The Longest Road
Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean
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4.1 • 43 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In The Longest Road, 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Faced with a double dose of mortality his father's death and the prospect of turning 70 Caputo decided in 2011 to live a long-dormant dream. He hitched an Airstream trailer to a pickup truck and drove from the southernmost point of the continental U.S (Key West, Fla.) to the northernmost point (Deadhorse, Ala.). During the trip, the Pulitzer Prize winning author (A Rumor of War) asked people he encountered one burning question: what keeps the nation together during this wobbly period of high unemployment and political fragmentation? Caputo avoids an exercise in earnest, neon-flashing patriotism by simply letting his smalltown subjects talk. The interviewees including a husband-and-wife missionary team, a French-speaking saloon owner, and a young man looking for hope in a desperate Indian reservation yield uncluttered insight into the makeup of the American spirit. Caputo also provides ample historical background to the trip's sites and a nice dose of humor. Curious and genuine, he weaves these elements together to produce a continental tale that is always engaging and frequently reassuring.
Customer Reviews
Good read!
I read this book after reading Rumor of War. I like to read more than one book from an author to get a better picture of the writer. I love military nonfiction and was not really looking forward to reading this book. It turned out to be a very interesting read and let me get to know the author.
Loved this narrative
I am partial to non fiction I suppose and I found this story compelling and thoroughly enjoyable - both simple and complex at the same time. I just recommended it to my 88 year old mother and she is reading it as I write this. Thanks for a fun read.