Customer Reviews

Route 66: The Romance of the West

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Here's the story behind those magical roadside attractions children of all ages longed to stop at during your family travels on old Route 66. They're all here...trading posts, snake pits, the strange and the unusual places designed to lure travelers off the road. Thomas Repp spent years researching and interviewing surviving business owners and their survivors to provide intimate and fresh details about these gems from the past. A must-have for any serious Route 66 enthusiast or to anyone who enjoys reading about the old roadside businesses that made traveling what it was during the post-war period. This book is a complement to Thomas's first book, Empires of Amusement, which covered the eastern part of Route 66 in much the same way.

Filled with gorgeous full-color photography, Route 66: The Romance Of The West is a fascinating slice of American history and a "yesteryear" way of life. Filled with anecdotes garnered along the length of what is perhaps the most famous highway in America, Route 66: The Romance of the West presents such unique locales as the Wigwam Motel, Dinosaur Caverns, Lyon Pony Express Museum and much, much more. A treat for armchair travelers, Route 66: The Romance Of The West is an exciting treasure trove of nostalgic memory and cultural legacy. Also very highly recommended is author Thomas Arthur Repp's previous book, Route 66: The Empires Of Amusement.

I found this account of the western part of Route 66 interesting but less so than the same author's other Route 66 book covering the eastern part. Possibly this is because I travelled much of the eastern part repeatedly in its later days of the 50s and 60s; or because local television has done numerous programs on the western part. There are a number of other Route 66 books; check this one out at the library (or even Interlibrary Loan) before paying more than the original retail for this.

The sections of Route 66 pertaining to the Miller Family is essentially a 'family history' in that my wife, ne Miller, is a direct descendent of the Miller Family noted in the book. She assisted the author with a few photos as well as snippets of the Miller Family history.

Tom Repp thoroughly and accurately researched into the lives of individuals and events portrayed in Route 66, especially those relating to the Miller Family. All coincides with known family histories of individuals and locations in Northern Arizona. Through his research, he confirmed information previously known only by rumor within the Miller Family, as well as additionally filling in many genealogical gaps and relationships.

Prior to Tom Repp writing his book, my wife, other members of the Miller Family and I, have made several road trips to a number of locations noted in Route 66. We've met, and talked with family descendents as well as to those who personally knew the Miller Family, including Chief 'Yellow Knife' at the "Cave of the Seven Devils" just the year prior to his death.

Route 66 is a well documented, vividly accurate glimpse into the colorful lives and events of individuals that helped make Route 66 famous. The author's indepth research and 'artist brush' presentation of its equally colorful history, breathes life once again into what in most part is now a somewhat lonely strip of concrete, sand and sagebrush. He accurately portrays the lives and events in that colorful history of the west, which will never appear in school books. But describes all in such a way people will remember that history, its names and places.