AN AMERICAN JOURNEY Travels with Friday in Search of America and Americans eBook JAMES ERNEST SHAW
Download As PDF : AN AMERICAN JOURNEY Travels with Friday in Search of America and Americans eBook JAMES ERNEST SHAW 
AN AMERICAN JOURNEY IS A CAPTIVATING TALE OF AMERICA AND AMERICANS.
In the summer of 1962 James Shaw strapped an army surplus sleeping bag on his 3-speed bike and set off from his small-town Nebraska home for the Rocky Mountains. He was fifteen years old and had just read John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley. Just like Steinbeck, James learned that America is filled with good-hearted characters, like the tobacco-chewing, foul-mouthed pool shark who, upon learning that James was looking for a place to camp, directed the wandering wayfarer to a pastor who let him sleep on his porch.
TOO OLD AT SIXTY-FIVE?
Fifty years later, James had a few questions How much has America changed since the days of John F. Kennedy? Are Americans still kind to strangers? And could he, at age sixty-five, bike the thousand-plus miles that lie between Wisconsin and Colorado? On this journey James took along a companion—a weird-looking, small-wheeled bike named Friday. By piquing the curiosity of everyone who saw it, that strange little blue bike introduced James to a fascinating cross section of Americans. From these people James discovered what has changed about America and the many things that are still essentially the same in this great and still wide-open country.
AN UNFORGETTABLE CAST OF CHARACTERS.
You’ll meet the people James met—memorable one-of-a-kind, salt-of-the-earth folks. Some days he met so many intriguing people that he rode only a couple of dozen miles. Their stories will inspire you. They will also serve as warnings that this great experiment that is known as America must be safeguarded. Steinbeck warned us—and so do the fascinating people you will meet in An American Journey. Their stories will remind you of all that is good about America—and just how much we stand to lose if we are not vigilant in protecting our freedoms.
TRAVELS WITH FRIDAY WILL WARM YOUR HEART WITH APPRECIATION FOR THE UNIQUE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
By the author of AN ITALIAN JOURNEY - "FIVE STARS - THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ! I love Mr. Shaw's way of telling a story. You feel as though you're right there with him. I have Italian roots and this book makes the stories of my ancestors come alive." ~ Janet M
A FUN AND UNIQUE BOOK - FIVE STARS "It's amazing what happens when you take the ear buds out and start conversations with strangers! I lived vicariously through the author's experiences of RELATING to America as he travelled through the heart of America! Not many books continue to entertain well after reading, but this one has! While I can't take time off work to ride a bike from town to town, I've had more fun following the author's lead and challenging myself to ENGAGE with the folks around me. The book has taught me to take advantage of my trips to the airport or to the local grocery store!
On top of that - the author's accounts of the people he's met really make you think about what makes our country work. It's refreshing to see our country without the lens of big media, and a bunch of agendas, but instead on a direct and personal basis. It feels like a direct tap into the truth behind America's strength, and what will make America great in the future. I guess it makes sense that the author's unique trip resulted in such a unique book! I highly recommend the book!" ~ Dottie S
"LOVED AN AMERICAN JOURNEY! FIVE STARS! Once again I was pulled in by Mr. Shaw' gracious writing style. I love the sense of community shared by the many interesting characters he encountered in small-town America. I share many common ideals with the author, but he, being a storyteller, is able to articulate the thoughts I wish I could so artfully express. Like many of the folks he encountered, faith and family are my motivation. The epilogue was especially thought provoking. Thanks for another great read!" ~ Carlene
AN AMERICAN JOURNEY Travels with Friday in Search of America and Americans eBook JAMES ERNEST SHAW
"An American Journey ..." is a travelogue that chronicles the adventures of a man on the north side of middle age traveling through the American Midwest on a folding bicycle towing a 50-pound suitcase/trailer. The narrative was well written and edited, and did an excellent job of staying focused throughout the book. I especially enjoyed the author's comparisons to John Steinbeck's "Travels with Charlie."The narrative is also peppered with the author's Christian values and viewpoint which he expressed throughout in response to the people and situations he encountered on his journey. I have to respect a person with the courage to voice his conservative convictions in the face of a liberal and politically correct world. That being said, I also feel that he went overboard ...
The author decided to conclude the book with a long, rambling "Afterward" that lectured the reader on the moral decline of America and the evils of abortion. Without delving into the merits and/or flaws of his arguments, I believe a travelogue is the wrong forum for that type of religious dissertation. This book should have ended with the Epilogue.
