John A. Jakle

My family travelled a lot when I was a kid in the late 80's and early 90's. We would take epic (at least for a kid) road trips and stay in a lot of motels. My siblings and I would also need to occupy our time in the car, so we invented the motel game. We each chose a motel (mine was Days Inn) and we would get points every time we spotted either a sign for the motel or the motel itself. At the end of the trip we would see who got the most points. (We didn't keep any records so I can say that show more I won every time and you couldn't possibly prove me wrong!)

Nostalgia led me to pick up this book off the library shelves. My parents van could easily have been in some of those photographs. I wouldn't say that this book was fascinating, but it was interesting. I learned a lot that I had no idea about, and have a newfound appreciation for the motel. Unfortunately, the book is now over 20 years old and a lot has certainly changed in those days. It would be neat to get a more updated perspective. show less

An interesting history of the town hotel that encompasses the changes in travel as well as the sense of community. Detailing the earliest hotels of this type through the years to the current predicament of repurposing, demolishing, or utilizing the benefits of Historic Preservation. Lack of funding continues to be the major problem due to the greater mobility of patrons and changing needs.
Side note: in my area the small suburban town hotels are struggling while huge conglomerates are show more building conference centers within less than a half hour's drive despite a perceived glut of such facilities.
Bottom line is that I truly enjoyed and appreciated this book, history geek that I am!
Charles Norman is a creditable narrator with a gift for nonfiction.
I received this audiobook in a giveaway! I really win! show less

Very little postcard art reproduced in the book, and very little information about postcard art or the postcard industry or the various technologies used to manufacture postcards. The bulk of the book is boilerplate text on the history of Illinois, but the authors' tortured attempts at including a race/class/gender dimension do produce some bizarre assertions, made with much solemnity, about the failure of postcard producers to print postcards depicting slums, labor conflict, or women being show more oppressed. Bizarre because, I don't think I ever met a person under the misapprehension that postcard producers did print such images on postcards, or ever would have.

The authors make frequent, completely unsubstantiated claims about how consumers of postcard art responded to that art. For example: "Buyers [of postcards] wanted reassurance. They wanted to feel, if only through the card's purchase, that they fit comfortably into the pictured scenes: that they indeed shared in America's successes." How the authors divined this information remains a mystery, as they provide zero evidence to support such bold and sweeping generalizations.

The book is beautifully designed by Kelly Gray and Jim Proefrock. I particularly admired the shade of green used on the end papers. show less

This isn't a book of postcards to frame but rather a historical overview of American postcards showing nighttime scenes of cities throughout the 20th Century. It is excellent as history, taking the reader back to simpler times when horse-driven carriages dominated main thoroughfares...which then disappear as the decades advance.

The first section of the book provides the written history and explanation, which is then followed by the artwork itself. Quite amazing, actually. While Europe set show more the standards for postcard art, many of these American cards show fascinating photographs, sometimes doctored to present a city as being worth more than its separate parts.

Book Season = Year Round show less