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Wild Coast

John Gimlette

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Barry Lopez

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Road Trips

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

Long Way Home, On the Trail of Steinbeck's America

Long Way Home, On the Trail of Steinbeck's America

by Bill Barich

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Guided by whim, optimism and the spirit of Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, Barich journeys from New York in San Francisco along Route 50, weaving his experiences of small town America into a deft travelogue. (USA436, $26.00)

Travels with Charley

Travels with Charley

by John Steinbeck

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 214 PAGES

On the road in a van with a poodle, Steinbeck sets out to discover America on a jaunt from Maine to California. A classic. (USA32, $15.00)

State by State

State by State

by Matt Weiland | Sean Wilsey

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 572 PAGES

With chapters by Rick Moody (Connecticut), Jhumpa Lahiri (Rhode Island) and Jonathan Franzen (New York), this inspired book, modeled after the WPA-era American Guides, pairs a writer with each of the 50 states. It's an irresistible tribute to the diversity of the country. (USA325, $16.99)

Brain Quest for the Car

Brain Quest for the Car

by Sharon Gold

  • SCIENCE
  • 2005
  • BOXED
  • 148 PAGES

These fun, colorful question-and-answer cards will keep car-bound kids busy pondering natural wonders, geographical oddities and notable Americans -- while also keeping them unplugged. (STF56, $10.95)

Lonely Planet USA's Best Trips

Lonely Planet USA's Best Trips

by Sara Benson

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 712 PAGES

Organized by region, season and theme, this enticing omnibus edition of the Lonely Planet regional Trips brings together a grab-bag of 99 tours and trips -- historic, scenic and just plain fun -- from Route 66 and New Jersey's best diners to the wonders of the Pacific Northwest. (USA430, $24.99)

Michelin North America Road Atlas

Michelin North America Road Atlas

by Michelin Travel Publications

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

This indispensable spiral-bound atlas is organized geographically with easy-to-read maps. (USA155, $19.99)

 
U.S. Scenic Drives

U.S. Scenic Drives


by National Geographic

  • 2006
  • MAP

Great for planning your next cross-country odyssey, this fold-up overview of the United States -- at a birds-eye scale of 1:8,000,000 -- highlights scenic drives, parks and reserves. (USA108, $7.95)

America's Great Road Trips & Scenic Drives


by Reader's Digest

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • DVD

Reader's Digest presents "Landmarks, Landscapes and National Treasures" in this DVD boxed set. (USA368, $39.99)

Off the Beaten Path

Off the Beaten Path


by Reader's Digest

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER

This best-selling travel guide by Reader's Digest is out in a revised edition, featuring "More Than 1,000 Scenic and Interesting Places Still Uncrowded and Inviting." With museums, parks, historic houses, gardens and other attractions you might have otherwise missed. (USA331, $30.00)

Road Trip USA Pacific Coast Highway

Road Trip USA Pacific Coast Highway


by Jamie Jensen

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER

Jensen's quirky, comprehensive guide to navigating California's historic Route 1. (PNW253, $11.95)

Road Trip USA Route 66

Road Trip USA Route 66


by Jamie Jensen

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER

Jensen's quirky, comprehensive guide. (SWU284, $9.95)

Road Trip USA, Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-lane Highways

Road Trip USA, Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-lane Highways


by Jamie Jensen

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 896 PAGES

Fifth edition. With cities and towns, attractions and historic sites found along historic two-lane highways, this quirky guide covers 350,000 miles of classic blacktop across America with zeal. (USA361, $29.95)

Roadfood

Roadfood


by Jane and Michael Stern

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 573 PAGES

Take it along! This updated edition of the authors' classic guide to America's best diners, small-town cafes, BBQ joints, seafood shacks, ice cream parlors and other eateries serving great, inexpensive regional food is a glove-compartment necessity for the chain food-weary traveler. (USA398, $21.95)

USA 101: A Guide to America's Iconic Places, Events, and Festivals

USA 101: A Guide to America's Iconic Places, Events, and Festivals


by Gary McKechnie

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

A quirky, illustrated guide to Americana by the restless author of Great Motocycle Tours. (USA362, $18.95)

The Food of a Younger Land, A Portrait of American Food

The Food of a Younger Land, A Portrait of American Food


by Mark Kurlansky

  • FOOD
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 480 PAGES

Kurlansky turned to the WPA files at the Library of Congress for this richly detailed portrait of Depression Era America, a never-completed chronicle of food and food traditions by writers of the day including Eudora Welty, Zora Neale Hurston and Nelson Algren. (USA404, $16.00)

America from the Air

America from the Air


by Daniel Mathews

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

An illustrated guide, in both book and CD-ROM, of landscapes seen from commercial airplane windows across the United States. (USE456, $19.95)

