Rating: 
Summary: Grade school reading material
Review: ... I like travelogues and road trip stories and have spent some time hiking in various places across America so I thought I would give it a shot. I was disappointed enough after having starting it that I gave thought to putting it down and starting something else. It's an adequate enough story: young man disillusioned with his country goes on walkabout with his dog to rediscover his country, the people who give it its character and somewhere along the way find God too. It's an old idea that never loses punch. However, as one reviewer here noted the author doesn't quite make it across America in this book. He doesn't even come close so the reader gets somewhat gypped if he expects a travelogue that samples the entire country as the title suggests. But worse is the author's writing style. It's not very creative. In fact, it's downright cliched. He seems to have run out of ways to express himself and falls back on excessive and unimaginative use of similes and makes far too many distracting references to his "forever friend" dog Coops. In summary, I have no problem recommending this book as a compelling read for grade schoolers but I have to think that to read this as an adult forfeits the opportunity to digest something of greater significance and artistry. For better travel stories try Blue Highways, On the Road and Huckleberry Finn.
Rating: 
Summary: Where do these ... reviewers come from
Review: ...I am a professor at a well known, highly ranked college and before that for ten years a high school teacher. For all the years I have been using A WALK ACROSS AMERICA in my classes, no book I have ever used has been so beloved and accessable and taught so much in Peter Jenkins' ever so subtle way to my students. That means, no book, including several classics. Of course, Jenkins book having been a best seller since 1979 and having had over 100 printings is no considered a classic...There is no travel book, and for that matter almost no other book, published in the last twenty years that can match the sales and reaction performance of A WALK ACROSS AMERICA. Obviously no book appeals to everyone but A WALK ACROSS AMERICA comes close based on reactions over my fifteen years of teaching thousands of very opinionated students...
Rating: 
Summary: Suitable for an 8th grade reading list
Review: I just finished this book and want my money back. I felt like I was expected to write a book report after reading this. If this book is any indication, I won't insult my inteligence by reading any more of his work. He didn't even make it "across" the US in any meaningful sense of the term. In THIS book that is. For the entire trip west, you have to buy the sequel. Sounds like someone is milking a story... I do envy him his journey. The entire reason I bought this book was to learn about the logistics of undertaking such a long hike, as I plan on walking from the east coast to the west coast someday. Unfortunately he would rather write of his love affair with his "forever friend" and make up lame similes for every little thing he encounters. I would give an example, but I've already given away the book. In my opinion, check your local library or buy it in a quarter bin at a flea market. Any more time or money invested in this book is a waste.
Rating:
Summary: Warning
Review: I read this book in 1986 while in the Marine Corps stationed at Pearl Harbor. After geting out of the service I still haven't settled down. I,ve trekked from Florida to Alaska to India and beyond with no sight of settling down and no reason to.
Jenkins lit a fire in my conciousness that stirred an unquenchable couriosity. This book should have a disclaimer warning that you may just bag what is expected of you and find your own path.
This is a heartfelt account of one mans journey. Be careful!! You just might do it yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Quick Read - Good Book; Could have been GREAT!!
Review: I very much enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and left a very favorable impression on the how each of us can rise above our preconceptions of others. Some very deep and probing subjects were only brushed upon which to some extent allows each of us to fill in the depth based on our experiences. However, I would have loved to hear more of how the hermit in the mountain became so "magical" for him. Also, at the end, everything races forward at a pace well beyond and out of sync with the beginning of the story. I highly recommend the book and wished that the journey lasted a lot longer so as to more fully explore some of the more magical and cathartic experiences in this person's life.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful journey
Review: I paged through this book before I read it, and fell in love with the pictures first. Then when I started to read it, I could not put it down! Mr. Jenkins is a fabulous storyteller, and takes you from one adventure to the next with such ease. I found myself seeing America with his words, not just his pictures. I was genuinely moved by his experiences, and I am thankful that he decided to share them with everyone.
Rating:
Summary: timeless
Review: I just read this book for the first time. My father in law recommended it to me. I enjoyed the story of Peter Jenkins' adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and Motivating Book
Review: When I began to read this book I first thought that I would be reading a book similar to a book about the Appalachain Trail or a Wilderness book. Although he writes about some of his expierence walking in the wilderness he mostly writes about the people he meets and the life lessons he learns. I was shocked at the end when he finished the book in New Orleans but he writes that he will continue his walk Westward across America and then write about it. If you are expecting a book about being out in the Wilderness this is not it, but if you want to read about a guys stories about his hike from NY to New Orleans with his best pal as a dog I suggest this.
