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An expansive and subversive history of the Pan-American Highway.
A century after the Pan-American Highway was first conceived, its story remains largely unknown—even to the hundreds of motorists who annually attempt the 30,000-kilometer drive from far northern Alaska to the tip of Tierra del Fuego. There is more to the highway, however, than the persistent allure of the open road. In Dream Road to Pan America, historian Shawn William Miller unveils a larger tale of lofty ideals and bedrock greed, romantic adventure and pragmatic diplomacy, immigrant desperation and Indigenous resistance.
This book journeys to the early 1920s when everyday Americans invented the idea of a road that would spread fraternity, democracy, and prosperity across the hemisphere. It looks at the commercial and geopolitical interests that shaped the highway—often with little concern for those living along its margins—and explains why the road became an escape route for millions of migrants rather than a corridor for tourists. Miller contends that the highway’s troubled past points to an unresolved future, offering insights into the growing costs of continuing down well-worn paths.
A century after the Pan-American Highway was first conceived, its story remains largely unknown—even to the hundreds of motorists who annually attempt the 30,000-kilometer drive from far northern Alaska to the tip of Tierra del Fuego. There is more to the highway, however, than the persistent allure of the open road. In Dream Road to Pan America, historian Shawn William Miller unveils a larger tale of lofty ideals and bedrock greed, romantic adventure and pragmatic diplomacy, immigrant desperation and Indigenous resistance.
This book journeys to the early 1920s when everyday Americans invented the idea of a road that would spread fraternity, democracy, and prosperity across the hemisphere. It looks at the commercial and geopolitical interests that shaped the highway—often with little concern for those living along its margins—and explains why the road became an escape route for millions of migrants rather than a corridor for tourists. Miller contends that the highway’s troubled past points to an unresolved future, offering insights into the growing costs of continuing down well-worn paths.
Price: $29.95
Pages: 376
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
12 May 2026
Trim Size: 8.50 X 5.50 in
ISBN: 9780520416932
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
"Vigorous history of a highway intended to run the length of the Americas, as yet unbuilt.”
— Kirkus Reviews
Shawn William Miller is Professor of History at Brigham Young University and author of An Environmental History of Latin America and The Street Is Ours: Community, the Car, and the Nature of Public Space in Rio de Janeiro.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Milestones and Mileage in Pan-American Roadbuilding
Prologue: Competing Paths to Pan America
1 From Here, You Can’t Get There
2 Selling Fantasies of Hemispheric Fraternity
3 Adventures in Roadless Road Trips
4 Rivers of Gravel from Mountains of Debt
5 Minding the Gap
6 Tourists on a Road Too Far
7 Migrants in the Gap and Against the Wall
Epilogue: Where No Cars Go
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
Milestones and Mileage in Pan-American Roadbuilding
Prologue: Competing Paths to Pan America
1 From Here, You Can’t Get There
2 Selling Fantasies of Hemispheric Fraternity
3 Adventures in Roadless Road Trips
4 Rivers of Gravel from Mountains of Debt
5 Minding the Gap
6 Tourists on a Road Too Far
7 Migrants in the Gap and Against the Wall
Epilogue: Where No Cars Go
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index