Customer Reviews

The Gas Station in America (Creating the North American Landscape)

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I think that this book really is a great resource to people who are interested in American history and how an industry can evolve over the decades. The information regarding the retail petroleum industry itself was a little bit thin. I would have liked to see how the industry boomed when cars became a necessity to Americans and how the gas station industry handled that. The pictures in the book make the book very likable even to the everyday person picking up the book off of a coffee table. It takes older American's back to their younger days of $.05 gas and younger American's to a time when gas wasn't over $2.00 a gallon. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to a person who is interested in the industry of retail petroleum and the evolution of the gas station we all use!

This book covers a wide range of issues related to the development of gas stations in America. Its primary focus is to show how the idea of the gas stationed developed and how it changed the cultural and physical landscape of America. There are wonderful pictures in here that show a wide range of gas stations and layouts around the city. It is also an excellent corporate history of oil companies and their role in serving as gas stations. It takes a look at the break up of Standard Oil and its subsidiaries to the mom and pop operations that ran across the country. The idea of product placement is loosely tied in throughout the book and I think the authors are forced to stretch to far to place it here. The book takes on a very academic quality with that discussion and for the general reader it will be a waste of time. As a historian I did not find it useful and I enjoyed the discussion of how these stations developed. Overall this is one of the best sources out there on how the gas station evolved and an excellent look at urban history.

This book is one I think I will use often as a preservation professional. It has a lot of great context and photos of historic gas stations. It could only be made better by more photos - perhaps in color.

Ok overall book, More of a Academic approach to the book, A Little boring at times, But Nice layout, Couple pics all B&W sadly. Need A Revised Version,This is from 1994. Overall,Can't Complain, For .01 cent I got it for(Minus The s/h charge) Good Investment.