Drive-Thru Dreams Is *Officially* Out in Paperback
Also, is my sweater THAT bad?
Hey Friends,
Happy sunlight-heavy days from the Crunchwrap. I’ve been hiding out, celebrating a birthday, setting up a house, and doing groundwork for some projects that I’m excited to announce soon!
BUT I am writing today with a milestone to share: My book Drive-Thru Dreams officially came out in paperback this week! Here it is IRL (bottom right) at Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama.
Let me just say, it’s been a wild ride. Normally, a paperback drops within a year of publication, but mine is out just a few days shy of two years.
Some of that has to do with COVID, the en masse rearranging of publishing schedules, and the backlogs of some great titles. But it is also has to do with the topic of fast food becoming a strange new centerpiece of pandemic life. (I wrote about that here for Serious Eats.)
And some of it has to do with timing around appearances I made on The History Channel shows “The Food That Build America,” “Snack Sized,” and “Modern Marvels,” all of which came out in the past few months.
I can’t thank everyone enough for their help and support. And I’m emphasizing that right now because I’m embarrassed to say that this line of work requires that I ask a few favors of you:
If you haven’t yet, please consider buying a copy of Drive-Thru Dreams, preferably from an indie shop. (The paperback is perfect for the beach.)
Please leave a review on Amazon/B&N/Goodreads/somewhere if you like it and/or me.
Know that I am very happy to offer to inscribe a copy or send a personalized card to the fast food/history/Americana/social science nerd in your life. If you have the Taco Bell app, I will send you a taco as thanks.
Lastly, if you need further convincing, I’m so happy that the book made the ‘Best of the Year’ lists for NPR, Amazon, and Smithsonian, but my all-time favorite blurb came from Helen Rosner:
On a related note, getting to talk fast food on The History Channel was great except apparently I have no fashion sense:
This appearance on one episode of “The Food That Built America” prompted someone to send my mom this email:
So what’s the problem here???? Is it the color? Is it the piping? Is it just that I’m an idiot wearing a cardigan while talking about hamburgers? Tell me. HELP ME BE BETTER.