Book Review: Addicted to Americana, by Charles Phoenix, the Ambassador of Americana (2017)

Behold the glory!!! Addicted to Americana, by Charles Phoenix, 2017. Isn't this book cover just the jazziest, most Space-Age thing?? I knowww!!!

Charles Phoenix, the Ambassador of Americana!

Behold the Glory! How do you describe the one-man fountain of enthusiasm that is Charles Phoenix? Phoenix has a love for just about every piece of mid-century kitsch that our country turned out in the 1950’s and 1960’s. During a depressing time like 2020, it’s a source of great comfort for me to turn to Charles Phoenix and his contagious excitement for funky old stuff. 

I was first introduced to Charles Phoenix by a friend who shared one of his videos on Facebook. The video didn’t even show Charles’ face on camera—it was just him finding a cool old car on the street in Palm Springs and waxing rhapsodic about it. I was like, “Who is this guy, and why does he keep saying ‘I knowwww!’ all the time?” When I finally saw Charles Phoenix in a video, I was glad that he looked exactly like I thought he would. Since then, I’ve become a devoted fan of Phoenix’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and his delightful “Charles Phoenix Joyride” videos where he talks about cool old cars. ("It says Buick again, just in case you forget what kind of car you're in!")

About a month or so ago I was in a funk about the state of the world and said to myself: “I should order a signed Charles Phoenix book. It would show my support of him, and it would make me really happy.” About a week later I received my signed copy of Phoenix’s 2017 coffee-table book Addicted to Americana. The book is a joy and a delight, as Phoenix takes us through some of the many treasures he’s found through road trips, and old slide collections. 

Addicted to Americana is a beautiful coffee-table book, with a mixture of new and old photographs, nearly all of them either taken by Phoenix or from his collections of old slides. You can either dip your toe into whatever section looks the most interesting, or you can read the whole thing cover to cover like I did. Addicted to Americana will give you new ideas of places you can go on your next road trip across the United States. As Charles Phoenix would say, “I knowwww!”