Hello,
I am from the Uk and have been tryign to purchase a copy of
William Hearst Moon's (or maybe William Moon Hearst) "Blue
Highways". It is out of print in the UK (maybe worldwide)
but I thought some Americans, or anyone else, might have a
copy I could buy second hand? I'll cover postage as well
as book cost (obviously). Contact me at email, or here.
EMAIL IS:
weedrick@hotmail.com.
I made a spelling mistake in another post.
Thanks,
David
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Sorry I can't supply you this book but instead would
like to offer my opinion (which is even more valuable!!).
"Blue Highways" sold well when it came out and I thought it
looking interesting but found it inauthentic and dreary. "I
split up with my wife and I was lonly and bored so I decided
to buy a van with all the accoutrements and go out and find
'America' because I'm an intellectual college professor and
study everything clearly from behind my emotional wall while
eating in restaurants." Halfway through it I decided he had
forgotten Dorothy's Dictum from The Wizard of Oz, which is
that if go out searching for your heart's desire and you
don't look in your own backyard, then you never had it to
begin with. Et cetera. I couldn't even finish it.
This isn't the response you wanted, but if I saved you from
a bad reading experience then my life has meaning!
"A Walk Across America" by Peter Jenkins came out around
1970 and is much more interesting, despite its very heavy
Christian fundamentalism toward the end. And of course
Kerouac's "On the Road."
All these books and related titles can be found at
Amazon.com. Maybe others will share their book opinions and
recommendations.
The author's name was William Least Heat Moon. And his van's
name was Ghost Dancer or something like that. So if that
doesn't kill your interest then you're a tough one! Plus,
I see you can even get it on cassette tape!
PrairyEarth (with no space between the words) is a township by township analysis of Chase County, Kansas. Sounds like a grim subject, but the county is on the Santa Fe Trail and the author goes through the history and people in detail. Certainly a differenct work from Blue highways, but I thought that both were well done and worthwhile. Can't the electronic bookstores help you find an out of print book?
You can get it at Amazon.com. They have a 1999 printing and
even an audio book version. I wasn't crazy about the book
either, but it may be good background for you...
I really enjoyed it, and gave my copy to a couple of my
on-the-road friends. It's a great book if you are into
roadtripping America and portraits of (esp. small-town)
American life.
i bought it in Heffers in Cambridge (UK) about 2 weeks ago.
you can get it in the UK.
try ringing Heffers if you like (they're part of the
blackwells group)
not sure of the number, but the address is something like:
Heffers
20 Trinity Street
Cambridge
Peter Jenkins' book is infinitely superior. Least Heat Moon was basically driving an RV and paying for hotels, Jenkins was walking and staying with families. It occurs to me that I can't think of a really good nonfiction US road-trip book written in the last 15 years... any suggestions?
bill's blue highway's really stinks. peter jenkins book is
not quite at the adult level but at least he walked around
the country for five years. bill is a sorry excuse for a
travel writer and needs to get back to teaching (although
it's a little late now).