Recommended Reading
Road Trips

Road Side Attraction

Gas Stations

Pop Culture

Folk Art

Southern Culture

Art Environments

Bicycles

Good Cars

New Orleans Music


Most of these books are stocked in our museum gift shop. The books that are marked with  are ones we really (really) liked. If you are writing about John Preble's Abita Mystery House, we recommend you read two books: Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Folk Art Environments by Roger Manley, Mark Sloan, Jonathan Williams (ISBN: 0893817325) and Weird & Wonderful: The Dime Museum in America by Andrea Stulman Dennett (ISBN: 0814718868).


Road Trip Books
Fun Along the Road: American Tourist Attractions 

by John Margolies ISBN: 0821223518 

Home Away from Home: Motels in America 
by John Margolies ISBN: 0821221620 

Americans on the Road: From Autocamp to Motel, 1910-1945 
by Warren James Belasco ISBN: 0801857341 

The Motel in America (Road and American Culture) 
by John A. Jakle ISBN: 0801853834 

Main Street to Miracle Mile: American Roadside Architecture 
by Chester H. Liebs ISBN: 0801850959 

Home on the Road: The Motor Home in America 
by Roger B. White ISBN: 1560988924 

Airstream: The History of the Land Yacht 
by Bryan Burkhart, David Hunt ISBN: 0811824713 

Look! It's An Airstream Postcard Box 
ISBN: 0811826546

 

Route 66: The Illustrated Guidebook to the Mother Road 
by Bob Moore, Patrick Grauwels ISBN: 0964145707 

Route 66: The Mother Road 
by Michael Wallis ISBN: 0312082851 

A Guide Book to Highway 66 
by Jack D. Rittenhouse ISBN: 0826311482

 
 

Road Side Attraction Books
Weird & Wonderful: The Dime Museum in America by Andrea Stulman Dennett ISBN: 0814718868

The New Roadside America: The Modern Traveler's Guide to the Wild and Wonderful America's Tourist Attractions 
by Doug Kirby, Ken Smith, Mike Wilkins ISBN: 0671769316

Offbeat Museums: The Collections and Curators of America's Most Unusual Museums 
by Saul Rubin ISBN: 0963994646

America's Strangest Museums: A Traveler's Guide to the Most Unusual and Eccentric Collections 
by Sandra Gurvis ISBN: 080652037X

Little Museums: Over 1,000 Small (And Not-So-Small) American Showplaces 
by Lynne Arany ISBN: 0805048235 

Watch It Made in the U.S.A: A Visitor's Guide to the Companies That Make Your Favorite Products 
by Karen Axelrod ISBN: 1562613375

52 More Offbeat Texas Stops : Traveling With Bob Phillips, Texas Country Reporter by Bob Phillips ; ISBN: 0963654152 

Only in Mississippi: A Guide for the Adventurous Traveler 
by Lorraine Redd, Lorraine Redd-Allen, Jack E. Davis ISBN: 0937552542

 
 

Gas Station Books
The American Gas Station 

by Michael Karl Witzel ISBN: 0760306494

Roadside Memories: A Collection of Vintage Gas Station Photographs
by Todd P. Helms, Chip Flohe ISBN: 0764302787

Gas Station Memories 
by Michael Karl Witzel ISBN: 0879389257

 
 

Pop Culture Books
Pulp Art: Original Cover Paintings for the Great American Pulp Magazine

by Robert Lesser b ISBN: 0517200589

American Junk: How to Hunt For, Haggle Over, Rescue and Transform America's Forgotten Treasures (From by Mary Randolph Carter ISBN: 0140244050

Fabulous Barkcloth: Home Decorating Textiles from the '30S, '40S, & '50s 
ISBN: 0764308378

Fabulous Fabrics of the 50s (And Other Terrific Textiles of the 20S, 30S, and 40S) 
ISBN: 0764301985

Terrific Tablecloths from the '40s & '50s 
by Loretta Smith Fehling ISBN: 0764305492

More Terrific Tablecloths 
by Loretta Smith Fehling ISBN: 0764309757

Pinball Machine Care and Maintenance 
by Bernard B. Kamoroff ISBN: 0917510135

Googie : Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture
by Alan Hess ISBN: 0877013349 

American Circus Posters in Full Color 
by Charles P. ISBN: 0486236935 

 
 

