Year: 2002
Type: article
Abstract: for over fifteen years, Margaret Walsh, reader in American economic and social history at the University of Nottingham, has traversed the United States in search of sources on the longdistance bus industry. This compilation of her previously published articles—with some new material—is a happy occasion for transportation, social, cultural, and business historians of modern America. While uneven, in part a reflection of the unavailability of primary sources, and repetitious, the result of republish-ing earlier work without editing, the book makes two important contributions: It presents an accessible overview of an understudied industry and provides intriguing case studies showing how business history can be combined with social and cultural history techniques. Walsh organizes her book into three sections. In part 1, “Main Routes,” she furnishes an overview of the political economy of the bus industry from the early twentieth century to the era of deregulation. In part 2, “Regional Highways,” Walsh offers three chapters on early bus entrepreneurs (two men and one woman), all from the Midwest (where the two largest firms, Greyhound and Trailways, began). In part 3, “Alternative Avenues,” she includes four chapters that connect the business history of buses with techniques of the social and cultural historian. Joining a chapter on the political economy of national regulation are three others: one on the industry's use of advertising, one on the diverse roles women played in the industry, and one that analyzes photographs (from 1947 and 1948) to understand what the written primary sources do not tell us. Reproductions of advertisements and photos enhance these analyses.
Source: Journal of American History
DOI: 10.2307/2700860
Authors: William R. Childs, Margaret Walsh
Institution: The Ohio State University
Language: English
Topic: American History and Culture
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2890503138