that graces the cover of the 2000 edition. But make no mistake, if you don't have any diner books and are looking for a good one, this is THE one to get----and if you've already got five other diner books, you should still get this, as it has the clearest explication of American diner history you're ever likely to read.

Gutman did it again - his updated study of Diners is the cornerstone of any roadside fan's book collection. If you only have room for one book on Diners, THIS IS THE BOOK. Lots of great pictures and stories from the early lunch wagons to the new super diners.

gutman has updated his earlier book to make this one more interesting to the casual reader. Those of us who have an intrest in the history find this to be the consumate source of information. all he could do to improve this is add more pictures both interior and exterior. Gutman has preserved an American ICON forever

As the author of this book, I beg to differ with the reviewer who said there are no menus reproduced. In fact, five typical menus are illustrated, dating from the "dog wagons" of the 1890s to the "blue plate specials" featured in the 1950s and '60s.

This is not meant to be a cookbook or recipe source for diner food, but it does list hundreds of diners and their addresses where the reader can go and sample the real thing.

This is a history of diners that traces their development from horse-drawn lunch wagons to the neon-trimmed, stainless steel diners of today.

What I like best is the Pictures of all those Stainless Steel Diners from The 40,s & 50,s.

Also what I like about this Book is their listing of at least
MOST of the Diner Builders from the past & present.

For I plan to very soon put up a Diner like that at my own
Home City & it gave me some tips & pointers on what a Diner should be & not to be.

I bought this book as research for a novel I'm writing. I had no idea how many diners there were in the "old days" and even now. I loved the book, it was exactly as described, and arrived in perfect condition and quickly.

Not a single menu photo or recipe graces the pages of this book. So little food info is included, in fact, that this book is just a dry recitation about the diner structures themselves, and the occasional interesting tidbit about the people who owned them. This leaves you hungry to know about the food they served. After all, the food is what diners were all about. If you want a diner history WITH menus and recipes, this is not the book for you.