Rating: 
Summary: excellent voyage through the American soul
Review: As An European, I have travelled quite frequently through the US and know many of the locations along The Mississippi. Jonathan Raban very carefully observes the unique way of living along the main artery of the USA in a critical but frequently very funny way (at least when not being American - this also explains the 1-star rating of a fellow reader who must be an American that cannot accept observations from outside; they will be in the minority when reading the excellent book by Raban, I believe); great that it appeared as a paperback in 1998 - it took me two years to find a hardcover version)
Rating:
Summary: Old Glory
Review: First I read Huckleberry Finn and then I read Raban's Old Glory. Now I always recommend that the two be read together. The order does not matter. The small town people Twain wrote about are still there according to Raban. His humor and outsider's understanding of American kookiness was sharp, entertaining and to the point.
Rating: 
Summary: Like a boat on river, skim across the surface of Old Glory
Review: I could not identify with Raban's depiction of people. He is simply too smug and cynical, pointing out the pessimistic and gloomy side of people and places. I did not sense any credibility. Instead reading Old Glory was more like hearing the bloated stuff you expect to hear from someone after one too many pints. The glory in Old Glory is only Raban's. There are times when you might think he's passing Cape Horn in a washtub. (How daring!) Or perhaps journeying into a Lost Land inhabited by a tribe of pathetically humble simpletons. (Oh, what a pain!) You don't have to be a careful reader to see through this unless, of course, you've lived apart from interesting human contact most of your life and never saw a river bigger than an ankle-deep stream ... wait a minute!...that is, unless you've lived in England most of your life, I suppose! So beware. This is a book of nice little stories and adventures, but resist the temptation to want to shoot the messenger this time. The Englishman might not know any better.
Rating:
Summary: Like a boat on river, skim across the surface of Old Glory
Review: I could not identify with Raban's depiction of people. He is simply too smug and cynical, pointing out the pessimistic and gloomy side of people and places. I did not sense any credibility. Instead reading Old Glory was more like hearing the bloated stuff you expect to hear from someone after one too many pints. The glory in Old Glory is only Raban's. There are times when you might think he's passing Cape Horn in a washtub. (How daring!) Or perhaps journeying into a Lost Land inhabited by a tribe of pathetically humble simpletons. (Oh, what a pain!) You don't have to be a careful reader to see through this unless, of course, you've lived apart from interesting human contact most of your life and never saw a river bigger than an ankle-deep stream ... wait a minute!...that is, unless you've lived in England most of your life, I suppose! So beware. This is a book of nice little stories and adventures, but resist the temptation to want to shoot the messenger this time. The Englishman might not know any better.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing Glorious about Old Glory
Review: I have to admit I was thrilled to join Raban on his journey down the "mighty mac," but after he left the locks south of Red Wing he was on his own. The book appealed to my sense of adventure, but I guess I'm too happy a guy to identify with this damp Englishman. His observations were continually pessimistic and cynical. I only envied his thirst for smalltown beer and peanuts. If you want to shake your head for a week, open her up and give it a rip.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing Glorious about Old Glory
Review: I have to admit I was thrilled to join Raban on his journey down the "mighty mac," but after he left the locks south of Red Wing he was on his own. The book appealed to my sense of adventure, but I guess I'm too happy a guy to identify with this damp Englishman. His observations were continually pessimistic and cynical. I only envied his thirst for smalltown beer and peanuts. If you want to shake your head for a week, open her up and give it a rip.
