Revolutionary Road, the first novel of author Richard Yates (Richard Yates (novelist)), was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1962 along with Catch-22 and The Moviegoer. When it was published by Atlantic-Little, Brown in 1961 (1961 in literature), it received critical acclaim, and the New York Times reviewed it as "beautifully crafted... a remarkable and deeply troubling book."

In 2005 the novel was chosen by Time (Time (magazine)) as one of the 100 best English-language novels (Times All-Time 100 novels) from 1923 to the present.

When DeWitt Henry and Geoffrey Clark interviewed Yates for the Winter, 1972 (1972 in literature) issue of Ploughshares, Yates detailed the titles subtext: cquoteI think I meant it more as an indictment of American life in the 1950s. Because during the Fifties there was a general lust for conformity all over this country, by no means only in the suburbs ? a kind of blind, desperate clinging to safety and security at any price.

What Yates does not mention is that the books title borrows its name from an actual "Revolutionary Road," whose start was located but a few yards from a childhood home in Scarborough, New York.Citation neededdate=February 2010