See America First: Travel Histories in the United States

Originally coined around 1906 the phrase "See America First" was meant to inspire Americans to travel the nation before boating and later jetting off to Europe. Seeing America first became a slogan for some rail lines that intentionally located stops outside of the emerging National Parks at the end of the 19th century. Moving into the 20th century with the advent of the car, the classic American road trip was born; though not all Americans are able to fully enjoy this new form of recreation as the realities of a segregated nation. This list collects titles that highlight some of that evolution in American recreational life and other tales from the American road. Also included are links to historic national parks brochures and New York Public Library's digitzed collection of Green Books

Updated June 4, 2025
F
Fond du Lac Public Library
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
50 true tales from our great national parks
Pearson, Stephanie
Paper Book
Immerse yourself in the wonder and diversity of America's great outdoors with 50 true stories inspired by some of its most iconic national parks.   This gift treasury collection gathers real-life stories from parks across the USA, including Great Smoky Mountains,...
Overground Railroad The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America
Taylor, Candacy A.
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book, Overground Railroad is the first book to explore the historical role and residual impact of the Green Book, a travel guide for Black motorists used for decades when traveling through segregated America. ...
The national parks : America's best idea : an illustrated history
Duncan, Dayton.
Paper Book
The companion volume to the twelve-hour PBS series from the acclaimed filmmaker behind The Civil War, Baseball, and The War. America's national parks spring from an idea as radical as the Declaration of Independence: that the nation's most magnificent and sacred...
The national parks America's best idea
Duncan, Dayton.
DVD
On the road
Kerouac, Jack
Paper Book
Jack Kerouac's classic American novel of freedom and the search for originality that defined a generation "An authentic work of art."--The New York Times   Inspired by Jack Kerouac's adventures with Neal Cassady, On the Road tells the story...
A week on the Concord and Merrimack rivers ; Walden, or, Life in the woods ; The Maine woods ; Cape Cod
Thoreau, Henry David
Paper Book
This Library of America edition collects for the first time in one volume the four full-length works in which Henry David Thoreau combined his poetic sensibility, classical learning, philosophical austerity, and Yankee love of practical detail into literary masterpieces on humanity's communion with...
The High Sierra : a love story
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Paper Book
A "sublime" and "radically original" exploration of the Sierra Nevadas, the best mountains on Earth for hiking and camping, from New York Times bestselling novelist Kim Stanley Robinson (Bill McKibben, Gary Snyder). Kim Stanley Robinson first ventured into the Sierra Nevada...
Empire express : building the first transcontinental railroad
Bain, David Haward.
Paper Book
-- A Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club -- A finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Awards -- Appeared on the San Francisco Chronicle and Wordstock bestseller lists
The edge of anarchy : the railroad barons, the Gilded Age, and the greatest labor uprising in America
Kelly, Jack
Paper Book
"Timely and urgent...The core of The Edge of Anarchy is a thrilling description of the boycott of Pullman cars and equipment by Eugene Debs's fledgling American Railway Union..." --The New York Times "During the summer of 1894, the stubborn and irascible Pullman...
Ghosts of Gold Mountain : the epic story of the Chinese who built the transcontinental railroad
Chang, Gordon H.
Paper Book
"Gripping... Chang has accomplished the seemingly impossible... he has written a remarkably rich, human and compelling story of the railroad Chinese."--Peter Cozzens, Wall Street Journal WINNER OF THE ASIAN/PACIFIC AMERICAN LIBRARIANS AWARD FOR LITERATURE 
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/9ea5d5b0-1117-0132-7932-58d385a7b928

New York Public Library\'s collection of the Motorists Greenbook. The Green Book was a travel guide that aimed to provide African Americans information about reliable businesses around the country between 1936 and 1967.

NYPL\'s Digital Collections is a living database featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, video, and more unique research materials.

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/brochures/index.htm

A digital collection of brochures from the National Parks Service with travel information going back to 1912 for the National Parks in the United States. Collection not fully online. More complete digital coverage for guides dating to the 1920s and 1940s.


Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.