The Lincoln Highway: Main Street across America [Paperback]

Drake Hokanson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999

Ten years after its original publication, Drake Hokanson's best-selling book continues to inspire readers to leave the interstate for a road less traveled, but one that still fuels the American preoccupation with the open road.

In his new introduction to this tenth anniversary edition, Hokanson revisits the Lincoln Highway and finds it changed—much for the better—since the original publication of this book. Most notably, he calls attention to the reinvigorated Lincoln Highway Association and its efforts to preserve what is left of the old road. Hokanson finds more and more tourists traveling the road—not only Americans but foreigners as well—by car, bus, and motorcycle on journeys not to any particular destination, but simply to see America.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is largely the history of the Lincoln Highway itself, its promoters, and its transportation context. The New York to San Francisco high way dates primitively from 1913, finally became an improved highway in the early 1930s, and ultimately declined as U.S. 50 and especially I-80 more effectively overtook its function. In addition to too much detail about the Lincoln Highway Association, there are many asides on transportation and communication in general, the auto and tire business, etc. This is not an exciting trip for those already aware of these well-traveled subjects. Roger W. Fromm, Bloomsburg Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“With his lively pen and lyric camera, Mr. Hokanson takes us on a journey of discovery. The open road is, in part, a defining characteristic of this country, and the Lincoln Highway is one of the historic traces . . . like the Oregon Trail, the Camino Real, or the National Road. Not just for tourists, the Lincoln Highway accelerated the processes of social mobility, changed our geography, and led inexorably to a new America. This is an important story, well researched and beautifully, perceptively told.”—William L. Withuhn, Curator of Transportation, Smithsonian Institution

“This is a model photographic essay: the essay is as carefully composed, as beautifully finished, as the pictures. Hokanson, who says he doesn't like long drives, has written unforgettably about those who do.”—Christian Science Monitor

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press; 1 edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877456763
• ISBN-13: 978-0877456766
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 9.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #969,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive overview of America's first great automobile road, May 3, 2000

By 

Doug Pappas - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lincoln Highway: Main Street across America (Paperback)

Long before Route 66, there was the Lincoln Highway -- a transcontinental road connecting Times Square to San Francisco, marked and promoted by private interests.

The Lincoln Highway and its brethren (the Dixie Highway, Victory Highway, National Old Trails Road, and dozens more) were replaced by the U.S. Route system almost 75 years ago, but many stretches of the old Lincoln are still part of major auto routes. The most scenic and historic stretches include US 30 through Pennsylvania and western Nebraska and US 50 across central Nevada (the "Loneliest Road").

Drake Hokanson brings the Lincoln Highway era back to life with a combination of modern observations, quotes from pioneer motorists, and well-chosen illustrations. Anyone who's ever driven, or thought about driving, Route 66 should look also at the Lincoln: it's longer, more historic, more scenic, and less tied to the world of the Interstates. Drake Hokanson's book is the perfect introduction to the world of the Lincoln Highway.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating history of the first transcontinental highway., April 22, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lincoln Highway: Main Street Across America (Paperback)

American children grow up learning about the first transcontinental railroad and the Pony Express, and rightly so given their role in binding the adolescent United States together. Few, however, learn about the nation's first transcontinental highway, the Lincoln, or Pacific, Highway. This was the road that launched automotive travel as adventure, in a nation that would link its lifestyle to the automobile. The irony is that while we all learn about the Pony Express and Transcontinental Railroad, neither is much more than legend to us today. But automotive travel, especially as adventure, is very much part of the American way of life. Yet few of us know much about the highway that made early 20th century Americans see the adventure in motor vehicle travel. This book, with its outstanding collection of historical and contemporary photos and well-researched and readable text, recounts the great, though forgotten, place the Lincoln Highway had in America at the time. From Times Square to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, the Lincoln Highway carried the most adventuresome motorists across some of the most settled, and most wild, landscapes in the country. In places, like central Utah's Great Basin, it wasn't much more than a two-track trail. Even today, one can drive a long, remote and spectacular unpaved segment of it across Utah, the same route followed by the Pony Express and Overland Stage. When I drove the route, which includes the ruins of Pony Express and stagecoach stations, this book helped me relive one of the most exciting and memorable, yet least remembered, chapters in American motoring history. No, I didn't write it. I just loved it. If you're a fool for driving and for personally reliving Western history, this is the guide to take you there

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best researched highway documentaries I have read, April 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lincoln Highway: Main Street Across America (Paperback)

The outstanding aspect of this book is that it gives a detailed history of the conception, implementation, and fight to save the Lincoln Highway. Upon completion, one has a thorough knowledge of the people and politics of the highway. But there is more. It gives a summary of the different sections of the Lincoln as it exists in the late 1980s. While not a complete travel guide, it makes for an excellent companion for anyone thinking of retracing the old highway. After reading this book, I wanted to resign my job and drive this road. The author has taken no short cuts here.