Icons of the Highway: A Celebration of Small-Town America

by Eva Worobiec and Tony Worobiec

Book Overview

Often when people think of America, the image of the roadside motel with bright, audacious neon lighting invariably comes to mind. The 50s, a decade immortalised by the classic cult movie American... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1904332781
• ISBN13: 9781904332787
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Artist's and Photographers' Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 9.6" x 11.4"

Customer Reviews

Great Images - Poor Layout

I saw another reviewer state that the "presentation" for these photos hurt the book overall and I'd have to say I somewhat agree with that sentiment. These photographs are incredible; they elicite the total roadtrip feeling - being somewhere, that is the nowhere of the slightly surrealistic anyplace. I'm just very sorry more attention wasn't paid to the layout of these photographs, although I do realize`that this formatting possibly kept the price fairly low. That said, I'm still glad I didn't miss this book - these images are a romp and a roll in the neon buzz and hum of places that beckon to our subconscious. Don't be surprised if you find yourself planning a roadtrip - that's the power in this book. Buy it if you want a backdrop for some stunning daydreams and a prod for adventure on the open road. Skip it if you're incredibly picky about photography books - you'll never forgive its layout.

Soft icons

I loved the Worobiec's previous book Ghosts in the Wilderness: Abandoned America and their latest title considers the American landscape in a slightly different way by looking at small town icons: diners, motels and movie theaters. These have always been favorites of photographers, all the way back to the Thirties with the Farm Security Administration. The Worobiec's coverage is basically the mid-west, from the Canadian border to Texas and the five chapters each start with a pleasant graphic map and some text about the towns visited so the book, like Ghosts in the wilderness is a bit more than a photo book. I thought the movie theaters came out best photographically. Their structure implies a straight forward composition and they are mostly visually flamboyant enough not to need to be shot with odd angles or color gimmicks. There are several in the book that just look stunning. Oddly the interiors seem the opposite to me, the ten included look remarkable dull, just dozens of empty seats. The diners and motels provide a rich source of neon signage outside and in the case of diners chrome and Americana inside. Wonderful though most of the photos were I was slightly disappointed with the book because of the paper. I wish it was a better quality because it would have given the photos the lift they deserved. As it is I thought so many of the images had a softness to them which a better stock would have reduced and many of the pages have a thick black border which also tends to reduce their color impact. Compare the front cover with the same photo on page ninety, both use a 175 screen yet the cover is on better paper and probably has a coat of clear varnish to make it sparkle. I was made aware of some of this when comparing Icons with Michael Eastman's Vanishing America: The End of Main Street Diners, Drive-Ins, Donut Shops, and Other Everyday Monuments. Both books look at small towns but Eastman's photos printed on a matt art paper look quite stunning with their rich colors and sharpness. The Worobiec's celebration of small town America doesn't quite come up to the quality of Ghosts in the wilderness though at the price you'll be able to find it online does make it a bit of a bargain. ***SEE SOME INSIDE SPREADS by clicking 'customer images' under the cover. `