A ~ D
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BUICK
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$28.00
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King, Stephen,
FROM A BUICK 8.
. NEW copy, HARDCOVER.
(Scribners).
356 pages.
~~~ The state police of Troop D in rural Pennsylvania have kept a secret in Shed B
out back of the barracks ever since 1979, when Troopers Ennis Rafferty and
Curtis Wilcox answered a call from a gas station just down the road and came
back with an abandoned Buick Roadmaster. Curt Wilcox knew old cars, and he knew
immediately that this one was . . . wrong, just wrong. A few hours later, when
Rafferty vanished, Wilcox and his fellow troopers knew the car was worse than
dangerous - and that it would be better if John Q. Public never found out about
it. Curt's avid curiosity took the lead, and they investigated as best they
could. Over the years, the troop absorbed the mystery as part of the background
to their work, the Buick 8 sitting out there like a still-life painting that
breathes - inhaling a little bit of this world, exhaling a little bit of
whatever world it came from. In the fall of 2001, a few months after Curt Wilcox
is killed in a gruesome auto accident, his eighteen-year-old boy, Ned, starts
coming by the barracks, mowing the lawn, washing windows, shoveling snow. Sandy
Dearborn, Sergeant Commanding, knows it's the boy's way of holding onto his
father, and Ned is allowed to become part of the Troop D family. One day he
looks in the window of Shed B and discovers the family secret. Like his father,
Ned wants answers, and the secret begins to stir, not only in the minds and
hearts of the veteran troopers who surround him, but in Shed B as well. . .
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$10.95
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Paterniti, Michael,
DRIVING Mr. ALBERT.
. NEW copy,
PAPERBACK. (Dial Press). 211 pages. ~~~ Albert Einstein's brain floats in a Tupperware bowl in a gray duffel bag in the
trunk of a Buick Skylark barreling across America. Driving the car is journalist
Michael Paterniti. Sitting next to him is an eighty-four-year-old pathologist
named Thomas Harvey, who performed the autopsy on Einstein in 1955 - then simply
removed the brain and took it home. And kept it for over forty years. On a cold
February day, the two men and the brain leave New Jersey and light out on I-70
for sunny California, where Einstein's perplexed granddaughter, Evelyn, awaits.
And riding along as the imaginary fourth passenger is Einstein himself, an
id-driven genius, the original galactic slacker with his head in the stars. Part
travelogue, part memoir, part history, part biography, and part meditation,
Driving Mr. Albert is one of the most unique road trips in modern literature.
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$15.00
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Seals, David,
THE POWWOW HIGHWAY.
. NEW copy, PAPERBACK.
(Plume Books).
121 pages.
~~~ Philbert Bono and Buddy Red Bird are about to prove that the spirit of the great
Cheyenne warriors is still alive and kicking. Their "war pony," a burned-out,
rusty, '64 Buick LeSabre, has left a trail of dust from Montana's Lame Deer
Reservation halfway down Interstate 25 toward New Mexico. It's a journey of
enlightenment, a quest for greatness - and it just might be one of the wildest,
funniest, most outrageous rides you've ever been on.
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$23.95
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Campbell, Rob,
PLATO'S GARAGE.
. NEW copy, Hardcover.
(St Martin's Press).
264 pages.
~~~ In a collection of essays that are often personal, occasionally journalistic,
and frequently meditative, Rob Campbell takes a look at the world from a
different perspective - through the reflective lens of the automobile in our
car-obsessed culture.
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$11.95
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Christian, M. and Maxim Jakubowski (eds),
THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TALES FROM THE ROAD.
. NEW copy, PAPERBACK.
(Carroll & Graf Publishers). 499 pages.
~~~ Combining classic stories with never-before-published
work, The Mammoth Book of Tales from the Road travels along exotic
as well as familiar pathways, covering territory from the erotic
and romantic, to the chilling, adventurous, and humorous. From
trails carved through dense jungle to six-lane superhighways,
these travelers' tales comprise cops and robbers barreling down
mean streets, summer roadtrip vacations gone wildly wrong,
sentimental journeys made in hope and despair, wandering wise men,
and post-apocalyptic road warriors.
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$12.00
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Currey, Richard,
LOST HIGHWAY.
. NEW copy, PAPERBACK.
(Mariner Books).
258 pages.
~~~ Working the back roads and taverns of the
Appalachian South after World War II, gifted country
musician Sapper Reeves finds his music as overlooked
as the country he travels. Currey's explorations of
a father's love for his son, a veteran's enduring
dignity, and a love affair spanning half a century
"are like tiny miracles . . . that stir the heart and
mind in ways only the best fiction
can."
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$19.95
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Baeder, John and Vincent Scully,
DINERS (Revised & Updated).
. NEW copy, PAPERBACK.
(Henry N. Abrams).
144 pages.
