American Mobilities investigates representations of mobility - social,
economic, geographic - in American film and literature during the
Depression, WWII, and the early Cold War. With an emphasis on the dual
meaning of "domestic," referring to both the family home and the nation,
this study traces the important trope of mobility that runs through the
"American" century. Juxtaposing canonical fiction with popular,
low-budget independent films with classical Hollywood, Leyda brings the
analytic tools of American cultural and literary studies to bear on an
eclectic array of primary texts as she builds a case for the
significance of mobility in the study of the United States.