Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
U.S. Highway 66 is the historic highway stretching 2,400 miles across two-thirds of the continent from Chicago all the way to Los Angeles. Made famous by Nat King Cole’s song of the same name, Route 66 embodies a complex, rich history that goes well beyond any chronicle of the road itself. Historian Douglas Brinkley is here to discuss this fabled highway’s multiple alignments as an artery of transportation, an agent of social transformation and a remnant of America’s past.
U.S. Highway 66 is the historic highway stretching 2,400 miles across two-thirds of the continent from Chicago all the way to Los Angeles. Made famous by Nat King Cole’s song of the same name, Route 66 embodies a complex, rich history that goes well beyond any chronicle of the road itself. Historian Douglas Brinkley is here to discuss this fabled highway’s multiple alignments as an artery of transportation, an agent of social transformation and a remnant of America’s past.
