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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America Paperback - 2001

by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson's unsparing and hilarious account of his travels across America in search of the perfect small town. At the end of his journey, Bryson finds not the idyllic town of his dream, but a ture understanding of America--and a certainty that despite the poverty and ignorance, there is much good in the island.


About this book

Bill Bryson's very first travel book, a sidesplittingly funny road trip around America. "I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to." And, as soon as Bill Bryson was old enough, he left. Des Moines couldn't hold him, but it did lure him back.

After ten years in England, he returned to the land of his youth and drove almost 14,000 miles in search of a mythical small town called Amalgam, the kind of trim and sunny place where the films of his youth were set. Instead, his search led him to Anywhere, USA; a lookalike strip of gas stations, motels, and hamburger outlets populated by lookalike people with a penchant for synthetic fibers. Traveling around thirty-eight of the lower states - united only in their mind-numbingly dreary uniformity - he discovered a continent that was doubly lost; lost to itself because blighted by greed, pollution, mobile homes, and television; lost to him because he had become a stranger in his own land.

The Lost Continent is a classic of travel literature - hilariously, stomach-achingly funny, yet tinged with heartache - and the book that first staked Bill Bryson's claim as the most beloved writer of his generation.

Summary

Bill Bryson's very first travel book, a sidesplittingly funny road trip around America.I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to'And, as soon as Bill Bryson was old enough, he left. Des Moines couldn't hold him, but it did lure him back. After ten years in England, he returned to the land of his youth, and drove almost 14,000 miles in search of a mythical small town called Amalgam, the kind of trim and sunny place where the films of his youth were set. Instead, his search led him to Anywhere, USA; a lookalike strip of gas stations, motels and hamburger outlets populated by lookalike people with a penchant for synthetic fibres. Travelling around thirty-eight of the lower states - united only in their mind-numbingly dreary uniformity - he discovered a continent that was doubly lost; lost to itself because blighted by greed, pollution, mobile homes and television; lost to him because he had become a stranger in his own land.The Lost Continent is a classic of travel literature - hilariously, stomach-achingly funny, yet tinged with heartache - and the book that first staked Bill Bryson's claim as the most beloved writer of his generation.

From the publisher

"The kind of book Steinbeck might have written if he'd traveled with David Letterman." --New York magazine

An inspiring and hilarious account of one man's rediscovery of America and his search for the perfect small town.

Following an urge to rediscover his youth, Bill Bryson left his native Des Moines, Iowa, in a journey that would take him across 38 states. Lucky for us, he brought a notebook. With a razor wit and a kind heart, Bryson serves up a colorful tale of boredom, kitsch, and beauty when you least expect it. From Times Square to the Mississippi River to Williamsburg, Virginia, Bryson's keen and hilarious search for the perfect American small town is a journey straight into the heart and soul of America.

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From the rear cover

An unsparing and hilarious account of one man's rediscovery of America and his search for the perfect small town.

Details

  • Title The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
  • Author Bill Bryson
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 384
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher William Morrow & Company, New York
  • Date 2001-05-15
  • ISBN 9780060920081 / 0060920084
  • Weight 0.54 lbs (0.24 kg)
  • Dimensions 8 x 5.31 x 1 in (20.32 x 13.49 x 2.54 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects United States - Description and travel, United States - Social life and customs -
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 89045027
  • Dewey Decimal Code 917.304

Media reviews

Citations

  • Publishers Weekly, 08/17/1990, Page 0
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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America
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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America

by Bill Bryson

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