Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age (The Road and American Culture)

Eating on the run has a long history in America, but it was the automobile that created a whole new category of dining: "fast food." In the final volume of their "Gas, Food, Lodging" trilogy, John Jakle and Keith Sculle contemplate the origins, architecture, and commercial growth of fast food restaurants from White Castle to McDonald's.

Illustrated with 217 maps, postcards, photographs, and drawings, Fast Food makes clear that the story of these unpretentious restaurants is the story of modern American culture. The first roadside eateries popularized once-unfamiliar foods -- hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, milkshakes, burritos -- that are now basic to the American diet. By the 1950s, drive-ins and diners had become icons of rebellion where teenagers sought freedom from adult authority. Like the gas station and the motel, the roadside restaurant is an essential part of the modern American landscape -- where intentional sameness of design "welcomes" every interstate driver.

The book will provide you with more fast food trivia than even the nerdiest person in the world would ever want to hear.

A great coffee table book.


Authoritative, but not light reading   May 12, 2000
 15 out of 15 found this review helpful

I enjoyed this book much more than the previous reviewer, but he has a point. FAST FOOD, like the other titles in the "Road and American Culture" series, should not be confused with the typical book on "roadside Americana": it's not a lighthearted, heavily illustrated volume designed to evoke nostalgic memories. If that's what you want, search for titles written by John Margolies or Michael Karl Witzel, or published by Chronicle Books.

This is a serious examination of casual dining in America, from the lunch wagons which once served urban laborers through the chains which now cluster near every exit along the Interstate. Taken on its own terms, the book is a success, assembling more information (well-annotated, with an excellent bibliography) than any previous title on the topic. Just be sure you know what you're getting into!


unreadable   February 6, 2000
 22 out of 28 found this review helpful

What could be more entertaining than a book about fast-food? What could be more fun than reading the history of Wendy's and Long john Silver, of hamburgers and hotdogs? Unfortunately the writers of 'Fast food' have a very bad case of sociologist's jargon. Most of the book is as exciting and as readable as a management study and many a paragraph goes beyond the comprehension of this reader, even though he graduated in literature. Moreover the writers do not bother to hide their cultured disdain for the food they write about. So notwithstanding the many interesting facts and observations in this book, in the end there is very little to enjoy.