American Places

American Places


by William Zinsser

  • HISTORY
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 193 PAGES

Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Niagara, The Alamo, Disneyland, Rockefeller Center, Pearl Harbor and Omaha Beach, William Zinsser writes of 16 iconic sites as a pilgrim and historian, rediscovering what it means to be American. The author of On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (now out in a 25th anniversary edition), Zinsser's essays are honed to perfection. (USA167, $14.95)

The Wide Open, Prose, Poetry, and Photographs of the Prairie


by Susan O'Connor

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2008
  • HARD COVER
  • 198 PAGES

Personal or poetic, journalistic or scientific, the diverse stories and photogaphs collected in this handsome book eloquently attest to the allure, abundance and open spaces of the American West. The stories are as diverse as the tellers, ranging from fiction by Barry Lopez, Richard Ford, and William Kittredge, to the childhood histories of Mary Clearman Blew and Judy Blunt and the nonfiction tales of Jim Harrison, Gretel Ehrlich, and Rick Bass. (USW570, $39.95)

Coast to Coast

Coast to Coast


by Marc Walter | Catherine Donzel | Anthony Shugaar

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Illustrated with vintage photographs, posters, travel brochures and other memorabilia, this lovely compendium takes in the cities, landscapes and highways of late 19th century America, a country beginning to discover both itself and the idea of popular tourism. (USA373, $55.00)

Roadside America

Roadside America


by John Margolies

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2010
  • HARD COVER

Photographer Margolies spent three decades, driving 100,000 miles all over America to document fascinating and endearingly artisanal examples of roadside advertising and fantasy structures in glorious saturated color. (USA421, $39.99)

1000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die

1000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die


by Patricia Schultz

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 1200 PAGES

Favorite, celebrated, unusual and otherwise noteworthy hotels, attractions and experiences throughout the 50 states and Canada. (USA152, $19.95)

America Day by Day

America Day by Day


by Simone de Beauvoir

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 390 PAGES

Fresh off the boat as a 30-something celebrity in New York in 1947, de Beauvoir sets out on a four-month journey, taking in the people and sights from coast to coast and back again. (USA432, $26.95)

Blue Highways, A Journey into America

Blue Highways, A Journey into America


by William Least Heat Moon

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 429 PAGES

On the road with Ghost Dancing (his van), William Least Heat-Moon criss-crosses the country on its backroads, discovering some pretty wonderful personalities en route in this portrait of a multi-faceted eccentric America. (USA31, $15.99)

By Motor to the Golden Gate

By Motor to the Golden Gate


by Emily Post | Jane Lancaster

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 267 PAGES

Emily Post's hilarious account of a cross country journey with her son Edwin (Ned did the actual driving) and cousin Alice, originally published in 1916 in Collier's Weekly, captures the thrill of travel in the early days of the automobile. This edition by historian Jane Lancaster includes a biographical sketch of Miss Post, day-by-day mileage, hotels and expenditures, sketch maps, original photographs and other ephemera from the ferociously organized writer's trip. (USA146, $39.95)

Coast to Coast, A Journey Across 1950s America

Coast to Coast, A Journey Across 1950s America


by Jan Morris

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 281 PAGES

Morris's trip across the country takes us back to an America markedly different from the one we live in today, and back to a time Morris calls "the very apex of American happiness" in this new edition of her first book (written as James Morris). (USA422, $17.95)

Cross Country

Cross Country


by Robert Sullivan

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES

Sullivan's marvelously digressive chronicle of a cross-country car trip, the history of the Interstate system, fast-food, variety of to-go coffee cup lids, the marvels of the roadside attraction and many, many other subjects. (USA135, $14.95)

Driving Home, An American Journey

Driving Home, An American Journey


by Jonathan Raban

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2011
  • HARD COVER
  • 448 PAGES

Raban ranges widely in this collection of American essays, touching on the Pacific Northwest, where he has lived since 1990, his favorite pastimes (sailing, fishing, reading), the Mississippi, books and authors. (USA452, $30.00)

Family Vacations

Family Vacations


by Noah Adams

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • AUDIO CD

Originally heard on All Things Considered and Morning Edition, the stories gathered here will keep you and your family entertained on your next road trip. (USA418, $14.95)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream


by Hunter S. Thompson

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 204 PAGES

The classic of 1970s gonzo journalism and a dizzying chronicle of a duo's drug-induced misadventures and scrapes with the people of Las Vegas. (USW254, $14.00)

Horatio's Drive, America's First Road Trip

Horatio's Drive, America's First Road Trip


by Dayton Duncan | Ken Burns

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • HARD COVER
  • 173 PAGES

The companion volume to the PBS film chronicles the nation's first road trip by Horatio Jackson, a 31-year-old Vermont doctor who drove his car from San Francisco to New York on mainly unpaved roads in 1903. (USA439, $24.95)

