The longest road : overland in search of America from Key West to the Arctic Ocean
Summary
One of America's most respected writers takes an epic journey across America, Airstream in tow, and asks everyday Americans what unites and divides a country as endlessly diverse as it is large. Standing on a wind-scoured island off the Alaskan coast, Philip Caputo marveled that its Inupiat Eskimo s... Full description
Summary: |
One of America's most respected writers takes an epic journey across America, Airstream in tow, and asks everyday Americans what unites and divides a country as endlessly diverse as it is large. Standing on a wind-scoured island off the Alaskan coast, Philip Caputo marveled that its Inupiat Eskimo schoolchildren pledge allegiance to the same flag as the children of Cuban immigrants in Key West, six thousand miles away. And a question began to take shape: How does the United States, peopled by every race on earth, remain united? Caputo resolved that one day he'd drive from the nation's southernmost point to the northernmost point reachable by road, talking to everyday Americans about their lives and asking how they would answer his question. So it was that in 2011, in an America more divided than in living memory, Caputo, his wife, and their two English setters made their way in a truck and classic trailer (hereafter known as "Fred" and "Ethel") from Key West, Florida, to Deadhorse, Alaska, covering 16,000 miles. He spoke to everyone from a West Virginia couple saving souls to a Native American shaman and taco entrepreneur. What he found is a story that will entertain and inspire readers as much as it informs them about the state of today's United States, the glue that holds us all together, and the conflicts that could cause us to pull apart.--Publisher's description. Traces the author's 2011 road trip from the southernmost to the northernmost points of the United States to experience firsthand the country's diversity and political tensions in the face of a historic economic recession. |
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Item Description: |
Map on lining papers. |
Physical Description: |
304 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm |
ISBN: |
9780805094466 (hbk.) 0805094466 (hbk.) |
Author Notes: |
His journalism career began in 1968, when he joined the staff of the Chicago Tribune, serving as a general assignment and team investigative reporter until 1972 and then as a foreign correspondent for the next five years. In 1972 he and Hugh Jones received a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of election fraud in the primaries. He has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. He has worked as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures and Michael Douglas Productions. (Bowker Author Biography) |