The Mother Road turns 100 this year. With these new and forthcoming titles, readers can get out and explore, learn the history and the notable figures who made it happen, and recreate some of the homegrown flavors that feed hungry road-trippers to this day.

Journey Route 66

Lonely Planet, out now

Six suggested itinerary types range from weekend getaways (e.g., from Oklahoma City to Tulsa, Okla., or Los Angeles to Kingman, Ariz.) to a 14-day end to end expedition. Along the way, photo essays highlight eye-catching neon signage and Wes Anderson–worthy vintage service stations. The guide’s contributors offer personal insight, including Nneka M. Okona’s essay on the Green Book and traveling while Black, and Mark Johanson’s profile of Angel Delgadillo, a small-town barber who was integral to Route 66’s modern revival.

The Route 66 Cookbook

Linda Ly, photos by Will Taylor. Harvard Common, out now

Married couple Ly and Taylor, whose previous collaborations include The National Parks Cookbook, invite readers on a food-centric road trip, children Gemma and Ember in tow.  They translate 66 dishes for the home kitchen, such as the strawberry whipped cheesecake from the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, Ill., which opened in 1924 just before the Mother Road did; and the Tattooed Lady and Sonoran Dog—ingredients include flame-roasted jalapeño salsa and Froot Loops—from Albuquerque’s Clowndog Hot Dog Parlor, established in 2021.

Route 66 Recipes

Amy Bizzarri. History Press, Feb.

There are more than enough eateries along the 2,400-mile highway to support two recipe collections within a few months of each other, and Bizzarri’s 45-entry book has only minimal crossover with Ly and Taylor’s. Her taste for the kitschy is evident in recipes like the Root Beer Bread Pudding from Pops 66 Soda Ranch in Arcadia, Okla., which sports a “sixty-six-foot-tall, four-ton, color-shifting LED sculpture soda pop bottle” outside, and Catsup with a Kick, inspired by the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle in Collinsville, Ill.

Route 66: The Mother Road

Michael Wallis. Griffin, May

When St. Martin’s first published Wallis’s scrapbook-style road trip in 1990, PW reported that the author embarked on a publicity tour in a red sports car, eschewing the usual New York, Boston, and D.C. stops for offbeat locales along the historic highway: the Ted Drewes Frozen Custard Store in St. Louis and the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, N.Mex., to name two. The latest edition follows a 75th anniversary update and includes a new introduction.

Route 66: A Tribute to an American Icon

DK Travel, Feb.

This photo-rich hardcover takes readers along the east-west, eight-state route, beginning in downtown Chicago and concluding at the Santa Monica Pier. Several “people of the road” spotlights celebrate such personalities as Will Rogers, the popular actor, humorist, and member of the Cherokee Nation; after this death in 1935, Tulsa residents launched a successful campaign to designate Route 66 the Will Rogers Highway, a nickname that persists on plaques in Oklahoma and beyond.

Return to main feature.