Synopses & Reviews
September 1996 found Philip Caputo on Barter Island, a wind-scoured rock in the Beaufort Sea populated by two hundred Inupiat and a handful of whites. As he gazed upon an American flag above the only school for a hundred and fifty miles, he marveled that the children in that school pledged allegiance to the same flag as the children of Cuban immigrants on Key West, almost six thousand miles away. Awed by America's vastness and diversity and filled with a renewed appreciation for its cohesiveness, an idea began to form. With enough time, gas money, and nerve he could drive from the southernmost point to the northernmost point of the United States that is reachable by road, talking to people as he went and trying to better understand what holds our great country together.
Cicada-like, the idea went dormant, not to be reawakened for fourteen years. In 2011, America was struggling through the greatest economic downturn since the Depression and was more divided than it had been in living memory. Caputo, who had just turned seventy, his wife, and their two English setters took off in a truck hauling an Airstream camper from Key West, Florida, en route via back roads and state routes to Deadhorse, Alaska. The journey took four months and covered seventeen thousand miles, during which Caputo interviewed more than eighty Americans from all walks of life to get a picture of what their lives and the life of the nation are really about in the twenty-first century.
Review
"The best thing to come along since Blue Highways and Travels with Charley."
--Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author of In Harm's Way Doug Stanton
Review
“Pithily capturing . . . characters and opinions about the state of America, Caputo snares . . . devotees of a classic American theme, the road trip.”
—Booklist [HC starred review] AudioFile
Review
“Caputo . . . provides ample historical background to the trips 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.”
—Publishers Weekly Minneapolis Star Tribune
Review
“Narrator Pete Larkins casual, personal sound is perfect for this captivating account of the ultimate road trip. . . . Armchair travelers AND wanderers will be fascinated by this travel memoir.”
—AudioFile The Bookwatch
Review
“Its a good ride, and a good read.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
Review
“[Caputos] journey, narrated by Pete Larkin, comes to life in a fine audio highly recommended for any who love either travel narratives or stories about America.”
—The Bookwatch
Synopsis
One of the country's greatest living writers completes an epic journey across America, Airstream in tow, and reflects on what unites and divides a country as endlessly diverse as the United States of America.
About the Author
PETE LARKIN has wide and deep voiceover and on-camera experience and has worked in virtually all media. In addition to his extensive narration and theater work, he has served as the public address announcer for the New York Mets from 1988-1993 and as a radio personality in Baltimore, Washington and New York.
PHILIP CAPUTO is a former journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner who has written numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including A Rumor of War, one of the most highly praised books of the twentieth century, which is widely read in colleges throughout the country. He divides his time between Norfolk, Connecticut and Patagonia, Arizona.