Running on Empty

by Peter H. Michael

Running on Empty is a road book in the mold of Steinbeck's Travels With Charley, Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways and Kerouac's On the Road. Along his 12,000-mile sojourn around the United States, Peter Michael hears story after story of the growing economic disparity which has plagued the country for the past generation, stalled the middle class, and made the poor poorer. In a fascinating travelogue of the people, stories, land forms and places this inveterate traveler meets, Michael includes a critique demolishing plutocrat arguments in an eminently readable expose on economic inequality and how the rich and corporations purchase it through the protection money called campaign contributions. Running on Empty was awarded two national book prizes, one in political and economic affairs, the other in travel essays."

Genres: Nonfiction

374 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2014

About the author

Peter H. Michael is most recently the author of Running on Empty: Along an Epic 12,000-Mile Road Trip America Has Its Say on Economic Inequality, his seventh book. Running on Empty was awarded two 2015 national book prizes, one in travel essays, the other in political and economic affairs. He also writes newspaper, magazine and op-ed articles. Michael serves as publisher of Underground Railroad Free Press, the nation's top Underground Railroad news publication, and of Free Press Books.

Peter Michael was educated at the University of Maryland, Berkeley and Princeton, and is the seventh generation of his family to reside at Maryland's Cooling Springs Farm, a national Underground Railroad historic site founded by the family in 1768.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and his open perspectives, his search for stories, and a broader view of history and his appreciation for listening to all sorts of Americans he and his wife met on their travels. I made several notes of places to visit that I hope I can make it to - probably when I too am retired

[Peter Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Says literary critic Ronald Primeau, "I could not put the book down. Michael listens to Americans better than anyone since Whitman, Steinbeck, or Moyers and explains brilliantly what he hears. Running on Empty is a monumentally significant work appearing at the perfect time, as clear a delineation of income disparity as I have seen anywhere."

Kirkus Reviews calls Running on Empty " . . . a charming blend of Whitman’s maximalism, Kerouac’s enthusiasm and Least Heat-Moon’s earthy anthropology. Michael finds an original voice in observing what he sees as the great American problem of the 21st century: the daunting wealth gap."

Other reviewers praise Running on Empty as "Brilliant," "Beautifully written and a joy to read," "America seen through mature eyes," and "Lucid and persuasive."