Author John A. Jakle writes with interesting prose and the fine illustrations and maps guide the reader through the early evolution of the Ohio Valley landscape from 1740 to the beginning of the Civil War.

Images of the Ohio Valley: A historical geography of travel, 1740 to 1860 (The Andrew H. Clark series in historical geography of North America)

History

JAKLE, John A.

Americas

Oxford University Press

Images of the Ohio Valley: A Historical Geography of Travel, 1740-1860

Images of the Ohio Valley: A Historical Geography of Travel, 1740-1860

The American Small Town: Twentieth Century Place Images

Archon Books

Picturing Illinois: Twentieth-Century Postcard Art from Chicago to Cairo

The American picture postcard debuted around the start of the twentieth century, creating an enthusiasm for sending and collecting postcard art that continued for decades. As a form of popular culture, scenic postcards strongly influenced how Americans conceptualized both faraway and nearby places through portrayals of landscapes, buildings, and historic sites. In this gloriously illustrated history of the picture postcard in Illinois, John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle study a rich and diverse set of images that chronicle what Illinoisans considered attractive, intriguing, and memorable. They also discuss how messages written on postcards reveal the sender's personal interpretation of local geography and scenery. The most popularly depicted destination was Chicago, America's great boomtown.Its portraits are especially varied, showing off its high-rise architecture, its teeming avenues, and the vitality of its marketplaces and even slaughterhouses. Postcards featuring downstate locales, however, elaborated and reinforced stereotypes that divided the state, portraying the rest of Illinois as the counterpoint to Chicago's urban bustle. Scores of cards from Springfield, Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, Urbana-Champaign, Quincy, and Vandalia emphasize wide-open prairies, modest civic edifices, and folksy charm. The sense of dichotomy between Chicago and the rest of Illinois was, of course, a substantial fallacy, since the city's very prosperity depended upon the entire state's fertile farmlands, natural resources, and small industries. Jakle and Sculle follow this dialogue between urban Chicago and rural downstate as it is illustrated on two hundred vintage postcards, observing both their common conventions and their variety. They also discuss the advances in printing technology in the early 1900s that made mass appeal possible. Providing rich historical and geographical context, Picturing Illinois: Twentieth-Century Postcard Art from Chicago to Cairo illustrates the picture postcard's significance in American popular culture and the unique ways in which Illinoisans pictured their world.

Sculle, Keith A.

University of Illinois Press

At the outset of the twentieth century the debut of the American picture postcard incited widespread enthusiasm for collecting and sending postcard art that lasted decades. In Picturing Illinois, John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle examine a diverse set of 200 vintage Illinois picture postcards revealing what locals considered captivating, compelling, and commemorable. They also interpret how individual messages impart the sender's personal perception of local geography and scenery. Jakle and Sculle follow the dialogue between urban Chicago and rural downstate, elucidating the postcard's significance in popular culture and the unique ways in which Illinoisans pictured their world.

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

Recounting the history of gas stations, from 1911 to their contemporary decline, a comprehensive examination notes their evolution and place in popular culture

Reference

Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

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.

The Motel in America (The Road and American Culture)

Travel

Rogers, Jefferson S.

United States

Johns Hopkins University Press

In the first volume of their celebrated "Gas, Food, Lodging" trilogy, John Jakle and Keith Sculle offer a comprehensive history of the American gas station, exploring every aspect of this roadside icon, including its evolving architectural identity; its place in both the American landscape and popular culture; the corporate decisions that determined its look and location; its metamorphosis into the mini-mart; and its role as the most visible manifestation of one of the world's largest industries. From the quaint curbside filling stations of the 1910s to the novelty designs of the 1920s (when stations were built to resemble English cottages, Greek temples, Dutch windmills, and Spanish missions) to the Bauhaus-inspired stations of the 1930s to today's nationwide chains of brightly lit look-alikes, The Gas Station in America is the definitive book on the subject. Richly illustrated with more than 150 images―postcards of gas stations, vintage ads, maps, and other memorabilia―this book bears witness to an economic and cultural phenomenon that continues to be a defining part of the American experience.

Business & Money

Economics

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 Tourist: Travel in Twentieth-Century North America

Univ. Of Nebraska Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by JAKLE, John A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by JAKLE, John A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by JAKLE, John A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Images of the Ohio Valley: A historical geography of travel, 1740 to 1860 (The Andrew H. Clark series in historical geography of North America)

Images of the Ohio Valley: A Historical Geography of Travel, 1740-1860

The American Small Town: Twentieth Century Place Images

Picturing Illinois: Twentieth-Century Postcard Art from Chicago to Cairo

Picturing Illinois: Twentieth-Century Postcard Art from Chicago to Cairo

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

The Motel in America (The Road and American Culture)

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

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

The Tourist: Travel in Twentieth-Century North America