Almost Heaven: Travels Through the Backwoods of America [Paperback]

Martin Fletcher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

After seven years as Washington correspondent of The Times, Martin Fletcher set off to explore the raw and untamed land far from cities and national parks. This is his account of a journey which took him to places few tourists would ever visit, to communities largely unknown to outsiders, to the quintessential America. He encounters snake-handlers, moonshiners, creationists, outlaws, polygamists, white supremacists, and communities preparing for Armageddon. He goes bear hunting in West Virginia, fur trapping in Louisiana, diamond digging in Arkansas, and gold prospecting in Nevada.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Surprising, entertaining and original' SUNDAY TIMES 'A gourmet's guide to the boondocks' INDEPENDENT 'Sharply detailed and warmly insightful ... fascinating and consistently enlightening, wonderfully funny and unbelievably true' TIME OUT 'A well-observed, warm-hearted travelogue, with plenty of good humour and a cast of amazing characters' TLS 'Filled with the sort of wonderful detail and lively dialogue that graces the best of 19th-century British travel writings' TIME 'The real strength of a travel writer is to be able to match an insider's knowledge with an outsider's fresh eye and Fletcher is enthusiastically and eruditely adept at both.' SCOTSMAN 'His [Fletcher's] astounding report of its inhabitants- bear hunters, snake-handling fundamentalists, lost tribes- is observed without judgement or sensationalism.' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'I found his warm and subtly humourous style very appealing, and I highly recommend this book.' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Martin Fletcher was educated at Edinburgh University and the University of Pennsylvania. He joined THE TIMES in 1983, became its Washington correspondent in 1989, and US editor in 1993. Married with three children, he is now based in Belfast. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316652288
• ISBN-13: 978-0316652285
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,587,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Wackiest American, November 9, 2003

By 

David W. Nicholas (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Almost Heaven: Travels Through the Backwoods of America (Paperback)

Martin Fletcher is a reporter for the Times of London, stationed in Washington D.C., at the start of this book. He takes a sabbatical from this work, and travels across America, ostensibly in search of the "other America." You know, the rural countryside, where life is simpler and the people are poorer, less sophisticated, more honest. The problem is what he finds, and ultimately the method he uses to find it.

Fletcher travelled the country looking at various communities, but he skips large swathes of the country---New England, the MidWest, California. Instead he takes a wandering path that he gives you the impression is random, but eventually he lets it slip that he knew where he was going all along, for the most part. The result is that in his "wanderings" he discovers that rural America is peopled by strange people who speak weird dialects, religious kooks, white supremacists, more religious kooks, unreconstructed hippies, still more religious kooks, and some poor black people. It turns out that Fletcher, being a reporter from the Times, had done some research, and planned to visit various of these places before he left, *because* the people there were strange. He seems to have avoided, or driven through, the places with "just folks."

Nevertheless, the writing is reasonably interesting, and the characters are fun, for the most part. The author avoids being judgmental about everyone but the right wing white supremacist religious nuts, who he openly disdains, but of course no one really likes them anyway. The result is an uneven book, filled with interesting portraits of interesting people on the one hand, but on the other with a definitely skewed perspective of rural America that isn't particularly pleasant, to be honest. I will therefor recommend this book, but with that warning: don't take this as a portrait of America, rather it's more of a portrait of parts of America.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Brit explores the USA at its weirdest, January 15, 2001

By 

saskatoonguy (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Almost Heaven: Travels Through the Backwoods of America (Paperback)

British journalist Martin Fletcher sets out to discover "the other America," by which he means rural America. During his journey, which is limited to the South and Rocky Mountain states, he seeks out America at its weirdest. He interviews snake-handling fundamentalists, UFO cultists, polygamists, Ku Klux Klanners, militia groups, and moonshiners. He visits the US's poorest counties, several Indian reservations, and an island where Black Americans still speak an African dialect. He drops in on an illegal cockfight and a legal brothel. A great deal of page space is given to Louisiana's infamous 18,000 acre Angola Prison, where he seems to have been given free rein to talk to everyone. Here it is, folks - the US at its most embarrassing and most depressing. Fletcher is writing for a British audience, and apparently the Brits eat up this stuff - they like looking down at the US because it takes their minds off the fact that they live in a country that hasn't yet discovered central heating.

