Blue Highways:A Journey Into America

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Summary: An unforgettable book about the unseen best in America
Review: Blue Highways, a book that sends you to an America that you rarely hear about, uncovering its natural beauty in the places he visits and people he meets. An unforgettable escape into the heart of America that makes you look back and realize what a great nation this is. A definite desert island book

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Summary: Living in the blank spaces of maps
Review: The author meets ordinary people in places where the mainstream no longer flows but life continues. Places like Nameless, Tennessee come to life as part of an America with both substance and depth. This is the kind of book you give to friends and buy a new copy rather than take back

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Summary: This one is for anyone that ever wanted to escape.
Review: I first read this book about 8 years ago, and recently read it again. The second read was more enjoyable than the first. This is a witty, thorough and refreshing story of a man who turns some bad times into the time of his life, at least from the reader's perspective. The author takes us on his tour of the backroads (a.k.a. blue highways) of America as he searches for the next stage of his life. Anyone that doesn't enjoy some aspect of this book better check to see if they have a heart. This story should appeal to everyone's desire at one point in their life to just drop everything, get away from the world, and go see America, and perhaps find themselves in the process. In the case of the book's author, that choice was made for him. This story should appeal to everyone, from the high school graduate, to the college student, to the yuppie, to the hippie, to the middle-ager, and to the empty-nester. It will give you a refreshing breath of how great a place America really is, and it left me wanting to pack my bags. The book even gives you maps of the author's journey should you want to do just that

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Summary: Journey across the lesser known byways of America
Review: Mr. Moon's unforgetable journey to the off the beaten paths of America. He captures the soul of our nation as it use to be. Here are desciptions of the people that one rarely hears or reads about. If you want to learn about what makes this country great...read Blue Highways. It will give you inspiration to journey to the off-beat roads of America.

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Summary: A keeper
Review: I read this book 20 years ago and I still have the original copy that I read back then. I just loved this book. In fact, I did a similar trip to Moon's, on a much smaller scale, and I even named my van "Ghostdancing" after his. It is a fun book and one in which the reader feels privileged to get a peek inside his spiritual journey. It is deeper than it first appears. I was touched by it.

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Summary: A Nice exploration of Americana
Review: I first read this book in 1984 and found it "slowly captivating". It is not a book that will suck you in with wild wit, amazing narrative, or dramatic prose. Its beauty is kind of an everyman's beauty.

It is a likeable book because so many of us have thought about just pulling out of the driveway and never looking back. Finding those backroads and driving 'til they end - just to see what's out there. Well the author did that and I think many readers are a little envious that he did it, and curious about what he found.

And what he found was as much about himself as the rest of America. I re-read the book in 2004 as sort of a 20th anniversary tribute of my first reading. The book still speaks to me. It still tells a quietly great story.

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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.

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Summary: ONE OF THE BEST I'VE READ and REREAD
Review: Like many I first read this work over twenty years ago. I admit that I reread if every few years. Not only is it a wonderful travel book, which at first glance, it is just that, a travel book, but it is much more. It is a search for a missing part of a man's life, one, I truely hope the author found. It is very well written. The author has a wonderful command of the language, and is a wonderful story teller. This is truely one of the few classics which came out of that era. I had to laugh, and sort of cry at the same time when I read a recent, previous review here were the young man claimed he was apprently forced (good for his teacher) to read this book for a English Gifted and Talented Class in High School. He hated it. I guess everone has their own cup of tea, but in my work I do run into a number of contemporary (gifted High School English children who pretty well know it all) folks in these classes...that is where the crying part comes in...I truely am worried about us. Be that as it may, if you want to bite into a great read, a timeless read, and come away,I think, a better person, then I highly recommend this one..Warning though..you will actually be forced to think while reading this one.


Rating:
Summary: A keeper
Review: I read this book 20 years ago and I still have the original copy that I read back then. I just loved this book. In fact, I did a similar trip to Moon's, on a much smaller scale, and I even named my van "Ghostdancing" after his. It is a fun book and one in which the reader feels privileged to get a peek inside his spiritual journey. It is deeper than it first appears. I was touched by it.

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Summary: This is ABSOLUTELY the WORST book I have EVER read!!!
Review: In William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways, he tells his personal experience of his travels across the country. He feels his life is turned upside down and he needs to escape it. Taking his van, Ghost Dancing, for the ride, he has the adventure of a lifetime. He comes to points in his journey where life is more exciting than others, and places where the wind never blows. Overall, he meets several people on his way across the country and stays in several towns. He learns the variety of ways god is believed in, the history of flying, and the way that's several of the towns he visits was started. If you like to read about other peoples travels, than I suggest this book to you. It will be hard to find at a local library, but it can be found. The author goes into detail on several different points and is very organized. He tells the story just as it seemed to happen and doesn't confuse the reader one bit. This story is very educational and leaves the reader with the want to travel the country, as did the author of this book.