Free Air

Free Air is a novel written by Sinclair Lewis.

Synopsis

This cheerful little road novel, published in 1919, is about Claire Boltwood, who, in the early days of the 20th century, travels by automobile from New York City to the Pacific Northwest, where she falls in love with a nice, down-to-earth young man and gives up her snobbish Estate. (From the Book Stub)

From a critical perspective, Free Air is consistent with Sinclair Lewis' the lean towards Leftist politics that he displays in his other works (most notably It Can't Happen Here. Examples of this viewpoint expressed in Free Air can be found in Lewis' emphasis on the heroic role of the book's protagonist, Milt Dagget, a working class everyman type. Lewis conversely presents nearly every upper-class character in Claire Boltwood's world (including her railroad-mogul father) as being snobby elitists. The story also champions the automobile over railroad travel, which hints at Lewis' favoring the democratization of transportation that automobiles would eventually accord. Free Air is one of the first novels about the road trip, a subject that the Beats (most notably Jack Kerouac), would build a cult following around roadtrip culture, in the mid-20th Century).