Rating:
Summary: a tattered flag, still waving
Review: I have traveled a fair amount through the small towns of the United States and have to concur with Mr. Raban's depiction of both the towns and the people who live in them. Other readers who have taken the time to write reviews of this book here seem to have remembered only about half of what Raban wrote about each of the towns that he visited. His initial impressions were often filled with disappointment. He had approached this trip with a boyhood dream in his head and he was continually set back on his proverbial heels by the reality of these river towns in 1979. More often than not, however, further exploration of the town, conversations with some of its citizens and reflection on his part, caused Raban to revise his evaluation of many of the places that he visited. Some reviewers may perhaps have forgotten that this book describes this region as it was after years during which the US economy struggled through an oil crisis, bouts of inflation, intervals of high unemployment and the tail end of the history of the "old economy". Should someone have the time and inclination to retrace Raban's steps nearly 25 years later, I would not be surprised if they found these towns and their people had changed quite a bit, probably for the better in social and economic terms. For instance, Raban devoted most of a chapter to the failed election campaign of Memphis's first black candidate for mayor. A quick Google (keywords: Memphis Tennesee government) will show you that the present mayor of Memphis (Willie W. Herenton) is African-American. I'm going to guess that he is not the first black mayor of Memphis. I loved Raban's modus operandi for getting to the heart of a place. Tie up your boat, go to the nearest bar and strike up a conversation. This would seem to me to be the most reliable means to quickly get an unvarnished opinion about a place. Sure, someone on a bar stool is likely to have a slightly dimmer view of the place where he or she lives than the average citizen, but Raban was rarely, if ever, content with their views. He basically used the tavern-sitters as a 1979-era local flesh-and-blood Google; he found out the basics about a place like who are the local characters, what are the main industries, which are the burning local political issues etc. His fellow barflies were more important as sources of germane questions than as sources of definitive answers. Raban's perspective on the St. Louis metropolitan area is one that I can vouch for personally, having visited there 10 years after he did. Furthermore Jonathan Franzen's novel The Twenty-seventh City is an elaborate description of the city-county socio-politico-economic tensions during the late 1980s. The continuum between Raban and Franzen's descriptions is pretty easy to imagine. Franzen grew up in the county and would have been a teen-ager when Raban was shacked up with his rich, wigged-out girlfriend out in Clayton. I took one long journey through the US accompanied by a Danish friend. Upon learning that my traveling companion was a foreigner nearly every American that we encountered relaxed almost visibly and began to wax philosophical about the state of things. The radius of their sphere of interest varied, but everyone had an opinion about something. It was delightful to see that Mr. Raban experienced this same lowering of guard and move toward introspection as soon as he announced that he was an Englishman traveling in the US. The parochial character and narrow-mindedness of many of the people he encountered matches up well with my own experiences in similar terrain four years after his journey. It is important to note though that Raban was treated to extraordinary amounts of generosity, both material and emotional, by the people that he met, however rhetorically bigoted they might have been. The author is at pains to acknowledge both the generosity and the puzzling disconnect that he sees between their rhetoric and their behavior. Just one of the wonderful things that Jonathan Raban does in the course of Old Glory is show the reader the essence of American character. Their aggressive rhetoric is their shield against the unknown, but once you are brought in behind that shield, Americans are among the most outrageously generous and genuinely good people that you are likely to find.
