"Before and since its official closure in 1985, historic U.S. 66, popularly know as Route 66, has generated nostalgia for the people and places of the Southwest. Owing its name recognition to everything from the Okies' desperate migrations in search of work to a popular pop song, the famous highway has generated enough commercial nostalgia in the popular imagination to lend its Route 66 moniker to such diverse products as blue jeans, root beer, and automobiles." "The legendary road, and the nostalgia for it, provides a unique vantage point from which to better understand American popular culture from the 1920s to the present." "The purpose of this book is to create a comprehensive portrait of the cultural meaning of the highway. What was Route 66 at its pinnacle, what is it today, and what might it become in the future?"--Jacket
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