Open Road: A Celebration of the American Highway

This genial tribute to the American highway system reads like a collection of magazine featuresnot only about how and why the federal government funded the enormous network but also about such peripheral subjects as automobile factories and manufacturing methods; road signs, and why they've become smaller over the years; fast-food franchises (with an entire chapter devoted to Colonel Sanders); roadside architecture and the plethora of porticoes, pediments, mansard roofs and buildings shaped like ice-cream containers; and shopping centers and malls. Patton (Razzle Dazzle: The Curious Marriage of Television and Football also explores matters ranging from James Agee, Walker Evans, Lolita and Bonnie and Clyde to campgrounds, the mythification of Route 66, and why a building in the shape of a duck, near Riverhead, N.Y., was once the most widely discussed roadside structure in America. Illustrations not seen by PW. (June)