Rating:
Summary: A nice adventure that turned out well
Review: Peter Jenkins at age 22 and freshly degreed was smart enough to realize that his knowledge of American life was really quite narrow and heavily influenced by his upper middle class background. He hit upon a walk across America as means to gain perspective. The foremost fact of his journey was its sheer difficulty: having to endure hunger, cold, loneliness, sickness, etc. There is no way anyone could anticipate that and Peter did not. But his purpose had a lot more to do with the people that he hoped to encounter. But his contacts with people actually were quite limited and were almost exclusively with rural people (except towards the end). It would be hard to make any general claims concerning the general character of the American people based on Jenkins' journey. He had some good experiences with people and some not so good, even frightening. Most people were civil to him if that is the claim. Some of his experiences were quite compelling. He had great rapport with a reclusive mountain man in Virginia that he stumbled upon and visited for three days. By far the most noteworthy experience of the journey was the four months that he spent living with a black family in cramped quarters in Murphy, NC while becoming a part of the entire community including backbreaking work at a sawmill. But just prior to arriving in Murphy the white law enforcement officials of Robbinsville, NC threatened to hang him if he did not leave town - there goes any general goodness theory. Other highlights of the journey were meeting and being pleasantly surprised by George Wallace, the governor of Alabama, and meeting his future wife in New Orleans. Less compelling aspects of the journey were the showing up of his family members at various points of the journey which detracts from his self-discovery assignment and a turn towards religious overtones as the book progressed. For purposes of rating the book, it hard to separate the book from the journey. Any rating of the book is bound to influenced by whether the reviewer found the journey to be compelling. The book is written simply - no pontification. Personally for this reviewer two aspects of the book/journey stand out: the physical effort of the journey and the various personal encounters. There is no great lesson to be learned from the journey. Life is an accumulation of journeys - so to speak.
Rating:
Summary: Instructional Tool
Review: I have been using A Walk Across America, by Peter Jenkins as a required reading for over ten years, in The Lifestyle Enhancement class I instruct at Southeast Missouri State University. I also require: Tuesday's With Maurie. These two exemplary accounts of life and its meaning and purpose, serve as a primary source of motivation for the seventy five behavior change projects each student must engage in each semester.
At the conclusion of each semester I ask the over 100 students enrolled in all three sections, if I should reduce the required readings, by eliminating either book? The answer is an emphatic, no! I have included some comments from students presently enrolled in the class.
"This book definitely affected me in a positive way. I believe that I always look for the deeper meaning in things, and this book had a pretty obvious one. In a time period where everything is getting ready to change for me (I am graduating in May, moving, and starting a career), it made me realize that other people are scared too, and that you can be successful even if you are afraid and unsure now".
"Reading this book has made me think more about the decisions I've made in the past and now. I believe that my life is somewhat like Peter's life was before he decided to "walk". I have done, and still do a lot of things that other people expect of me. Don't get me wrong they are all beneficial things, but they are done for the wrong reasons. Things I do, choices I make should be for me, not for one that wishes they could've live their own life in a different way. I admire the fact that peter just decided that he was going to "walk" his life out. He now could have some control over the problems he faced and how he would, himself, solve them".
The words and tales Peter Jenkins described helped move my students out of their comfort zone, and created an amenability and impetus for change. A Walk Across America is an outstanding tool to create insight and pride in our country and most importantly the book serves as the motivation for students to walk out of the ordinary and into an extraordinary lifestyle.
Additionally, students are assigned a take home midterm and are asked to answer four questions about the book and must summarize each in two pages. I have included some student responses, which document the progress students have made in both intra and interpersonal growth. I am aware of no better way to get students to examine their lifestyle.
"I think that I will grow from this book, because it has showed me that I can do anything that I put my mind to. There is nothing that is impossible it is just a matter of me getting out there and doing it. This man trained himself, put his body through hell, and still was victorious in what he wanted to do. This also showed me that there is a great world out there and many great people. Sometimes it seems that when things are not going so well in my life that I want to blame it on other people. I now realize that I am the only person that can make myself happy. I am in charge of my own fate, and no one can take that away from me. The main thing that I learned from this book is that anything is possible once you put your mind to it. I want to leave this paper with one of my favorite quotes that I feel is most fitting for Peter Jenkin's story. "A Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with one step".
"I think I will grow by letting myself "walk" after graduation. I am not going to walk across the country, but I think I will explore my options a little more. Maybe it isn't so important that I get a job in my field immediately. There are some things I would love to do first and maybe this is the perfect time to try them."
I am certain, that without this classic book, A Walk Across America, I would not be able to move my students from where they begin to where they need to be.
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