Buyways: Billboards, Automobiles, and the American Landscape (Cultural Spaces) [Hardcover]

Catherine Gudis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0415934540 | ISBN-13: 978-0415934541 | Edition: 1

In Buyways , Catherine Gudis focuses on the development of the outdoor advertising industry in twentieth century America, and its role in the commodification of the landscape. She investigates how the industry was instrumental in the growth of mobile consumption, arguing that outdoor advertisers provided the structure for what she terms 'the architecture of speed.' Throughout, she interweaves analyses of gender and consumption, the corporatization of American culture, the increasing rationalization of marketing/advertising, and the growth of suburbs and strips. Ultimately, she aims to explain how a certain method of visual consumption, combined with a particular type of mobility, came to govern much of Americans' lives as consumers. Rather than being place-based, the geography of consumption has become increasingly placeless. Concurrently, as our own potential for rapid mobility has expanded, the natural space of America has become increasingly commodified-an argument that can be extended to the ultimate placeless space-the Internet.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Editorial Abstract
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–Reference and Research Books News, May 2004

Gudis' prose is... aerodynamic... a cultural history of roadside advertising, its meanings and methods, and how it reshaped the American scene.
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–L.A. Times, May 30 2004

...inclusive, thorough research and scholarship that makes this volume an indispensable resource for both enthusiasts and scholars of the American road..
–Carol Ahlgren, The Journal of American History, September 2005

About the Author

Catherine Gudis is an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma and received her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University. She has worked for several museums, including The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and is the editor of numerous art books, among them Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s and A Forest of Signs: Art in the Crisis of Representation.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (March 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415934540
• ISBN-13: 978-0415934541
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,390,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing, original, seminal history of travel routes, July 9, 2004

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buyways: Billboards, Automobiles, and the American Landscape (Cultural Spaces) (Paperback)

Catherine Gudis' Buyways is a unique and intrinsically fascinating history of the advertising billboard industry in America. Of immense value for the academic study of American business history, Buyways is also highly recommended reding for travelers and non-specialist general readers interested in wayside advertising and highway history. From legal battles between environmentalists and business interests, to the involvement of artists and behvioral scientists in billboard presentation and design, Buyways provides an intriguing, original, seminal history of travel routes and advertising format choices.