Rating: 
Summary: Almost Makes You Want to Hop a Freight
Review: "Riding the Rails" is a powerful combination of youth sociology and oral history. We hear from former adventure seekers, runaways, hobos, migrants and hustlers. Before TV, jet travel, and interstate highways, people saw the country from passenger trains or by hopping aboard boxcars. This book describes wanderlust, hunger, loneliness, criminals, railroad police, genuine acts of charity, plus frightful hazards from weather and accidents. The book reminds us that during the Great Depression, laid-off workers (such as my grandfather) hopped freight trains and traveled long distances to find a job - any job. The 1934 movie "It Happened One Night" even shows Clark Gable waving solemnly to forlorn men atop a passing freight train. Look at the photograph of the smiling young diner at the CCC work camp and you'll see why Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President four times. The author placed ads in major publications hoping to locate a few dozen surviving wanderers from the 1930's. He received several thousand replies, and eventually conducted 500 interviews. The book succeeds primarily because the subjects tell their moving tales. "Riding the Rails" is readable, personal history.
Rating: 
Summary: Made the Depression come alive
Review: This book helps bring home the reality of life during the Depression. I think it would be a good one for high-school- or junior-high-age kids to read while studying this period of history. It doesn't tell the whole story by any means but it would be a good adjunct to a study of the period. I disagree completely with the reviewer who said that the use of many, short quotes "makes for dull reading and dilutes the overall power of the experiences shared by these people." For one thing, there are longer first-person accounts at the end of each chapter. And to me the shorter quotes used in each chapter are moving in themselves. I also appreciated the greater scope of commentary they provided, more than just few stories in their entirety would have done. I also disagree with the person who said there should have been more first-person accounts and less commentary. I think the commentary helps set the historical perspective, which not all readers might have. That said, I can see how someone might want to read more first-hand accounts after reading this book. Some are mentioned in the bibliography.
Rating:
Summary: RIDING THE RAILS
Review: Dear Mr. Uys, I just finished reading your book "Riding the Rails Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression." It was excellent. I ran away when I was 16 years old in 1979 and could relate to the experiences in your book even though they took place during the nineteen thirties. I never rode the rails but I did a lot of "hooking it." (hitchhiking) I joined the Navy in 1981. Thanks for writing such a realistic book on what it's really like on the road trying to survive. I see by reading your book that I will never get rid of the feeling of being a street kid. It seems to have stuck with these people for sixty years. But I feel a little bit prouder for having survived. I also have compassion for the people who don't have a home and no one seems to care. It's nice to know there are other people out there who are just like me. Thank you Laura
Rating:
Summary: Gives insight to history and modern times
Review: E.L. Uys should be commended for his efforts on this book. First, he tackles a topic that has not traditionally been looked at--teenagers who, during the Great Depression, decided for one reason or another, to leave their homes and families and illegally travel from city to city in trains. More than give a staight-through narrative as most authors do, he allows the rail riders to tell their own stories. Uys arranges the narratives (a chapter long, usually three in a row), then inserts his own chapter of commentary pointing out similarities and differences in the stories he's researched. What results is something that can be thought of as a book discussion group, where Uys is a participant. Uys simply points out many of the interesting aspects of the stories and sometimes other things he's researched while leaving the powerful first person narritive alone. Through this the reader can see not only the historical context and big picture (usually thanks to Uys), but also the smaller details that many third-person book length narratives might leave out--the long, maddening hours one would experience if he was unfortunate enough to hop on a car with a flat wheel (constant jackhammer-esque pounding for hours upon hours, preventing sleep or comfort of any kind); the looks on people's faces or tones of voices as they offer to help or chase away hobos; the story of the lady who called the police on a starving young begger as she fed some stray animals instead; the many anonymous people who paid for meals for starving teens; watching a fellow teenager die after he tried to jump onto a moving car, fell and had his legs severed by the train's wheels and the list can go on. This book was an interesing and moving one as Uys and his interviewees show both the freedoms and the dangers of riding the rails. As an interesting side-note. I decided to read this book afters seeing a documentary on MTV about modern day Rail Riders ("Travelers"). Knowing that a similar subculture of people still exist, experiencing the same freedom and dangers (added to it a sense of confusion and hopelessness) made the book that more moving. I would recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Sad, Moving Stories Tinged with Triumph
Review: I am sorry I never had a chance to see the documentary, Riding the Rails, because as moving as the book was I can see this approach and this material working so effectively on film. I will, of course, now see the documentary. I was very moved by the stories in this book. This is not in any way, shape or form a scholary historical study of the phenomenon of kids riding the rails during the Depression. Instead it is a panorama createde from various of their stories and all the more beautiful for their tales having been told in this manner. The ways in which these kids were helped along the road and how these experiences changed and enhance their world view was particulary note worthy. Receiving compassion taught compassion. It was a scary, important time and it was nice to hear some authentic voices from that period.
