Profs and Pints Online presents: “The Great American Road Trip,” with Allen Pietrobon, assistant professor of Global Affairs at Trinity Washington University and former professorial lecturer of history at American University.

From the Underground Railroad, to the Settlement of the West, to the modern cross-country road trip, travel narratives have infused American history and popular culture. What is so compelling about American travel stories, especially now when we’re all stuck inside? What can travel narratives teach us about American history, culture, and society? What about the voices of female travelers and people of color, to whom road tripping was often not such an exciting prospect? How did we become a nation of road-trippers?

Come along for a journey where we will explore the history of how road trips have impacted the United States and how changes in American society have altered the road trip.

We'll look not just at historic journeys, but those that became part of our collective imagination as a result of great American road trip books, such as Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, John Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie, and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. Many of these works were written by people who found themselves to be “outsiders” along the way, and in most the protagonist is positioned as an explorer in an exotic place—whether that be Jim Crow Alabama or the American West—on a journey of self-discovery to encounter the “real” America.

Your mind will travel far within the safety of your home. You’ll have a blast without spending money on tolls and gas. (This talk remains available in recorded form. )

Profs & Pints Online: The Great American Road Trip