After losing his job and separating from his wife, Heat-Moon departs on an extended, meditative road trip around the United States in a van he’s named Ghost Dancing, an allusion to his Osage ancestry. Equipped with a bunk, a camping stove, and copies of Leaves of Grass and Black Elk Speaks, he vows to avoid cities and the traffic-jammed interstates, taking only backroads—the rural “blue highways” marked in his trusty Rand McNally. Memorable small town conversations and cultural histories pepper his journey. A deliberate, reflective travelogue. — Joe Michon-Huneau
Description
Hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing, Blue Highways is an unforgettable journey along our nation's backroads. William Least Heat-Moon set out with little more than the need to put home behind him and a sense of curiosity about "those little towns that get on the map -- if they get on at all -- only because some cartographer has a blank space to fill: Remote, Oregon; Simplicity, Virginia; New Freedom, Pennsylvania; New Hope, Tennessee; Why, Arizona; Whynot, Mississippi." His adventures, his discoveries, and his recollections of the extraordinary people he encountered along the way amount to a revelation of the true American experience.
About the Author
William Least Heat-Moon is the author of the bestselling classics Roads to Quoz, Blue Highways, River Horse, and PrairyEarth. He lives in Columbia, Missouri.