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AN AMERICAN JOURNEY Travels with Friday in Search of America and Americans eBook JAMES ERNEST SHAW Reviews
A thinly disguised right wing rant. The "travel" part appears to only be there to support the author's one sided political and religious views. This was one of the rare times I did not rad the comments. Will not make that mistake again.
As a full time rv'er I have traveled many of these same towns and highways and have met many of these middle Americans. I agree with all of his conclusions and recommend this book to any thinking American. Loved it.
"An American Journey" is a Huck Finn kind of story written by James Ernest Shaw, as a little past middle age adult being the first person character. It is written not along the Mississippi River on a raft but across the highways and byways on a unique small bicycle on roads that we travel along every day but never stop to closely examine what we have been missing. It encompasses a John Steinbeck style of writing, which the author refers to frequently, as well the bare human struggle against nature of Ernest Hemingway.
At the age when most adults are content with recollecting memories of past victories and long forgotten loves, Shaw sets out on a quest similar to the journey John Steinbeck took late in his life in the book "Travels with Charley In Search of America."
Shaw tells a story of freshness and hope. "An American Journey" conveys the hope that the course our country has been following will be corrected by the indomitable spirit of freedom-loving Americans.
I highly recommend this book. The 'Afterword" is a bit too long. In fact, the reflection chapters after the actual story ends are redundant, and I had to skim them mostly.
..
At age 65, Shaw decides to ride 1,000 miles across America on his trusty travel bike "Friday" (the same bike he road across Tuscany a few years ago and wrote about in "An Italian Journey"), partially recreating a bike trip he took 50 years ago at age 15. Along the way he wants to meet folks and take the pulse of America today, and compare it with what he found 50 years ago. He writes beautifully, painting the scene and capturing the mood as he pedals across the country. Shaw writes from his own frame of mind, and weaves his beliefs into his narrative. Personally I like that about him, but he got some 'flack' from readers of "An Italian Journey" for it, and will most likely catch some here, too. But, that's part of what makes American so great, we can share our views and opinions and folks can take it or leave it.
Fifty years ago an enthusiastic and confident fifteen-year-old boy, inspired by John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, set out on his first long distance bike adventure--riding from the plains of Nebraska to the mountains of Colorado. During the fall of 2012, when Americans were focused on the presidential campaign between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, James Shaw, then sixty-five, rode from Wisconsin to Colorado. An American Journey Travels with Friday is the story of those two rides, comparing the America of 1962 to the America of 2012. He captured the pulse of America by listening to the heart-felt stories (about politics and everything else) of the dozens and dozens of people he met in small-town America. It makes for fascinating reading following along with James as he tells the stories of the many interesting characters he met who helped him see that maybe America hasn't changed so much after all--at least in the heartland of America. Many of the people he met were hopeful--and many were fearful--but just about everyone was hospitable beyond Shaw's wildest expectations. At one point a man he had been talking to for only a few minutes (his weird-looking bike made most of the introductions) told him that he was more than welcome to spend the night at his house if he was tired of battling Iowa's winds.
It was that kind of trip--a box-of-chocolates kind of journey--never knowing what was going to happen or what interesting character he was going to meet--like Clem, the eighty-some-year old glucosamine dancer he talked with for almost three hours on a main street liar's bench. An American Journey will delight anyone who loves stories about people--not as television presents the folks of middle America, but the way they really are. The Epilogue and the Afterword in which Shaw compares and contrasts three Americas (the America that John Steinbeck wrote about, the America that Shaw found in the heartland, and America as presented in the media) are superb--they should be required reading at every journalism school in America--heck, this whole book should be required reading at every school in America!
"An American Journey ..." is a travelogue that chronicles the adventures of a man on the north side of middle age traveling through the American Midwest on a folding bicycle towing a 50-pound suitcase/trailer. The narrative was well written and edited, and did an excellent job of staying focused throughout the book. I especially enjoyed the author's comparisons to John Steinbeck's "Travels with Charlie."
The narrative is also peppered with the author's Christian values and viewpoint which he expressed throughout in response to the people and situations he encountered on his journey. I have to respect a person with the courage to voice his conservative convictions in the face of a liberal and politically correct world. That being said, I also feel that he went overboard ...
The author decided to conclude the book with a long, rambling "Afterward" that lectured the reader on the moral decline of America and the evils of abortion. Without delving into the merits and/or flaws of his arguments, I believe a travelogue is the wrong forum for that type of religious dissertation. This book should have ended with the Epilogue.
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