The Motel in America (The Road and American Culture) [Paperback]

Professor John A. Jakle (Author), Professor Keith A. Sculle (Author), Professor Jefferson S. Rogers (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Road and American Culture | Publication Date: April 5, 2002

In the second volume of the acclaimed "Gas, Food, Lodging" trilogy, authors John Jakle, Keith Sculle, and Jefferson Rogers take an informative, entertaining, and comprehensive look at the history of the motel. From the introduction of roadside tent camps and motor cabins in the 1910s to the wonderfully kitschy motels of the 1950s that line older roads and today's comfortable but anonymous chains that lure drivers off the interstate, Americans and their cars have found places to stay on their travels. Motels were more than just places to sleep, however. They were the places where many Americans saw their first color television, used their first coffee maker, and walked on their first shag carpet.

Illustrated with more than 230 photographs, postcards, maps, and drawings, The Motel in America details the development of the motel as a commercial enterprise, its imaginative architectural expressions, and its evolution within the place-product-packaging concept along America's highways. As an integral part of America's landscape and culture, the motel finally receives the in-depth attention it deserves.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A motel tell-all on how these inns gradually popped up along our roadsides out of grass-roots entrepreneurship and built themselves a place in the American consciousness... Provocative." -- Winnie Carlson, Memphis Commercial Appeal

""A team of academic historians and geographers turn a childhood love of the motor hotel into a well-documented and richly illustrated study... Tracing the motel's origins to the auto camps of the early 1900s, simple roadside areas where 'tin can tourists' (named as much for their refuse as their cars) could pitch tents, they trace its evolution into such later forms as the motor court." -- Preservation

"Both a rewarding read and rich in thoughtful commentary... For anyone interested in how and why motels became as much a part of modern America as the cars that made them necessary, The Motel in America is required reading." -- Steven Thompson, AutoWeek

""Enjoyable for its own sake, the book is also valuable as a reference for collectors of roadside memorabilia... An entertaining, well-illustrated history of the motel." -- Don Abood, Mobilia

"The Motel in America... is to roadside accommodations what Gibbon's history is to Rome." -- Wayne Curtis, Atlantic Monthly

""Lolita was debauched in one; Kentucky Fried Chicken was born in another. Lots of interesting things happen behind the impervious, often cheesy facade of roadside motels... A masterful scrapbook for fellow devotees." -- Entertainment Weekly

"The authors of this smart and entertaining history of the roadside slumber industry come to some interesting conclusions." -- Hungry Mind Review

"The definitive work on motels of the post-World War II era... A valuable contribution to the growing interdisciplinary literature on the nation's vernacular landscape." -- Andrew Hurley, Journal of American History

"While The Motel in America is informed by sensitive nostalgia and well illustrated with postcards and other ephemera appealing to roadside buffs, it is a serious work whose methodologically varied chapters comprise an interdisciplinary whole encompassing architecture, geography, economics, marketing, and social history... An excellent, always engaging work that will remain the last word on many aspects of its subject." -- Jeffrey L. Meikle, Techology and Culture

From the Publisher

"The Motel in America . . . is to roadside accommodations what Gibbon's history is to Rome."—Wayne Curtis, Atlantic Monthly

"A motel tell-all on how these inns gradually popped up along our roadsides out of grass-roots entrepreneurship and built themselves a place in the American consciousness . . . Provocative."—Winnie Carlson, Memphis Commercial Appeal

"Historians and geographers turn a childhood love of the motor hotel into a well-documented and richly illustrated study."—Preservation

"An excellent, always engaging work that will remain the last word on many aspects of its subject."—Technology and Culture

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (April 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801869188
• ISBN-13: 978-0801869181
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #856,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating pictures and very interesting documentary, July 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Motel in America (The Road and American Culture) (Hardcover)

Upon completion of this book, the reader will have a complete history of the growth of today's hotel industry from the days of tourist camps, through motor courts, motels, and now motor inns. It is well researched, very quick reading, and gives an excellent history of this major form of commerce during the earlier part of the 20th century. The only thing missing might be a pictoral diagram showing the evolution of early chains into today's major lodging chains. I would also suggest a little more detail on the circumstances of some of the chain's that went out of business. Either way, a great piece for anyone interested in travel history and highway evolution.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great historical analysis of Hotels, November 16, 2008

By 

Lehigh History Student (Bethlehem, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Motel in America (The Road and American Culture) (Paperback)

This is the best book in the series on the impact of the road and automobile on American culture. It clearly and concisely assesses how the Motel impacted Americans from the traveling family stopping in motor courts to the modern business traveler staying in Holiday Inn Express or Marriott's. The book focuses less on the package placement academic babble that permeates the rest of the series and more on the historical and cultural aspects of the motel. It traces the evolution from roadside tents, to cabins to motor courts and up to the modern hotel/motel. It has a fascinating chapter on the development of the hotel room and what amenities should be included or not included through historical analysis. For those who really want to understand the history behind hotels this is an excellent place to start and a valuable contribution to urban history.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Motel Mania My Goodness, October 2, 2004

By 

John Preble "UCM Museum Director" (ABITA SPRINGS, LA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Motel in America (The Road and American Culture) (Paperback)

This book is not a big coffee table picture book. It is not a book to take to the beach. But I could see taking this book on vacation - that is if you were driving the old state highways that may still have some of the kewl vintage motels and stuff. This book covers a lot of ground and it would be of interest to those who enjoy funky motels and stuff. The writing style is not a fun as I would like - perhaps this book started out as a college thesis. But the info and pictures make it a good buy for the money.