Roadside Americans

The Rise and Fall of Hitchhiking in a Changing Nation

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Pub Date 30 Mar 2020 | Archive Date 29 Nov 2019

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Description

Between the Great Depression and the mid-1970s, hitchhikers were a common sight for motorists, as American service members, students, and adventurers sought out the romance of the road in droves. Beats, hippies, feminists, and civil rights and antiwar activists saw "thumb tripping" as a vehicle for liberation, living out the counterculture's rejection of traditional values. Yet, by the time Ronald Reagan, a former hitchhiker himself, was in the White House, the youthful faces on the road chasing the ghost of Jack Kerouac were largely gone--along with sympathetic portrayals of the practice in state legislatures and the media.

In Roadside Americans, Jack Reid traces the rise and fall of hitchhiking, offering vivid accounts of life on the road and how the act of soliciting rides from strangers, and the attitude toward hitchhikers in American society, evolved over time in synch with broader economic, political, and cultural shifts. In doing so, Reid offers insight into significant changes in the United States amid the decline of liberalism and the rise of the Reagan Era.

Jack Reid is a scholar of American culture and teaches at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Between the Great Depression and the mid-1970s, hitchhikers were a common sight for motorists, as American service members, students, and adventurers sought out the romance of the road in droves...


Advance Praise

“This rich and provocative history collects fascinating real-life experiences and anecdotes from nearly a century of hitchhiking. It is a unique lens through which we may better understand the changing nature of mobility, identity, political resistance, and inequality in America.”--Randy McBee, author of Born To Be Wild: The Rise of the American Motorcyclist

"Hitchhiking may have been replaced by ride-sharing services like Uber, but as Reid shows, its disappearance is a symbol of the reassertion of traditional values in the face of social fracture. This book calls these values into question by asking what Americans have lost in their unwillingness to give a ride to a stranger by the side of the road."--Susan S. Rugh, author of Are We There Yet?: The Golden Age of American Family Vacations

“This rich and provocative history collects fascinating real-life experiences and anecdotes from nearly a century of hitchhiking. It is a unique lens through which we may better understand the...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781469655000
PRICE $29.95 (USD)

Average rating from 6 members


Featured Reviews

Ahhh, a forgotten pastime of my youth! I used to love hitching rides around the country. Many of my friends did, too. Some even thumbed their ways around the planet! Times began to change in the mid to late 70's. Police were cracking down on us, towns were making it illegal, it was crazy. Well, the book covers lots of stuff I hadn't even thought about. Good trip down memory lane. We were young and we wanted to explore the world! Great book for those of us who remember those days.informative and entertaining. Thanks Jack Reid!

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