I See By My Outfit

I See By My Outfit


by Peter S. Beagle

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 238 PAGES

Although better-known for his fantasy writing (The Last Unicorn), Beagle penned a winning travelogue about his journey across a changing America on a motor scooter in 1963. A classic, newly reprinted. (USA174, $14.95)

NPR Classic Driveway Moments, Radio Stories That Won't Let You Go

NPR Classic Driveway Moments, Radio Stories That Won't Let You Go


by Michele Norris

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • AUDIO CD

Literate, intelligent, mirthful, and moving, these stories, presented together for the first time, are the very first, and very best, listener favorites from Morning Edition, All Things Considered and other NPR programs. The playlist includes Amy's Answering Machine, His Father, My So-Called Lungs, Hitching a Ride with Junior McGee, Death of a Child: Losing Adam, Misunderstood Song Lyrics, Dead Groundhog, An Unexpected Kitchen: The George Foreman Grill, There's Just Something About that Cowbell, Rato Interesso, My Dad the Ex-Con, Charlie Goes to College and Sweet Potato Queen's Latest Dish. (USA419, $22.95)

Roads to Quoz, An American Mosey

Roads to Quoz, An American Mosey


by William Least Heat-Moon

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 608 PAGES

William Least Heat-Moon (Blue Highways) wanders to out-of-the-way and just plain odd places in this digressive, captivating account. (USA329, $16.99)

Roughing It

Roughing It


by Mark Twain

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 592 PAGES

Twain's classic work on the American West, written as he was abandoning the peripatetic life and settling down in the 1870s. Funny, irreverent, acutely observed this is vintage Twain, covering his travels in California, Nevada and Hawaii. With all 304-first edition illustrations, specially prepared maps, facsimile manuscript pages and commentary. (HWI14, $16.00)

State Shapes, 50 States

State Shapes, 50 States


by Erin McHugh

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

With a colorful fold-out jigsaw puzzle and a 50-state quarter collector map, this state-by-state tour, organized alphabetically, introduces kids ages 11-14 to the beauty and diversity of the United States. (USA434, $24.95)

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test


by Tom Wolfe

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES

Wolfe's original tale of the Merry Pranksters, a classic of 1960s hippiedom. (USS449, $16.00)

The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America

The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America


by Bill Bryson

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 314 PAGES

Heading out from his native Des Moines, Bryson makes his way through 38 of these United States, tossing off hilarious observations of the American character and roadscapes. Forgive Bryson's cheap shots at fat people and "hicks," he's an acerbic, witty guide to the country with an irrepressible sense of the absurd. (USW180, $14.99)

Twenty West: The Great Road Across America

Twenty West: The Great Road Across America


by Mac Nelson

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2008
  • HARD COVER
  • 366 PAGES
  • NEW

Neslon traces the route, history, and geography of Route 20, reflecting on the diverse history, landscape, geography, politics, culture, and other idiosyncratic people and places that he encountered during his journeys along Americaa's longest road, 3,300 miles from Boston, Massachusetts, to Newport, Oregon. (USA360, $25.00)

Way Off the Road, Discovering The Peculiar Charms of Small Town America

Way Off the Road, Discovering The Peculiar Charms of Small Town America


by Bill Geist

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

On-air correspondent for CBS Bill Geist offers his take on small town America from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Whalan, Minnesota in this collection of charming, quirky vignettes. (USA353, $13.95)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance


by Robert Pirsig

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 380 PAGES

A landmark book concerning (among other things) philosophy -- and a father with his son on the road from Minnesota to California. (GEN182, $14.99)

On the Road

On the Road


by Jack Kerouac

  • LITERATURE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES

The original, unedited, rougher, wilder and more provocative 50th anniversary edition of the famed Beat poet's landmark work. (USA16, $17.00)

Roadside Attractions

Roadside Attractions


by Noah Adams

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2009
  • AUDIO CD

Originally heard on NPR, these hilarious reports include the Velvet Museum ("Velveteria") in Portland, Oregon, the Elvis is Alive Museum in Wright City, Missouri, and a 13-foot American-made styrofoam recreation of Stonehenge. (USA397, $14.95)

The Bean Trees

The Bean Trees


by Barbara Kingsolver

  • LITERATURE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 246 PAGES

Spunky young Marietta Greer acquires a new name, an adopted Cherokee child and much more on an eventful road trip from Kentucky to Tucson in Kingsolver's irresistible debut novel. (USS480, $16.99)

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath


by John Steinbeck

  • LITERATURE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 612 PAGES

Steibeck's epic, Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of the Joad family and their journey from Oklahoma to California in search of a new life, wonderfully detailed in it portrait of rural life in the 1930s and a classic novel of the road. John Ford made it into a movie. (USW151, $16.00)

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Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.