Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy!

Here We are… on Route 66 is a compact guide to the national treasure that is Route 66. It is very well organized. Each chapter features a different state along the journey, starting in Illinois and ending in California. The chapters are broken down by key towns and include the well-loved attractions and amusing stops that are crucial for any trip down Route 66.

There’s a beautiful mix of both modern and vintage photography of landmarks and attractions along the way.

While I have not traveled Rt. 66 myself (yet), I look forward to checking out some of Jim Hinckley’s other publications.

If this doesn't inspire wanderlust, nothing will! This is a well-organized, useful guide to notable small towns and stops along Route 66, from its origin outside of Chicago to its terminus in LA. The route is documented with obvious affection for the history and Americana along the way and would be a great start to designing one's own trip!

There is a generous number of photographs, both current and historical, that make this equally appealing for armchair travelers. The variety of landscapes along the route is amazing! This would be a great gift for travelers and fans of America's motoring history and would be a great roadmap for a trip, either real or virtual.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

In Here We Are…On Route 66, Jim Hinckley certainly takes readers on A Journey Down America’s Main Street. I didn’t know what the object of this book was when I began it: was it going to be a history book, a coffee table book, or somewhere in between. Well, the pictures do give it a coffee table book feel, as well as the concise layout and writing of the book. But the topics written about in the book are what bring it beyond a coffee table read and heading into history book. I don’t know anything about Route 66 other than it’s iconography. Hinckley focuses on the towns that were made iconic by the route. Through this layout, he presents the idea that the iconography of Route 66 was made by the towns it passes in conjunction with the route itself making the towns iconic. Both go hand in hand.

“The focus is myopic and centers on neon, tailfins, and a romanticized view of American life in the 1950s”

The biggest aspect of this book that I liked is that Hinckley presents life in the towns along Route 66 as they are, rather then through a romanticized lens. In one paragraph he might be discussing the history of the area, pre-colonization. In another, the celebrities who stayed in the town. In another, the murder of innocent people, some at the hands of mobs.

The material presented in this book, through writing and photography, is a wide variety and it makes for a pretty interesting look into life along Route 66.

I received an ARC of, Here We Are....on Route 66, by Jim Hinckley. Known as the Main Street of America, Rt 66 is a national icon. I have been on Rt 66, in Illinois, and I love it. This book has great photos and stories of Rt 66.

Don’t we really all want to get our kicks on Route 66? It’s just so iconic and endlessly fascinating to many of us, which is why I was happy to get an advance copy of this book. It is much as expected—filled with stories of many of the stops on the route and wonderful photographs. The author has dug deep into history and fully researched each stop’s history and presented us with tidbits of the kind of history that many of us enjoy. It’s a very good coverage of each location and the balance between text and illustrations is great.

I think this will have a lot of appeal to American history buffs. There’s enough here to entice you to go further if that’s what rocks your boat, and everyone else can just settle back and dream we’re riding down Route 66, eating at diners, and staying at motels with neon signs to welcome us.