Rating:
Summary: A Benchmark study of teenage hobos during the depression
Review: I found this book to be an extremely interesting and readable account of the adventures that teenagers lived through while riding the rails across this country during the depression. I commend the author for his unique idea to solicit AARP members through its publication - "Modern Maturity", and, in the process, harvested a wealth of experiences that I believe otherwise would have been lost. Their first hand experiences are not only exciting, memorable and moving, but also give us a view of American life that is rapidly fading into history. If you have an interest in this area, it is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Riding the Rails: Teenagers On the Move.
Review: I have just finished this captivating book, that covers, perhaps, the most influential period of 20th century history that the U.S. has had. As baby-boomers our parents were teenagers or younger during the great depression and the book hits home, as a way to gain insight on their attitudes toward childrearing and society. Many of them were asked to leave home , inspite of their own parents love for them. Until 1932 the U.S. was nearly in anarchy, something I never picked up on in school history books. Each paragraph is infused with a single person's experience with living the vagabond/hobo life. The book is designed to give as many points of view on the experience as possible. Tragedies as well as, character building and codes to live by may be gleaned from the reading of this book. Could secondary schools require this book as way to bring history to life as the depression era generation becomes merely a dim memory?
Rating:
Summary: It Could Happen Again!
Review: Mr. Uys did an excellent, remarkable job on this book which relates a very important part of American history--the depresion. He let the people speak, and "hearing" them was very moving. These words weren't just cut-and-dried pieces of information about an era--this was REAL. These people were there, they lived it, and only they could tell it authentically. Think! No work, no food, no homes! Just riding the rails from here to there and back again and trying to find a way to stay alive. We also learn more about President Roosevelt's CCC and how it saved many boys by giving them hot meals, shelter, work, discipline, and confidence in themelves. I better understand now the depression and why my grandparents and parents still cling so tightly to their hard-earned money. I wish so much that a book like this would be used in our schools so the younger generations could know that history isn't just some long ago dead subject. We need to know from the people who "were there" the events that shaped America. And all Americans should heed what these people have to say and appreciate those who fought and toiled for what we now take for granted. It could happen again.
Rating:
Summary: Profoundly moving
Review: My interest in this book was sparked by a bit of family history. A great-uncle of mine hoboed on trains before the 1920s. Born in 1900, he was attempting to hop a train in 1919 in Chicago, but lost his grip, fell from the car, and lost a leg beneath the train. All I know about this uncle was from a newspaper clipping from 1919 when a brave reporter interviewed my great-uncle just before he died from the infection in his leg. The stories in "Riding the Rails" were tremendously moving to me. It gave me a perspecitive of the Depression and of Hoboes I hadn't had before. The personal stories were incredible, and the lucidity of expression by these people looking back on those difficult years was accurately relayed in the book. More than once I had to stop reading because of the tears in my eyes. I know this must sound melodramatic, but this book really moved me. But also, I must say this book reaffirmed my faith in human kindness and the perseverance of the human spirit.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, illustrated portrayl of Depression era life.
Review: Rare photos and source materials from letters to oral histories contribute to a coverage of teens who road the rails as hobos during the Depression. The blend of first-person accounts and photos paints graphic pictures of Depression hardships and experiences.
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