"We drove the Alaska Highway": romanticizing the road north

"We drove the Alaska Highway": romanticizing the road north

Larrabee, Susan K.

Date: 2006-08

Type: Thesisma

Table of Contents: 1. Introduction -- 1.1. Highways -- 1.2. The frontier thesis -- 1.3. The Alaska Highway as a Frontier -- 1.4. Highway literature -- 2. Building the road north -- 2.1. Evolution of the Alaska Highway -- 2.2. Construction of the Alaska Highway -- 3. Building the myth -- 3.1. Introduction -- 3.2. War stories -- 3.3. Conclusion -- 4. After the war, 1946-1963 -- 4.1. Introduction -- 4.2. Travel guide books -- 4.3. Highway stories -- 4.4. Conclusion -- 5. The adventure continues, 1964-1992 -- 5.1. Introduction -- 5.2. Road guides -- 5.3. Highway stories -- 5.4. Conclusion -- 6. Conclusion -- 6.1. The modern highway -- 6.2. Frontier romance and the Alaska Highway -- Bibliography.

Abstract:

The Alaska Highway is a road that still fascinates and draws people north more than sixty years after its initial construction. Beginning in 1942, literature concerning the road's hasty wartime construction and the men who worked on the highway led to the formation of Alaska Highway myths and legends and enticed Americans north after World War II. Many of these travelers wrote and published the accounts of their adventures, inspiring readers' to make an Alaska Highway journey as well. The objective of this work is to show how the Alaska Highway literature perpetuates the frontier romance of the northern road. This paper examines American frontierism and how the Alaska Highway was and is a perfect outlet for Americans to have a frontier experience. Also, the paper explores the various highway literature written since 1942, particularly the 'I drove the Alaska Highway' works that influenced many Americans to seek their own frontier adventures on the Alaska Highway.