Touring America by Automobile in the 1920s by William A. Cook


Touring America by Automobile in the 1920s
Title : Touring America by Automobile in the 1920s
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1620068141
ISBN-10 : 9781620068144
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 136
Publication : Published May 2, 2017

A true labor of love, author William Cook has reproduced his grandmother’s (Hepzy Moore Cook) narrative of the day-to-day rigors in early twentieth century vacation travel by automobile. The journals describe in great detail, a more remote, less accessible nation that existed ninety years ago during the dawn of America’s love affair with the car. The oldest of the two journals written by Hepzy Moore Cook chronicles a challenging and sometimes very hazardous journey by automobile taken by her, the author's grandfather, Dr. William A. Cook and father, Ralph Moore Cook in August, 1920 from Vermillion, South Dakota to Yellowstone National Park and back again to Vermillion, covering 3,180 grueling miles in the process.

Touring America by Automobile in the 1920s Reviews

  • Joe Stevens<span class=

    The journals were the interesting parts of the book with the intro and outro less interesting. The actual writings from the 1920s gave a good feel of what it was like to travel by car to Yellowstone and to the Deep South.
    Each journey was an event with car problems and other adventures that would no longer happen with our modern highways and very different culture. One can imagine seeing Yellowstone when you could walk closer to the geysers and feed the bears. The journey to the South reflects a different time and tells of a land still grieving the loss in the Civil War and the issues with African-Americans who were much closer to the days of slavery. The whole place has the feeling of being still in recovery.
    The writer and her husband were very interested in schools and history along with sight seeing, so that is an emphasis in the books more than just being a story about driving. As a history buff I enjoyed this, but someone without an interest in the Civil War, education and the like might find these bits boring.

  • Diana

    Book received from NetGalley

    The book was a good read, the history of the automobile and travel log around the US were interesting and I loved reading the travel journals that are the last half of the book. My only issue is that while the title made me think it was going to be about older cars and the first people that traveled around the US in the early days of automobiles the author didn't stick with that. He brought in the beginnings of NASCAR, the rise and fall of various automobile companies through the years, into present day issues with Detroit and the very recent bailout. So I believe that the title is very misleading. The only reason I gave it a 3-star rating was due to the journals, I think that was the best part of the book.