Seeing the Real U.S.
by Nicole Carter

If you're the kind of traveler who likes to know more about a place than just restaurants and landmarks, pick up Michael D. Yates' "Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate: An Economist's Travelogue" (Monthly Review Press, $15.95). The book, part travel guide and part cultural-economic commentary, chronicles Yates' post-retirement cross-country journey with his wife through 30 states, 25 national parks and monuments, cities, suburbs and small towns. Aside from sightseeing, the couple take on minimum-wage jobs and stay in cheap motels, giving the reader a first-hand look at the experiences of the working class in America, from immigrants and veterans to retirees.

Originally published in New York Daily News (11 March 2007).