Basil Dillon Woon (1893–1974)

This book was written in the 1932-1933 period, and is a travelogue of Woon's travels in the American Southwest (with some excursions to Mexico, Panama and Nicaragua). A wide number of snapshots in time, such as references to the building of the Boulder Dam, Las Vegas when it had only a few thousand people, an optimistic Los Angeles, a description of Hearst Castle (Woon worked for Hearst), the primitive nature of commercial air travel, the still-primitive nature of many interstate roads in the area, and other things. Very interesting for history buffs.… (more)