~~~ John Baeder's passionate interest in diners, his marvelous
realistic paintings of them, and his
charming, personal, and anecdotal recollections of diner food, diner
lore, and diner people capture a uniquely American roadside
institution. Included here are paintings and descriptions of more
than 100 diners from every part of the United States. The artist's
own captions introduce each diner - many of which no longer exist -
and describe their food specialties, their sometimes quirky
histories, and their owners, managers, or patrons.
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$22.00
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Ginsberg, Debra,
WAITING: The True Confessions of a Waitress.
. NEW copy, Hardcover.
(Harper Collins).
321 pages.
~~~ In Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress
- part memoir, part social commentary, part guide on how to behave
when dining out - Ginsberg takes readers on an intimate journey of
her twenty years as a waitress at the dingiest of diners, a
soap-operatic Italian restaurant, an exclusive five-star dining
club, and more. While chronicling her parallel evolution as a
writer and single mother, the book also takes a behind-the-scenes
look at restaurant life - revealing that, yes, when pushed, a server
will spit in food, and, no, that's not really decaf you're getting -
and at how most people in this business are in a constant state of
waiting to do something else.
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$19.95
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Heimann, Jim,
CAR HOPS AND CURB SERVICE: A history of American Drive-in Restaurants, 1920-1960.
. NEW copy, oversize PAPERBACK.
(Chroncle Books, 1996). 124 full-color photographs, 128 pages.
282 pages.
~~~
Travel back to the heyday of the American drive-in restaurant --complete with
swinging ponytails, shiny new automobiles, and the aroma of French fries
drifting through unrolled car windows. Beginning with the original Texas Pig
Stand of 1921, this evocative compendium cruises through 40 years of drive in
culture, tracing the history of roadside restaurant architecture and the people
who created it. Engagingly illustrated with historical photographs and a rich
assortment of related ephemera, from menus to matchbox covers, Car Hops and
Curb Service chronicles a unique chapter of popular culture for anyone who
sipped a malt, hung a tray, or cruised a drive in parking lot -- or wished they
had.
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$17.00
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Herley, Andrew,
DINERS, BOWLING ALLEYS AND TRAILER PARKS.
. NEW copy, PAPERBACK.
(Basic Books). 409 pages.
~~~ The years immediately following the Second World War
witnessed a dramatic transformation of America's working-class
suburbs, driven by an unprecedented post-war prosperity and a
burgeoning consumer culture. Chrome and neon were the new currency
in this newly vital consumer culture, and no post-war consumer
products trafficked more heavily in this currency than diners,
bowling alleys, and trailer parks. Through these three distinctively
American institutions, Andrew Hurley examines the struggle of
Americans with modest means to attain the good life after two
long decades of depression and war. He tells this story of the
humble origins, explosive growth, and gradual, sad decline of
the diner, bowling alley, and trailer park in expert fashion.
This is cultural and social history that knows how to entertain.
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$11.95
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Offitzer, Karen,
DINERS.
. NEW copy, hardcover.
(Metro Books). 128 pages.
~~~ More than just a place to grab a bite, the diner is an expression of the free-flowing American spirit and a symbol of the energy and passion of a culture devoted to simple pleasures and classic, unadorned food. This volume is a delightful pictorial celebration of this astounding slice of American culture and history, presenting an entertaining and informative text served up in style with full-color and archival photographs, fine art, and memorabilia.
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$29.95
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Owings, Alison,
HEY, WAITRESS! The USA from the Other Side of the Tray.
. NEW copy, hardcover.
(University of California Press). Illustrated. 334 pages.
~~~ This series of candid stories
and compelling anecdotes describes not only the work of waitresses around the
country, but reveals the work, dreams, and lives of American women working in
eateries, from diners to haute cuisine.
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$17.95
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Witzel, Michael Karl,
AMERICAN DRIVE-IN RESTAURANT.
. NEW copy, oversize PAPERBACK.
(Motorbooks). 122 b&w and 99 color illustrations. 192 pages.
~~~ Take a unique look at the history,
culture and folklore of the American drive-in
throughout history in this fascinating book. It is
filled with collectible drive-in memorabilia as
well as photographs of famous drive-ins from yesterday
and today.
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$29.95
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Dunbar, Lee,
AUTOMOBILIA.
. NEW copy, oversize PAPERBACK.
(Schiffer Books). Color photographs,
160 pages.
~~~ What's "automobilia?" It's all the great go-with items that
accompanied the evolution of our auto history. It's the signs that hung in
dealerships and gas stations, the toys that young drivers-to-be played with,
it's the oil cans that poured and the dealer giveaways that promoted their
products. Automobilia, the book explores the vintage signs, toys, and giveaways
produced during the 100-year life of the auto industry, which changed the course
of history forever. The history of the auto is captured in more than 500 photos,
with information-packed captions and a corresponding price guide. Automobilia is
an invaluable reference for anyone fascinated by the story of the horseless
carriage, and a must-have for both beginner and long-time collectors.
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