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A sign of the Eastside Speedway

Democracy of Speed

Eighteen years of photographs at a Virginia dragstrip show a multiracial community united by their love of fast cars.

The Domestication of the Garage

J.B. Jackson’s 1976 essay on the evolution of the American garage displays his rare ability to combine deep erudition with eloquent and plainspoken analysis.

Ride Shotgun through Mid-Century LA with Ed Ruscha’s Photos and Jack Kerouac’s Words

A kinetic slice of Americana so pure you can almost smell Kerouac’s invoked apple pie – or maybe it’s the faint stench of exhaust fumes.

The History of Cities Is About How We Get to Work

From ancient Rome to modern Atlanta, the technologies that allow people to commute in about 30 minutes have defined the shape of cities.
Grid Lock in New York City.
Exhibit

Traffic Jam

Car culture is so pervasive that many people take it for granted. This exhibit shows how history can serve as our “blind spot detection,” enabling us to see new possibilities for the future.

partner

Why We Can — and Must — Create a Fairer System of Traffic Enforcement

The discretionary nature of traffic enforcement has left it ripe for abuse.

Traveling While Negro

In the days of Jim Crow segregation, the "Green Book" that listed locations friendly to black travelers was essential to many.

Make Ford Great Again

For now, yesterday is where the money is.

Going to Graceland

The makers of the documentary “The King” turn to Elvis Presley to understand something about the state of the country.
Independence Rock in Wyoming.

The American Road Trip Is Older than the American Road

A tour through the travel journals that visually document early road trips of the American West.

Home in a Can

When trailers offered a compact version of the American dream.

How the Women of Los Angeles Protected Their Rights to Drive

In the 1920s, women's love of driving in auto-obsessed Los Angeles created traffic jams and a battle over women’s rightful place.

How Bikes Helped Invent American Highways

Urban elites with a fancy hobby teamed up with rural farmers in a movement that transformed the country.

The Slow Death of the Political Bumper Sticker

Why the campaign staple has been falling out of favor.
Photograph of Jack Kerouac looking into a shop window, by Allen Ginsberg.

Drive, Jack Kerouac Wrote

"On the Road" is a sad and somewhat self-consciously lyrical story about loneliness, insecurity, and failure. It’s also a story about guys who want to be with other guys.
Quartzite, Nevada

Tales of Desert Nomads

Tracing the long strange trip of the American Southwest, from military camels to retirees in RVs.
Photograph of cars bumper to bumper on a highway, USA (year unknown, likely during 1970s energy crisis)

How Congress Planned To Solve The 1970s Energy Crisis

Representative Mo Udall's ambitious strategy to wean the United States off fossil fuels by the year 2000.
Scene from "Smokey and the Bandit" of Burt Reynolds talking on a CB radio.

"A Long Way to Go and a Short Time to Get There"

In the 1970s, trucker films like "Smokey and the Bandit" celebrated rebellious, working-class solidarity and freedom, with complex politics at play.
A colorful collage of Chicago Hustle basketball players during games.

When Chicago Hustled

In the late ’70s, a pro women’s hoops team briefly captivated the city by living up to its name. Then it all unraveled.
A scale measuring the weight of gold flakes; with a quill, wax seals, lace, and jewelry.

Where Inflation Comes From

How we calculate inflation has always been a subject of debate. Small changes that might seem trivial lead to enormous changes in how well-off we think we are.
A crystal ball reflecting a landscape.

50 Years Later: Remembering How the Future Looked in 1974

A half-century ago, "Saturday Review" asked some of the era's visionaries for their predictions of what 2024 would look like. Here are their hits and misses.
A line crew at work in the Manzanar camp.

A Portrait of Japanese America, in the Shadow of the Camps

An essential new volume collects accounts of Japanese incarceration by patriotic idealists, righteous firebrands, and downtrodden cynics alike.
People looking at a window display in a candy store depicting "Fudge Town."

Fudgetown, USA

How a Michigan vacation town transformed the sweet into a nationwide tourist attraction.
Couriers’ duties included fetching patients from cabins, weighing babies, delivering medicine, cleaning saddles and bridles, and escorting any guests who rode the routes between FNS outposts.

Why Debutantes Volunteered to Be Horse-Riding Couriers in Rural Kentucky

Between the 1920s and 1940s, wealthy young women signed up to run errands and carry messages for the Frontier Nursing Service.
Tom Wolfe in profile against the New York City skyline.

The Electric Kool-Aid Conservative

Tom Wolfe was no radical.
Cars on an interstate highway at sunset.

Interstate Lovesong

How popular and official narratives have obscured the damaging impact of the interstate highway system.
Amtrak trains sitting on tracks at a rail yard.
partner

America Doesn't Deserve Fast Trains

For 70 years, the U.S. has failed to achieve faster trains—because it refuses to do what it takes to make them work.
Scene from "The Sugarland Express." A woman is leaning out the window of police car.

Hot Pursuit: The Brief Rise of 1970s Hixploitation Cinema

On the drive-in movie culture that captured a yearning for fast cars on dusty roads.
Train depot in Allston, MA.

Want to Protect the Historic Character of Massachusetts Cities and Towns? Take Away Their Power.

History shows that cities and towns have been poor stewards of what makes them special.
Graphic showing a gasoline tank (in green) leaking underground.

The Hidden Cost of Gasoline

Gas stations caused a $20 billion toxic mess — and it’s not going away.

Anatomy of an ‘American Transit Disaster’

In his new book, historian Nicholas Dagen Bloom chronicles the collapse of public transportation in US cities — and explains who really deserves the blame.

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