Winnebago nation : the RV in American culture / James B. Twitchell ; cover & interior design by Martin N. Hinze.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Twitchell, James B., 1943- author.

Contributor:

Hinze, Martin N., cover designer, designer.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Recreational vehicles--United States--History.

Recreational vehicles.

Mobile homes--United States--History.

Mobile homes.

United States--Social life and customs.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (193 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York ; Chichester, England : Columbia University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Winnebago Nation, popular critic James B. Twitchell takes a light-hearted look at the culture and industry behind the yearning to spend the night in one's car. For the young the road trip is a coming-of-age ceremony; for those later in life it is the realization of a lifelong desire to be spontaneous, nomadic, and free. Informed by his own experiences on the road, Twitchell recounts the RV's origins and evolution over the twentieth century; its rise, fall, and rebirth as a cultural icon; its growing mechanical complexity as it evolved from an estate wagon to a converted bus to a mobile home; and its role in bolstering and challenging conceptions of American identity. Mechanical yet dreamy, independent yet needful, solitary yet clubby, adventurous yet homebound, life in a mobile home is a distillation of the American character and an important embodiment of American exceptionalism, (Richie Rich and Hobo Hank spend time in essentially the same rig at the same campground, albeit for different reasons and in different levels of comfort.) The frontier may be tapped out but we still yearn for the exploratory life. Twitchell concludes with his thoughts on the future of RV communities and the possibility of mobile cities becoming a real part of the American landscape.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Chapter One. THOREAU AT .29¢ .00 A GALLON. The Peculiar Place of the RV in American Culture

Chapter Two. AT HOME ON THE ROAD. A Fleeting History of the American Dream in RVs

Chapter Three. WHEEL ESCAPE. Consumption Communities on the Road

Chapter Four. PARK IT. From Kampgrounds of America to the Slabs

Chapter Five. THE RISE AND FALL AND RISE AND FALL ... OF THE RV IN AMERICA

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780231537650

0231537654

OCLC:

1041879452