Route 66 100 Years

Editor: Jim Hinckley
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Motorbooks, 2025
Pages: 224
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: The most iconic road in American history is turning 100. Over the past century, Route 66 has far surpassed its original prosaic purpose as an automotive thoroughfare from Chicago to Los Angeles, becoming a pop culture icon embedded in literature, song, film, and (most significantly) our imagination. It remains so even decades after the Interstate system mostly bypassed it.

Review: I first learned of Route 66 on a trip to Albuquerque and Gallup, New Mexico when I was a freshman in college. Signs and references to The Mother Road were everywhere in that area. These were the pre-internet days and I remember asking about it. It captured my imagination, and in the years since I have learned more about it.

This month, my parents took a bus trip along Route 66 to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Knowing they were taking this trip, I bought this book for my dad for Christmas. Many of the sites and stops they made, including restaurants, are listed in this book. I followed along in this book as they made their way along the route. 

While my family and I haven't made a concerted effort to drive Route 66, we have been to various stops along it, including driving on a section of the original Route 66 in eastern
Oklahoma.