American Pilgrimages

If you buy enough books on one area, you develop sub, sub genres.  Here's a new one--travel, retracing past travel, unique to North America.  Book buying was fueled in part to research my own idea for a book to retrace a grandfather's 1919 car trip across the U.S.


1.  American Journey, Richard Reeves (1982).  150 years after Tocqueville's book, Democracy in America, Richard Reeves retraces Tocqueville journey through America.  Bought used State Department bookstore.


  
 



2.  Way Out West: On the Trail of an Errant Ancestor, Michael Shaw Bond (2001).   In 1862, an English aristocrat left home and traveled the prairies and mountain of western Canada.  140 years later, his great-great grandson retraced is steps.  Bought used at Russell Books in Victoria, BC Canada. 


 

3.  The Old Man and the Harley: A Last Ride Through our Fathers' America, John Newkirk (2008).   A 1939 motorcycle trip from Schenectady, NY to San Francisco by a 19 year is retraced by his son years later.  The son learns of his father's experience in WWII and forgotten family history.  Bought used but can't remember where.