Don't make me pull over! : an informal history of the family road trip /
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Scribner, 2018Edition: First Scribner hardcover editionDescription: xii, 272 pages ; 24 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781501188749
- Automobile travel -- United States
- Automobile travel -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Family vacations -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Popular culture -- United States
- Popular culture -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- United States -- Social life and customs
- United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century
- 306.0973/0904 23
- E169.Z8 R37 2018
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard Loan | Hayden Library Adult Nonfiction | Hayden Library | Book | 306.09/RATAY (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610022510825 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
"A lighthearted, entertaining trip down Memory Lane" ( Kirkus Reviews ), Don't Make Me Pull Over! offers a nostalgic look at the golden age of family road trips--before portable DVD players, smartphones, and Google Maps.
The birth of America's first interstate highways in the 1950s hit the gas pedal on the road trip phenomenon and families were soon streaming--sans seatbelts!--to a range of sometimes stirring, sometimes wacky locations. In the days before cheap air travel, families didn't so much take vacations as survive them. Between home and destination lay thousands of miles and dozens of annoyances, and with his family Richard Ratay experienced all of them--from being crowded into the backseat with noogie-happy older brothers, to picking out a souvenir only to find that a better one might have been had at the next attraction, to dealing with a dad who didn't believe in bathroom breaks.
Now, decades later, Ratay offers "an amiable guide...fun and informative" (New York Newsday ) that "goes down like a cold lemonade on a hot summer's day" ( The Wall Street Journal ). In hundreds of amusing ways, he reminds us of what once made the Great American Family Road Trip so great, including twenty-foot "land yachts," oasis-like Holiday Inn "Holidomes," "Smokey"-spotting Fuzzbusters, twenty-eight glorious flavors of Howard Johnson's ice cream, and the thrill of finding a "good buddy" on the CB radio.
An "informative, often hilarious family narrative [that] perfectly captures the love-hate relationship many have with road trips" ( Publishers Weekly ), Don't Make Me Pull Over! reveals how the family road trip came to be, how its evolution mirrored the country's, and why those magical journeys that once brought families together--for better and worse--have largely disappeared.
Includes index.
Swerving through the seventies : a family boldly leaves its driveway -- Pioneers of the pavement : the long road to the interstates -- Hey, where's everybody going? : Americans set off to discover America -- Packed in like sardines : join us, won't you? -- Smokeys in the bush : dodging cops (and stops) on the interstates -- Time to pass : diversions, directions, and discoveries -- Eating up the miles : dining while driving -- Inn and out : motels, hotels, and invaders from space -- Heavy metal highways : land yachts, station wagons, and "the Thing" -- Through the windshield together : a crash course in seatbelts and safety -- Up, up, and away : all roads lead to the airport -- Leaving it all behind : the end of the road for road trips?
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
In a debut that is part history lesson, part nostalgic drive down America's burgeoning highway system, award-winning advertising copywriter Ratay reflects on his 1970s childhood while expounding on the societal and economic origins of the family road trip. Soaring in popularity in postwar America, the family road trip was not only necessary in a time before affordable airfare but a welcome diversion in the automobile age. Ratay transitions seamlessly between humorously sweet yet sarcastic personal anecdotes from his own family's misadventures to bite-sized history lessons behind American roadside staples. Plenty of facts and trivia are provided, telling the stories of favorite roadside attractions of the 20th century, such as Howard Johnson's, state rest areas, and even the nation's favorite drive-throughs. VERDICT Readers gearing up for summer travel or a trip down memory lane are sure to identify with the timeless ups and downs in this entertaining guide.-Jennifer Clifton, Indiana State Lib., Indianapolis © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
With smartphones and rear-seat entertainment systems, the family road-trip experience has changed dramatically, writes Ratay in this enjoyable reminiscence on what they used to be. Ratay, an advertising copywriter, begins his story in 1976, when, as a seven-year-old, he and his family crashed into a ditch during a blizzard while driving from Wisconsin to Florida; years later, everyone would deem that incident "the best start to family road trip ever." Ratay recalls taking long car trips with his father, mother, sister, and two brothers, playing games in the backseat with his siblings while his parents engaged in the "Battle of E" (in which his mom continually asks his dad to get gas while dad waits for the last possible second before running out). Throughout, he also explores how America's love affair with the automobile forced better safety requirements (e.g., enforced seat-belt regulations) and pushed lawmakers to develop an interstate road system. He explains how road trips influenced the concept of roadside diners (in the 1930s a Georgia pecan farmer started what would become the convenient road-stop restaurant, Stuckey's), the creation of travel lodging (a road trip inspired Charles Wilson to open the Holiday Inn in 1951), and how cars were developed to accommodate entire families. Ratay's informative, often hilarious family narrative perfectly captures the love-hate relationship many have with road trips. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.Booklist Review
Gen Xers in particular will find themselves at home in the pages of Ratay's first book, which combines memoir and historical narrative to explore the American family vacation. In a style reminiscent of George Saunders' essay collection The Braindead Megaphone (2007), Ratay regales readers with personal anecdotes filled with the sort of bemusing details that make brain candy of the most mundane of events. Ratay's opening chapter, Swerving through the Seventies, transports readers to a Wally World-esque destination in search of good old-fashioned family togetherness. In other chapters, which include Smokeys in the Bush: Dodging Cops (and Stops) on the Interstate and Heavy Metal Highways: Land Yachts, Station Wagons and The Thing,' Ratay seamlessly weaves together histories of transportation, travel, and the various industrial changes that brought about and shaped the road trip as the iconic American family vacation. Artfully entertaining and informative at once, Ratay's book will interest all those who look back fondly on days spent fighting with siblings in the backseat of a station wagon, on the road to somewhere.--Glendy X. Mattalia Copyright 2018 BooklistKirkus Book Review
A historical and nostalgic look at the family road trip.In his first book, a mix of memoir, history lesson, and travelogue, advertising copywriter Ratay waxes wistfully over the rise and fall of the tradition of traversing the United States via the nation's superhighways. Using as a jumping-off point his personal experiences in the 1970s as a child stuffed into the back of a station wagon with his siblings ("although ordinary Joes couldn't afford a plane ticket, nearly every family could afford a car, often two"), the author covers a wide variety of topics related to family road trips. He discusses the construction of U.S. interstates, the need for dining establishments, gas stations, and motels for the families on the road, and the sights a child might have longed to see, including a whole slew of "World's Largest" objects or animals. Ratay includes details about the rise of theme parks, including Disneyland and Disneyworld, Knott's Berry Farm, and others, when more safety features, including seat belts, were introduced, and how the use of CB radios kept people in touch with one another on the road. He also shares his thoughts on how cheaper air fare and the need for faster travel have helped make the long road trip somewhat of a relic. Some of the more minute detailse.g., about the roof design on Stuckey's restaurants and their distinctive yellow-and-red billboardsmay not appeal to a wide audience, but much of the narrative will find favor with older readers who can readily recall their own experiences riding in the car while Dad drove and Mom navigated. By sharing this history, Ratay also provides a useful juxtaposition against the modern vacation, with each person engaged with an electronic device rather than each other and the surroundings outside the windows.A lighthearted, entertaining trip down Memory Lane. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.Author notes provided by Syndetics
Richard Ratay was the last of four kids raised by two mostly attentive parents in Elm Grove, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in journalism and has worked as an award-winning advertising copywriter for twenty-five years. Ratay lives in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, with his wife, Terri, their two sons, and two very excitable rescue dogs.There are no comments on this title.