Yet, I give it a good rating because as much as I dislike the book's premise, it's hard to put down. It's the book equivalent of the Jerry Springer Show: As repulsive as it may be, it's riveting to watch, and the same is true of Fletcher's book. Nevertheless, I cringe to think what impression it leaves with non-US readers.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Weird America, December 13, 2006

By 

Mark E. Baxter "Inquirer" (Layton, UT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Almost Heaven: Travels Through the Backwoods of America (Paperback)

A British journalist ends his 8 year assignment in America with a long trip designed to find the weirdest people in America - and largely succeeds.

This is not at all a slice-of-life survey of random Americans, but a purposeful trip to interview these fringe elements. Even so, this book is a fun look at the fringe element.

The author starts from Washington D.C. and heads out to tiny Smith Island in Chesapeake bay. I think he could have found much weirder people in D.C., from corrupt, drug-using, womanizers like Mayor Barry to Congressional homosexual brothel sponsors like Barney Frank. But instead we are treated to the wonders of a vanishing way of life with the watermen on Smith Island.

He then travels through Virginia and West Virginia, going bear hunting with some good-ol'-boys and then enjoying some pentecostal snake handling at church. That the author puts hunters in the same class of "weird" as poison snake-handlers lets you see a little of his European prejudice. After reading about the snake-handlers and how many get bit or die, you just have to shake your head - something you'll do often in this book.

Then we learn about marijuana growing and moonshining, interspersed with the Melungeans - descendants of a group of pre-revolution settlers from who knows where. Even being a native American, these are groups I had no idea existed in this varied country.

Next in the Carolinas we visit a red-neck KKK shop and then islands of blacks who have their own language and culture and no whites need apply. Interesting to see these groups compared and contrasted.

A short visit to hear ex-President Carter preach in his church in Plains Georgia is included. That the arguably worst President in US history has rehabilitated his image is an example of American tolerance and forgiveness.

I found his visit in Alabama especially fun. He interviewed the last Civil War pensioner, the governor of Alabama, and had an impromptu tour of the State Supreme Court building given by the current Chief Justice. He also was shanghaied by a group of ardent Creationists who tried to convert him. The author lets a little of his disdain for those he doesn't agree with leak through, but he obviously has a soft spot for these people also.

He then spends some time seeking out towns with a history of poverty and racism. While plenty of poverty still exists, there isn't too much racism left.

The author then tours the prison in Angola and visits the Cajuns. Both of these areas were surprisingly interesting. Diamond digging in Arkansas, small town Texas and UFO Nirvana in New Mexico are also visited. Polygamists in Utah, prostitutes in Nevada, Indian reservations and various decaying towns along the way are also visited. He ends with visits to various recluses in the Northwest.

If you tried to read this book at one setting I think you would find a sameness to certain parts. The underlying theme of "weird" people can be a little trying. The author also uses the derisive term of the "State of Paranoia" to describe much of America. And though the author gives plenty of examples of weirdness, his judgements ring a little hollow given that you can't even cut a tree down in your own backyard in much of Europe without government permission.

In my 50 years of travelling the US with my itinerant Geologist father and on my own, I have crossed paths with many of these same people. In almost all of them, I have found a joie de vivre, openness, and respect for other's foibles lacking in New York, LA, London, and San Francisco. And though I think playing with poisonous snakes and trying to secede from the Union are as kooky as it gets, I just have a hard time trying to force my views on others as long as they don't hurt anyone else. So long live kooks! The world would be a poorer place without them.

Overall, I recommend this book with the advice to take it all with a grain of salt and the knowledge that these people in no way are representative of Americans in general.