Blue Highways
by William Least Heat Moon
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 847)
Read in August, 2008
This book is as much a philosophical journey as a physical one, exploring time as well as space. Although he knows he's running away, the author also knows he will return. He's hoping, perhaps, that not only time and season will be different, but the running man as well. That by seeing many different things he will come to see things differently. That his time away will cause a shift in the way others see him, that maybe his problems will resolve themselves in his absence.
I'm not sure wh...more
I'm not sure wh...more
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Read in January, 2008
Don't expect much historical insight or humor in this American travelogue. What is fascinating about the book is Heat-Moon's ability to capture the regional idiosyncrasies and dialects that he encounters on his drive around the country.
And he does indeed drive around the country. From Missouri to the Southeast, across Texas to the Southwest, north up the coast, then across the country once again to the Northeast, and then back again to Missouri. His mission was to avoid the multi-l...more
And he does indeed drive around the country. From Missouri to the Southeast, across Texas to the Southwest, north up the coast, then across the country once again to the Northeast, and then back again to Missouri. His mission was to avoid the multi-l...more
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Read in June, 2008
I've had this book on the shelf for years, but never read it until now. It seemed just the thing to take with me as I embarked on the first of many trips to Kansas this year, and it certainly was. I've enjoyed taking my time with it, reading another chapter or two here and there, not in a rush to get through it. His descriptions of his travels were detailed without being pretentious, honest, and sprinkled with his own personal narrative in a way that was never maudlin or self-absorbed. If it...more
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Read in January, 2007
Whew. I finally finished it. Reading Blue Highways is, much like the circular trip Heat-Moon undertook around America, an involved, sometimes tiring, but ultimately satisfying, endeavor. Heat-Moon isn’t content to ride the roads, casually noting an occasional detail here and there. Nope. He gives you the obscure details and forgotten history of every little town he comes across, towns you and I have never heard of. Along the way he waxes poetic on that for which he is searching. And what is th...more
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Read in January, 2000
recommends it for:
people who enjoy road-trips
Very interesting. A mellow read about road travels. Some slow spots as the author passes through Idaho and the Dakotas, but altogether a pleasant read. The author, after the end of his job as an English professor, packs up his van and sets out to drive, drive, drive. The author takes only minor roads, back roads--no major freeways--and this decision leads to his title, since all the tiny roads are marked on his map in blue. The writing is lyrical at times, talky and prosaic at others. Gems...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommended to Christine by:
My dadrecommends it for: Those with wanderlust
William Least-Heat Moon's writing reads like the emails I get from my dad, no wonder it was my dad who recommended this book to me then.
Moon's walkabout around the U.S. takes him through the boondocks of the country. In an attempt to keep off the interstates he hits the back roads and finds some very interesting characteristics in other people as well as in himself.
My only gripe about this book is that he has an air of elitism about the way he travels versus the way the "typical"...more
Moon's walkabout around the U.S. takes him through the boondocks of the country. In an attempt to keep off the interstates he hits the back roads and finds some very interesting characteristics in other people as well as in himself.
My only gripe about this book is that he has an air of elitism about the way he travels versus the way the "typical"...more
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the classic hippie travel tale of a shrinking rural america, far from feeling dated blue highways seems to become more and more relevant with each passing generation. heat-moon (a professor at my college, the university of missouri, in the '80s when i was a student) traveled the country in the 1970s taking only the "blue highways" of his antique road map -- the non-interstate back roads, that is. what he found was a cultural america rapidly disappearing, being replaced with the ...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
people with wanderlust
Actually, I first read this book about 15 years ago, but I was sick, it was there, and one thing leads to another..
The first time I read this, it was a great road trip, full of interesting places to visit and cool people to talk to and relics of a disappearing America. Now I'm older and much closer to the author's age when he wrote this, and a bit more familiar with how things don't always work out the way you expect.
It's still a great book, but the extra layer of the personal journey m...more
The first time I read this, it was a great road trip, full of interesting places to visit and cool people to talk to and relics of a disappearing America. Now I'm older and much closer to the author's age when he wrote this, and a bit more familiar with how things don't always work out the way you expect.
It's still a great book, but the extra layer of the personal journey m...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Christine by:
Erikka
I got this book as a gift before my cross country trek to move from Boston to San Francisco. It definitely wasn't what I envisioned a road log to be like, but found it endearing at times. The author has a good sense of humor and told some really interesting stories about the places he went and people he met. It held it's allure because he traveled to the small towns, the towns that you might drive through, blink, and miss.
I only gave it three stars though because, in all honesty, it took me ...more
I only gave it three stars though because, in all honesty, it took me ...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Wes by:
Albert
Engaging story told by a man, in the midst of a great deal of struggle, who decides to load up his Ford van and hit the road. His journey is one where he, more or less, circles the Unitesd States. Unlike many, he is not running away from his life. He is stepping into his life. He decides to drive the "blue" highways of America. On old maps the "blue" highways are the back roads...the roads less travelled. In driving these roads, he finds his way with the help of people and pl...more
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Read in January, 1990
I remember when this memoir first came out sometime in the 80s, because The New Yorker gave it a terrible review but I thought it sounded interesting.
