| Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike Contributor(s): Gillespie, Angus Kress (Author), Rockland, Michael Aaron (Author) |
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ISBN: 0813519551 ISBN-13: 9780813519555 Publisher: Rutgers University Press OUR PRICE: $37.00 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: December 1992 Annotation: as this excerpt from the preface suggests, looking for America is a book about American values as much it is a book about a road that crosses the state of New Jersey. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - Middle Atlantic (dc, De, Md, Nj, Ny, Pa) - Social Science |
| Dewey: 974.9 |
| Physical Information: 0.49" H x 6.12" W x 9.04" (0.73 lbs) 240 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Mid-Atlantic - Geographic Orientation - New Jersey - Cultural Region - Northeast U.S. |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Two American Studies professors from Rutgers University here show how the New Jersey Turnpike--that "ugly icon, '' America's "widest and most traveled'' road--has found its way into the minds, if not the hearts, of artists and drivers alike. In poet Allen Ginsberg, singer Bruce Springsteen, commuters and roadside home owners lulled to sleep by its drone of traffic, this 12-lane asphalt monster has inspired powerful reactions, from admiration to anger. The authors consider the first asparagus patch plowed up to lay the road; the $70,000 salary a contemporary toll-taker can earn with hefty overtime; and the not infrequent lawlessness of the highway patrol. From the gray-flannel-suit diligence that built it, to the mixture of necessity, practicality and venality that maintains it, the New Jersey Turnpike proves to be an enthralling though unlikely subject. |