"In Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age, John Jakle and Keith Sculle contemplate the origins, architecture, and commercial growth of wayside eateries in the United States over the past 100 years. This new volume examines the impact of the automobile on the restaurant business and offers a thorough account of roadside dining.

Jakle and Sculle begin with America in the 1850s, when restaurants came into their own, and trace the evolution from coffee shops, main street cafes, and diners to drive-ins and drive-throughs. Focusing on the people who created and ran these enterprises, the authors recount the rise of early franchises such as White Castle and White Tower and the later dominance of large corporate chains such as Burger King, Hardee's, and - the giant of them all - McDonald's."--BOOK JACKET.