His new book, MAIN STRƎƎT: The Lost Dream of Route 66 ( Damani), traces the often photographed “America’s Highway.” Keating’s take eschews the straight documentation of Route 66, as has been done over and over. Now, former New York Times photographer Edward Keating is the latest to follow in those very large footsteps. Among the more notable: Garry Winogrand, Stephen Shore, Lee Freidlander. Since then, many notable photographers have taken the temperature of the country via the open road, with varying degrees of success. Robert Frank’s mid-1950s photographic romp around the United States-captured in his seminal book, The Americans-canonized the road trip as a photographic rite of passage. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter.
