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Blue Highways: A Journey into America
 
 
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Blue Highways: A Journey into America [Paperback]

William Least Heat-Moon (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (128 customer reviews)

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Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition) by John Steinbeck$10.20 

Blue Highways: A Journey into America + Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

First published in 1982, William Least Heat-Moon's account of his journey along the back roads of the United States (marked with the color blue on old highway maps) has become something of a classic. When he loses his job and his wife on the same cold February day, he is struck by inspiration: "A man who couldn't make things go right could at least go. He could quit trying to get out of the way of life. Chuck routine. Live the real jeopardy of circumstance. It was a question of dignity."

Driving cross-country in a van named Ghost Dancing, Heat-Moon (the name the Sioux give to the moon of midsummer nights) meets up with all manner of folk, from a man in Grayville, Illinois, "whose cap told me what fertilizer he used" to Scott Chisholm, "a Canadian citizen ... [who] had lived in this country longer than in Canada and liked the United States but wouldn't admit it for fear of having to pay off bets he made years earlier when he first 'came over' that the U.S. is a place no Canadian could ever love." Accompanied by his photographs, Heat-Moon's literary portraits of ordinary Americans should not be merely read, but savored. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Reading Blue Highways made me go back and look at Jack Kerouac's On the Road to see if Mr. Least Heat-Moon does as well. He does far better . . . Maybe twice a year I read a book I wish were even longer. This is one of them. I could wish Mr. Least Heat-Moon had driven every blue highway in America." (The New York Times )

"Blue Highways ia a splended book, outstanding Americana, which I rank above the next best thing preceding it in the genre, John Steinbeck's Travel with Charley." (The Wall Street Journal )

"Better than Kerouac." (The Chicago Sun-Times ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Back Bay Books (October 19, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0316353299
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316353298
  • Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (128 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #41,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #81 in  Books > Reference > Writing > Travel

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William Least Heat-Moon
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Customer Reviews

128 Reviews
5 star:
 (77)
4 star:
 (25)
3 star:
 (13)
2 star:
 (6)
1 star:
 (7)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (128 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars *THE* Ultimate American Roadtrip, July 7, 2002
This review is from: Blue Highways: A Journey into America (Paperback)
This past spring I took a circular, nationwide roadtrip of my own very similar to the one William Least Heat-Moon takes in this great book. Though my trip was a little shorter in length and a lot shorter in duration, I can definitely identify with Heat-Moon's efforts at self-discovery on the back roads of America. The most interesting aspect of this book is Heat-Moon's use of his Indian heritage and frame of mind while interpreting the various persons and regional cultures he comes across. Christians may object to his criticisms of certain religious tenets, especially when he freeloads off some devout Christians for food and lodging a few times during the trip. Also beware of Heat-Moon's habit of quoting Walt Whitman practically every five pages, while he spends far too much space on certain people and places. But otherwise we have a highly compelling travelogue of the backwaters and isolated small town denizens of unknown America, as well as many insights into the soul of the writer, and possibly the reader if he/she is so inclined. Also, the journey described took place back in 1978, and while certain descriptions and narratives are outdated, Heat-Moon was already lamenting the disintegration of America's small town charm by the fast-food/convenience subculture, which was just getting started at that time. Little did he know how much worse it would get! This book, along with the works of Kerouac and Steinbeck, belongs with the great American roadtrip classics.
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Blue Highways, January 19, 2000
This review is from: Blue Highways: A Journey into America (Paperback)
William Least Heat Moon may be one of the greatest writers of our time. First encountered his work in the New Yorker, which excerpted chapters from Blue Highways. I then (of course) had to read the book, which is an account of his journey in an old van, outfitted for sleeping/living, to see the real United States using only the small roads (which are marked on the map in blue -- hence the title). The events that caused him to put his usual life on hold, and take up this oddyssey, will strike a responsive chord for many readers who have ever wanted to stop the world and step back in time.

His experiences, the people he meets, the conversations they enjoy, make for an extraordinary insight into America.

His writing sings in the way that the old story tellers did...weaving a web that captures and captivates you until you finish the book. And then you don't stop until you've read all of his books! (Wish he'd write some more). I recommend this book highly for personal reading and for gifts.

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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Over the Blue Highways, December 20, 1999
This review is from: Blue Highways: A Journey into America (Paperback)
In search of the real America, or in need of escape, the author sets out to circle the country in a van, staying only on the state and local roads - the one's that appear blue on his maps. This is the record of what he saw on his trip, from the deep South to the Pacific Northwest, fishermen to farmers, through forests, snowstorms, deserts, and beaches.

This novel was deeply personal, and it reflected a feeling I have had in my life to explore the world by experiencing it first hand, not by reading about it in the book. However, sometimes the author seems overly sentimental, bemoaning the loss of regional distinctiveness and lambasting the homogenization of America while not always acknowledging that sometimes changes happen for the better. America has always been a country of change, and he realizes that change is always accompanied by a little bit of pain.

As he travels, the philosophizing is not overly explicit. Neither are his personal problems, which are alluded to but not expounded upon. Instead, he lets the people he meets and his experiences with them speak for themselves. Unfortunately, there is nothing very cohesive about the stories, no incentive to get to the end except to see the author's cycle completed. Perhaps a second reading would allow me to pay more attention to the author's personal struggle, but even so, the stories are basically independent, with only the underlying theme of coping with change to tie them together. Perhaps that was the authors' struggle all along.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I don't regret for a minute paying full price....
I paid full price for "Blue Highways" at Harvard Book Store and I don't regret it for one minute.

I picked it up based on reviews I had read elsewhere. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Bruce Oksol

4.0 out of 5 stars A great read.
If you like knowing about hidden towns and interesting folk in our great country, you will enjoy this book. Read more
Published 8 days ago by David Martin

5.0 out of 5 stars Cassette? This is 2010. Where's the CD Version
I just want to say that this is my favorite book of all time. The writing of William Least-Heat Moon is filled with wonder. I give it a 10 out of 10!!! Read more
Published 1 month ago by ---- J. M. Donabie

5.0 out of 5 stars Road trip
Blue Highways. I loved this book. A journey around the small town's in America.
Published 4 months ago by Carmine Felt

5.0 out of 5 stars A Trip Into An America Rarely Seen
This is one of my all-time favorite books, and one of the few I've read more than once. It not only captures a midlife "crisis"-inspired journey (inwardly and physically) of one... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Alexander R. Clayton

5.0 out of 5 stars Blue Highways: the book
If you really want to learn about the real America
Read all of Moon's books
They will be the journy of a life time

Rich
Published 7 months ago by Richard S. Gross

4.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasure To Read
This book is informative and relaxing. It can be read a few pages at a time for those who do not have long periods of free time. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mike Boston

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book and Wonderful Service!
Blue Highways will encourage you to spend at least part of any extended road trip on the smaller, older roads, those routes printed in blue on state highway maps, hence the title... Read more
Published 11 months ago by L. Legacy

5.0 out of 5 stars Blue Highways an American Odyssey
The observations and pesonal interactions with a wide variety of American cultures has insight and reflections for all of us.
Published 12 months ago by Ronald E. Bingham

1.0 out of 5 stars I did not receive the product -- "Blue Highway" -- would like my money back.
I did not receive the product -- "Blue Highway" -- how about giving me my money back.
Published 13 months ago by Darlene F. Funkhouser

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