Steinbeck records his emotions and experiences during a journey of rediscovery in his native land.

When Conor Knighton set off to explore America's "best idea," he worried the whole thing could end up being his worst idea. A broken engagement and a broken heart had left him longing for a change of scenery, but the plan he'd cooked up in response had gone a bit overboard in that department: Over the course of a single year, Knighton would visit every national park in the country, from Acadia to Zion. In Leave Only Footprints, Knighton shares informative...

A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America which he later also undertakes, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.

"After a decade abroad, the National Book Award--and Pulitzer Prize--winning writer Evan Osnos returns to three places he has lived in the United States--Greenwich, CT; Clarksburg, WV; and Chicago, IL--to illuminate the origins of America's political fury"-- Osnos moved to Washington, D.C., in 2013 after a decade away from the United States, first as the Beijing bureau chief at the Chicago Tribune and then the China correspondent for The New Yorker....

"As a boy, Robert Kaplan recalls his father driving trucks across the country to earn a living for his family, a man who witnessed and understood America from a ground-level perspective. In Earning the Rockies, Kaplan undertakes his own cross-country journey to recapture an appreciation and understanding of American geography that is often lost in the jet age. Along the way, he witnesses both prosperity and decline--increasingly cosmopolitan cities...

"Organized state-by-state then province-by-province, 50 States, 5,000 Ideas showcases the best travel experiences in every state and province, from the obvious to the unexpected. Sights include national parks, beaches, hotels, Civil War battlefields, dude ranches, out-of-the-way museums, and the list goes on and on. You'll discover the world's longest yard sale in Tennessee; swamp tours in Louisiana; dinosaur trails in Colorado; America's oldest street...

A series of autobiographical essays draws on key moments and relationships in the author's life to explore such issues as trust, loss, and desire, in a volume that focuses on a central theme of losing oneself in the pleasures of experience.

Like John McPhee and Susan Orlean, Laskas dives deep into her subjects and emerges with character-driven narratives that are gripping, funny, and revelatory. The stories are about the people who make our lives run every day--and how people barely think of them.

"In 1914 Henry Ford and naturalist John Burroughs visited Thomas Edison in Florida and toured the Everglades. The following year Ford, Edison, and tire maker Harvey Firestone joined together on a summer camping trip and decided to call themselves the Vagabonds. They would continue their summer road trips until 1925, when they announced that their fame made it too difficult for them to carry on. Although the Vagabonds traveled with an entourage of...

Describes the difficulties faced by the first woman to make a cross-country journey from New York to San Francisco in an automobile in 1909.