Rating: 
Summary: condescending and self-absorbed
Review: This is just a terrible book.
I can't understanding the enthusiam of some of the other reviewers. The book is a boring downer, and he seems like a nasty piece of work.
Stay away.
Rating: 
Summary: *THE* Ultimate American Roadtrip
Review: This past spring I took a circular, nationwide roadtrip of my own very similar to the one William Least Heat-Moon takes in this great book. Though my trip was a little shorter in length and a lot shorter in duration, I can definitely identify with Heat-Moon's efforts at self-discovery on the back roads of America. The most interesting aspect of this book is Heat-Moon's use of his Indian heritage and frame of mind while interpreting the various persons and regional cultures he comes across. Christians may object to his criticisms of certain religious tenets, especially when he freeloads off some devout Christians for food and lodging a few times during the trip. Also beware of Heat-Moon's habit of quoting Walt Whitman practically every five pages, while he spends far too much space on certain people and places. But otherwise we have a highly compelling travelogue of the backwaters and isolated small town denizens of unknown America, as well as many insights into the soul of the writer, and possibly the reader if he/she is so inclined. Also, the journey described took place back in 1978, and while certain descriptions and narratives are outdated, Heat-Moon was already lamenting the disintegration of America's small town charm by the fast-food/convenience subculture, which was just getting started at that time. Little did he know how much worse it would get! This book, along with the works of Kerouac and Steinbeck, belongs with the great American roadtrip classics.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful look at the real America
Review: This was a very well written account that displayed the desire to seek out and experience. When tumultuous times occur in a person's life, the enlightened choose a way to positively confront it. Heat-Moon customized his van and made it a great travel & living space to experience the people and places of America. Possessing a Doctorate, he wrote in a nice, simple, down-home style. He also spent a lot of time with nice, simple, down-home people across parts of the country most of us miss. Many of the conversations with the folks he'd encountered made me realize how we, in general, perceive the world and society, and how we like to give our "ten cents" (opinions) from time to time. After completing his journey with Ghost Dancing he worked on the book, while doing some laborious work. This was an insightful look at the real America most of us miss.
Rating:
Summary: A Touchstone
Review: Those who enjoy travel, either for pleasure or at work (probably both), will likely appreciate what's presented in this book. Many who travel ceaselessly are troubled, and Mr. Moon addresses that, in a most pleasant fashion, as well as presenting excellent descriptions of specific places. How he manages to meet so many interesting people on a single journey amazes, but I'm an engineer.This book is best appreciated while driving through one of the described areas and listening to an audio version. I've become accustomed to listening to the book every year as I drive around the West. Mr. Moon's politics tend left (which mine don't), but it's easy to overlook while his excellent prose is digested. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: Though I cannot, at the moment, cite a better alternative because I haven't yet read any, I am sure they do exist. At least let's hope so...
Rating:
Summary: A sloooow drive across the USA
Review: William Least Heat-Moon takes his wonderful prose on a slow trip across the back roads of America, and along the way we get to meet folks in small-town America. Heat-Moon's journey was precipitated by the double whammy of learning he'd lost both his job and his wife at just about the same time, and he figured, as he felt he'd also lost a sense of direction for his life, that perhaps travel, reflection, and writing might cure what ailed him.
Some have said the book, now almost 30 years old, is dated - and of course it is. But what makes it even more interesting nowadays is, reading it, you can kind of track the process of how America got from what it was then to what it is now. It's a bit scary.
Rating:
Summary: A permanent addition to the personal library
Review: William Least-Heat Moon, in an extraordinary first published book, reveals a journey taken far away from the "interstates" of the human experience. In the near-forgotten places and continental corners he passes through, life manages to persist in ways that it does not in the change-racked "fast lane" so many of us are swept into. Nearly two decades have passed and the book is no less relevant in what it says about modernity: In the chain-store franchise 90s, places increasingly appear like every other place, and local color and richness fades--or is bulldozed--into history. Artistically, BLUE HIGHWAYS is a feast. Least-Heat Moon's poetic descriptions of landscape and mindscape are equalled only by his marvelous ability to capture the varied dialects of America. When reading some of the language aloud, I actually succeeded in sounding like a Texan or coast fisherman . . . much more so than if I had ever made the attempt on my own. Like any good travelogue, BLUE HIGHWAYS endures, not only for the above reasons, but also for the honest look the author takes at himself and where his life is going--universal questions. And though there are no universal answers, I think this journey deserves the large audience that has embraced it and, by so doing, perhaps have asked themselves the same questions.
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