num_pages: 272
description: How was it possible I wondered that all of this American landin every directioncould be fastened together into a whole?From the embattled newsrooms of small town newspapers to the pornography film sets of the Los Angeles basin from the check-out lanes of Dollar General to the holy sites of Mormonism from the nations highest peaks to the razed remains of a cherished home like a latter-day Woody Guthrie Tom Zoellner takes to the highways and byways of a vast land in search of the soul of its people.But what does it mean when a nation accustomed to moving begins to settle down when political discord threatens unity and when technology disrupts traditional ways of building communities? Is a shared soil enough to reinvigorate a national spirit? In these divided times Zoellners journey across Americaand into our often-contradictory historiesserves to remind us that despite our differences we all belong to the same land.By turns nostalgic and probing incisive and enraged Zoellners reflections reveal a nation divided by faith politics and shifting economies butmore importantlyone united by a shared sense of ownership in the common land.
language: English
title: The National Road
publisher: Counterpoint