A few years later I had the chance to listen to the audio version while involved in a mindless, repetitive task. My original impression held up. It's a nice little story.
Basically, it recounts the author's journey around the U.S. while he sought to get over a breakup with his girlfriend, with an itinerary strictly hewing to secondary roads...more
A few years later I had the chance to listen to the audio version while involved in a mindless, repetitive task. My original impression held up. It's a nice little story.
Basically, it recounts the author's journey around the U.S. while he sought to get over a breakup with his girlfriend, with an itinerary strictly hewing to secondary roads...more
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Read in May, 2006
About a year and a half ago, my husband and I "traded" books. Although we're both librarians, we don't often choose to read the same kinds of books, except for some children's books. My husband read the 2nd Alvin Maker book (Orson Scott Card), since he rarely reads any fantasy. I thought he'd like the alternate US history and Native American aspects of that particular story. And I read BLUE HIGHWAYS. I can definitely see why it's one of his favorite books! It's a fascinating acco...more
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Read in June, 2008
Another travelog. A little slow and quite serious. Yet I learned a few things and found myself consulting goodgle maps to locate some of the more interesting small towns he encountered. But it took me a long time to finish it. I could only handle a half dozen pages at one sitting. I like travelogs, but I prefer Bill Bryson's books because I can breeze through them as if I were reading a 'beach book' with interesting information and a bunch of belly laughs to boot. No one does it better tha...more
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Read in January, 1992
recommends it for:
anyone
Author Bill Trogden/Least Heat-Moon travels across America in the 1980s, travelling via the highways marked in blue on the map. These smaller roards take him into out-of-the way communities far away from the interstates. This is a really fascinating read, giving you a look at bits and pieces of America from North to South and East to West. I imagine much of it has since vanished. The travelogue is skillfully interspersed with Trogden's own personal struggles: he decides to take the trip because ...more
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Blue Highways is awesome. I remember when I first heard the term, "blue highways," years ago. I was instantly intrigued. My dad was a definite blue highway kind of guy. He would pull over on road trips, spread the map out across the steering wheel, and pick a long, winding route that would ultimately get us to our destination. These were called "shortcuts" but we all could see the quotation marks floating up there when he said it. This book definitely captures the spirit of t...more
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Read in January, 1992
recommended to Dave by:
Parents got it for me for Christmas. Little did they know...recommends it for: Anyone with a soul
The first time I read it was my senior year of high school, which could have been the best or worst time to read such a book. I doubt there's anything I can add that hasn't already been said. This was the first book to inspire my wanderlust, and this book, along with the Rand McNally Road Atlas, are never more than a few steps away when I'm home (ironic, eh?). Heat-Moon got out of his van, Ghost Dancing, and met America. A journalism prof and photographer, he was just the guy to do it. He was at...more
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Pam and I read this book on our trip of awesomeness around the American West. We took this trip almost solely on the Red Highways -- those cursed straightforward corridors of empty travel experiences and one-calendar diners. At times Least Heat-Moon's self-righteousness about traveling off the beaten path was a bit much, but mostly he writes beautifully and lovingly about the people and places of this country, and it was a terrific road trip book.
(And P.S., even though we did sometimes wish...more
(And P.S., even though we did sometimes wish...more
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Read in March, 2008
Inside-out history of America from the less-traveled state and US highways. Occasionally self-important passages are evened out by Least Heat Moon's unusual honesty--even with his (perhaps justified) Native American anger--and the innocent picture of early 80s roadside America the book promotes. LHM complains about McDonald's and motels and bemoans the lack of genuine roadside diners; seeing as how I sometimes find comfort in the sameness of the road it's caused me to re-evaluate how I travel an...more
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Read in June, 1983
I read this book 25 years ago, when I was obsessed with wanderlust. Blue Highways is a fascinating account of the author's travels around the country, avoiding the interstates at all costs and using the backroads, or blue highways, on the map. It's something I do on occasion when I have the time, but Moon's leisurely travels allowed him to meet and interact with real people. I plan to read it again soon to see how things have changed in the last quarter century, both for me and the country. I w...more
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recommends it for:
Roadtrippers/Explorers
Tenure's up, the wife left you and you're stuck in nowhere-ville Missouri. What to do? Outfit your Econoline van and hit the road of course, but stay off the interstates, you won't see jack there. Follow the blue highways--state roads around the continental US-- and stop to talk to people, get to know them in 1970's America. Take some nice photographs and keep a journal. Life will sort itself out later.....ahhhh. The book that should truly be celebrated as self discovery instead of that Ke...more
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