From its introduction to its conclusion, Gary Cross's Consumed Nostalgia invites us to “hit the road (figuratively and sometimes literally) to observe and listen to today's nostalgiacs in all their diversity” (21). And why not? There are many less congenial people to join on a trip. And few offer so much. Cross gamely promises, “At the end of the journey, which I invite you to join, I will sum up and evaluate what we have seen. I hope then that we will all understand much better this strange world of modern nostalgia” (21).

An Americanist who has contributed greatly to our understanding of the history and culture of childhood and toys, Cross uses this book to take us on a good-natured trek around the US; focussing mainly on the mid-Atlantic and Mid-west regions, we travel to hot rod conventions and doll-collecting groups, visit the Henry Ford Museum and historic recreation sites like Old World Wisconsin. Cross uses interviews and studies the material culture of nostalgia. He is on the hunt for something he terms “consumed nostalgia”; that is, the collision between consumer demands and the vast collective of memory and yearnings that we call nostalgia today.

Perhaps Cross decided that Baudrillard and Jameson – two of the principle theorists to engage postmodern nostalgia – would be no fun on a road trip. And certainly Cross never gets too bogged down with theory. As Cross asserts, “it has been fashionable for a long time to call this postmodern, but what I am describing goes beyond plural identities and … postmodern” nostalgias (15). Cross's argument is idiosyncratic. His understanding of the origins and meaning of the word “retro,” for example, is limited. He uses the word frequently, but rejects the camp element in it. The term, of course, is not American, but was imported into US popular culture in the late 1970s; perhaps for this reason, its fullest meaning doesn't fit so neatly into this US-centric narrative. And yet, surely nostalgia today is not limited to the US.

This approach may explain why Consumed Nostalgia feels more like an impressionistic tour than a scholarly study. At its core, Cross's book has a bigger generational axe to grind. Much of his discussion focusses on a special subset of inquiry, specifically the nature and character of collecting. Furthermore, Cross suggests that collection choices range along generational lines, and are almost always tied to themes dominant in different generations' childhoods. Who'd have guessed, for example, that Gen X women collectors – and they are almost always female – actively seek out different dolls (Japanese ball-jointed ones, more specifically) than do baby boom women? And how are we to understand the adult visitors who, with no children in tow, plan their vacations around yearly trips to Disneyland? Cross's observations of this return to “a commercialized childhood” are illuminating (228).

To a greater or lesser extent, Cross's book reads like an extended, and often personal, essay. Moreover, he sees material culture as very much in flux; his discussion of shifting norms of material culture – especially playthings – effectively link but also separate generations. Overall he sees a decline in amateurs “curating” their own collections. But his primary interest lies in the fault lines that divide two generations, specifically the baby boom and the “newer” Gen X. At the outset, he notes, “I approach this topic as a kind of outside insider. I am a baby boomer (senior class) who collects nothing (besides DVDs of old movies, and those not very systematically) but who is fascinated by those who do” (21). Perhaps Cross's status as a baby boomer explains why his fullest discussions touch on movies, television, and radio, not social media or other, newer platforms. Much of the nostalgia he charts, too, revolves around Americana from the postwar years. Cross is on less solid ground when he does give post-millennials a nod, tracking phenomena like retro video gaming. But other, more convoluted nostalgic moments, taken from the history of rap or the advent of steampunk, for instance, are missing.

If Cross's text does not bear the hallmarks of an academic treatise, it remains a well-observed study. From red Radio Flyer wagons to Disney icons, Cross knows his own generation well. For those who grew up in this culture, Cross's descriptions will surely resonate; for younger audiences, though, he manages to keep his promise. Consumed Nostalgia offers a strangely fascinating trip to armchair travelers and “nostalgiacs” alike.