Folk Art Books
Tramp Art : A Folk Art Phenomenon 

by Helaine Fendelman, Jonathan Taylor (Photographer) 

ISBN: 1556709056

Hobo and Tramp Art Carving
by Adolph Vandertie, Patrick Spielman (Contributor) 

ISBN: 080693185X 

"Tramp Art, One Notch At A Time" 
by Clifford A. Wallach, Michael Cornish ISBN: 0964171023

Freak Show: Sideshow Banner Art 
by Carl Hammer, Gideon Bosker (Contributor) 

ISBN: 081180707X 

Little Altars Everywhere
by Rebecca Wells ISBN: 0060976845 

 
 

Southern Culture Books
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

by Fannie Flagg ISBN: 080411868X 

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
by Fannie Flagg ISBN: 0446394521 

Fannie Flagg's Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook: 
by Fannie Flagg ISBN: 0449910288

Redneck Heaven: Portrait of a Vanishing Culture 
by Bethany E. Bultman ISBN: 055337804X 

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
by Rebecca Wells ISBN: 0060928336 

White Trash Cooking II : Recipes for Gatherin's
by Ernest Matthew Mickler ISBN: 0898158923

White Trash Cooking
by Ernest Matthew Mickler ISBN: 0898151899

Sleeping at the Starlite Motel
by Bailey White ISBN: 0679770151

Mama Makes Up Her Mind 
by Bailey White ISBN: 0679751602 

Southern by the Grace of God
by Lewis Grizzard ISBN: 1563522799

Chili Dawgs Always Bark at Night
by Lewis Grizzard ISBN: 0345367081

Memphis Elvis-Style
by Cindy Hazen, Mike Freeman (Contributor) 

ISBN: 0895871734

Dr. Verne's Northern White Trash Etiquette
by Verne Edstrom ISBN: 1583485422

 
 

Art Environment Books
Garish Gardens Outlandish Lawns 

by Ronald C. Modra, Mary Beth Roberts ISBN: 1572231408 

Gardens of Revelation : Environments by Visionary Artists 
by John Beardsley, James Pierce (Photographer)

ISBN: 1558593608

Recycled Re-Seen : Folk Art from the Global Scrap Heap 
by Charlene Cerny, Suzanne Seriff, John Bigelow Taylor 

ISBN: 0810926660

Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Folk Art Environments 
by Roger Manley, Mark Sloan, Jonathan Williams 

ISBN: 0893817325

Weird Rooms 
by Alexander Vertikoff ISBN: 0764900102 

 
 

Bicycle Books
The American Bicycle 

by Jay Pridmore (Contributor), James Hurd 

ISBN: 0760300372 

Schwinn Bicycles 
by Jay Pridmore, Jim Hurd (Contributor) 

ISBN: 0760301271

Collecting and Restoring Antique Bicycles 
by G. Donald Adams ISBN: 0964953714 

The Bicycle 
ISBN: 2080135511

Bike Cult: The Ultimate Guide to Human-Powered Vehicles 
by David B. Perry ISBN: 1568580274 

Bicycle Repair Manual 
by Richard Ballantine, Richard Grant ISBN: 1564584844

 
 

Good Car Books
Old Car Wrecks: And the Vehicles at Accident Scenes, 1920s to 1960s 
by Ron Kowalke ISBN: 0873415108 

Ultimate Car Spotter's Guide 1946-1969 
by Tad Burness ISBN: 0873416295 

Station Wagon: A Tribute to America's Workaholic on Wheels 
by Ron Kowalke ISBN: 0873415671

Station Wagons 
by Byron Olsen, Dan Lyons ISBN: 076030632X 

New Orleans Music Books
I Hear You Knockin : The Sound of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues
by Jeff Hannusch ISBN: 0961424508

The Soul of New Orleans: A Legacy of Rhythm and Blues
by Jeffery Hannusch ISBN: 0961424583

Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans
by John Broven ISBN: 0882894331

The Brothers: An Autobiography
by Art Neville, David Ritz, Aaren Neville, Charles Neville, Aaron Neville, Cyril Neville

ISBN: 0306810530

Under a Hoodoo Moon: The Life of Dr. John the Night Tripper
by John, Jack Rummel, John, Dr. Mac Rebennack, Mac Rebennack
ISBN: 0312131976