Rating:
Summary: a tattered flag, still waving
Review: I have traveled a fair amount through the small towns of the United States and have to concur with Mr. Raban's depiction of both the towns and the people who live in them. Other readers who have taken the time to write reviews of this book here seem to have remembered only about half of what Raban wrote about each of the towns that he visited. His initial impressions were often filled with disappointment. He had approached this trip with a boyhood dream in his head and he was continually set back on his proverbial heels by the reality of these river towns in 1979. More often than not, however, further exploration of the town, conversations with some of its citizens and reflection on his part, caused Raban to revise his evaluation of many of the places that he visited. Some reviewers may perhaps have forgotten that this book describes this region as it was after years during which the US economy struggled through an oil crisis, bouts of inflation, intervals of high unemployment and the tail end of the history of the "old economy". Should someone have the time and inclination to retrace Raban's steps nearly 25 years later, I would not be surprised if they found these towns and their people had changed quite a bit, probably for the better in social and economic terms. For instance, Raban devoted most of a chapter to the failed election campaign of Memphis's first black candidate for mayor. A quick Google (keywords: Memphis Tennesee government) will show you that the present mayor of Memphis (Willie W. Herenton) is African-American. I'm going to guess that he is not the first black mayor of Memphis. I loved Raban's modus operandi for getting to the heart of a place. Tie up your boat, go to the nearest bar and strike up a conversation. This would seem to me to be the most reliable means to quickly get an unvarnished opinion about a place. Sure, someone on a bar stool is likely to have a slightly dimmer view of the place where he or she lives than the average citizen, but Raban was rarely, if ever, content with their views. He basically used the tavern-sitters as a 1979-era local flesh-and-blood Google; he found out the basics about a place like who are the local characters, what are the main industries, which are the burning local political issues etc. His fellow barflies were more important as sources of germane questions than as sources of definitive answers. Raban's perspective on the St. Louis metropolitan area is one that I can vouch for personally, having visited there 10 years after he did. Furthermore Jonathan Franzen's novel The Twenty-seventh City is an elaborate description of the city-county socio-politico-economic tensions during the late 1980s. The continuum between Raban and Franzen's descriptions is pretty easy to imagine. Franzen grew up in the county and would have been a teen-ager when Raban was shacked up with his rich, wigged-out girlfriend out in Clayton. I took one long journey through the US accompanied by a Danish friend. Upon learning that my traveling companion was a foreigner nearly every American that we encountered relaxed almost visibly and began to wax philosophical about the state of things. The radius of their sphere of interest varied, but everyone had an opinion about something. It was delightful to see that Mr. Raban experienced this same lowering of guard and move toward introspection as soon as he announced that he was an Englishman traveling in the US. The parochial character and narrow-mindedness of many of the people he encountered matches up well with my own experiences in similar terrain four years after his journey. It is important to note though that Raban was treated to extraordinary amounts of generosity, both material and emotional, by the people that he met, however rhetorically bigoted they might have been. The author is at pains to acknowledge both the generosity and the puzzling disconnect that he sees between their rhetoric and their behavior. Just one of the wonderful things that Jonathan Raban does in the course of Old Glory is show the reader the essence of American character. Their aggressive rhetoric is their shield against the unknown, but once you are brought in behind that shield, Americans are among the most outrageously generous and genuinely good people that you are likely to find.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not Raban's Best
Review: I read Bad Land, Raban's book on homesteaders in Montana several years ago and it has become one of my all time favorite books. Since that time I have read some of Raban's other books, this one included. Raban's subject is fascinating, his writing is first rate. However, like some of the other reviewers have noted, this book is marred by the author's cynical tone and approach and an air of condecension that preveals throughout this book. Raban continually gives the impression that in his brief stops along the river he "figures out" what the locals have been unable to or have failed to figure out for years. I am sure that Raban did encounter his share of rubes and rednecks, but if this book is to be believed, those types of people are practically the only ones he encountered (maybe this has something to do with the fact that he sought out bars and watering holes as his first contact with many of the places he visited). His take on the South is typical of someone who has never lived in it. This is a very good book and worth reading. However, it would not be my first choice of books written by this author. This book is marred by an attitude of superiority and condecension that Raban appears to have lost in his later books.
Rating:
Summary: Probably the best travel book I've ever read!
Review: Like I said, this is probably the best travel book I've ever read (I suppose that I've read 20 - 25 books like this). I've never been to the Mississippi, and am not American, so my viewpoint isn't clouded by personal preferences, nastalgia, or patriotism. It's simply a great account of a simple trip down the Mississippi River. Raban's observations are sharp and witty, and his sense of timing/style is very enjoyable. This book really lays to rest the belief of some travel writers that you can only write a good travel book by going to remote/primitive locations (i.e. Paul Theroux). (By the way, my comments aren't biased from having just finished this book - the last time I read it was about two years ago.)
| 
