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    The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean
    The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean
    The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean

    Written by Philip Caputo

    Narrated by Pete Larkin

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    September 1996 found Philip Caputo on Barter Island, a wind-scoured rock in the Beaufort Sea populated by two hundred Inupiat and a handful of whites. As he gazed upon an American flag above the only school for a hundred and fifty miles, he marveled that the children in that school pledged allegiance to the same flag as the children of Cuban immigrants on Key West, almost six thousand miles away. Awed by America's vastness and diversity and filled with a renewed appreciation for its cohesiveness, an idea began to form. With enough time, gas money, and nerve he could drive from the southernmost point to the northernmost point of the United States that is reachable by road, talking to people as he went and trying to better understand what holds our great country together.Cicada-like, the idea went dormant, not to be reawakened for fourteen years. In 2011, America was struggling through the greatest economic downturn since the Depression and was more divided than it had been in living memory. Caputo, who had just turned seventy, his wife, and their two English setters took off in a truck hauling an Airstream camper from Key West, Florida, en route via back roads and state routes to Deadhorse, Alaska. The journey took four months and covered seventeen thousand miles, during which Caputo interviewed more than eighty Americans from all walks of life to get a picture of what their lives and the life of the nation are really about in the twenty-first century.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateJul 16, 2013
    ISBN9781622311965
    Author

    Philip Caputo

    Philip Caputo was born in Chicago in 1941 and educated at Purdue and Loyola Universities. After graduating in 1964, he served in the US Marine Corps for three years, including a sixteen‑month tour of duty in Vietnam. In addition to Memory and Desire, he has written seventeen books, among them three memoirs, ten works of fiction, and four of general nonfiction. His first book, A Rumor of War, is considered a classic of war literature. It has been published in fifteen languages and has sold more than 1.5 million copies. A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, Caputo has written dozens of articles in major magazines, op‑ed pieces, and reviews for publications across the United States, including the New York Times, National Geographic, and the Chicago Tribune. He lives in Norwalk, Connecticut, and Patagonia, Arizona.

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    Reviews for The Longest Road

    4/5

    72 ratings19 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Ever since my teen years when I discovered ‘On the Road’ I have always loved a good road book... as a young man I lived the dream (thanks to cheap gas and a pop up tent stashed in the trunk of my car) and wandered this beautiful nation in search of something - never quite realizing that the freedom I had and the bit of adventure I encountered provided all the answers I would ever really need at the time - as they say, youth is wasted on the young. Road books are always the same, and yet so different and individual - the journey, the detours, the destination, the meetings, the encounters, the lessons, the remembrances - they all add up to something that I, maybe erroneously, identify as one of the true American art forms. The great thing about this book is that Philip Caputo does have something to say about what America is - sometimes it takes some assuming and thought, and you might disagree with Caputo, but America is not filled with easy one size fits all answers (and hopefully it never is). I feel ‘The Longest Road’ is worthwhile addition to anyone’s travel bookshelf and should be read. Buy it. Read it. Then get out there in your car (or RV if you are lucky enough to have one) and go live your own road tale - this IS America, see as much of it is as can, you’ll never regret it!
    • 2/5
      great topic from a writer with a great reputation but the final result falls short compared to other on the road books. Caputo makes some good contrasts between Parkman's Oregon Trail and Kerouac's On the Road but ultimately his political
      commentary and condescension toward his subjects is distracting. he even ends on a political note which takes away from the travel aspect. his observations on travel are not
      original--it's the journey not the destination. William Least Heat Moons Blue Highways is still the classic to read in this genre and one I'd recommend over The Longest Road.
    • 3/5
      It was okay.... interesting but not profound.
    • 4/5
      I like "road" travel books and this is one of the best. Caputo's writing is fluent and insightful and, crucially the book never descends into a series of "and thens". He introduces a series of memorable characters from across the spectrum that is U S society and weaves their stories into his search for what it is that keeps America together, coming up with a series of ideas that, taken together may provide an answer, I recommend it to all devotees of the travel writing genre.
    • 5/5
      Well researched book. Inspireing for my own future road trips!
    • 4/5
      Caputo and his wife take to the road in search of the answer to this question: What unites the United States? They start at the tip of Florida and drive all the way to the Arctic Ocean in Alaska in a truck pulling a classic Airstream trailer. And along the way they stop to meet everyone they see and to talk with everyone they meet. As all road trips are, they have several unexpected crises and experience several unexpected epiphanies. Yes, delightful.
    • 4/5
      The Longest Road was an enjoyable book. I liked everything in it, I just wanted there to be more of it. And when I see that there were 320 pages I realize that no matter how much more there was to it, it wouldn't have been enough! I just like road books.. I enjoy meeting the characters one meets along the road. There can never be too many of them.Philip Caputo meets his share of the characters.. but actually he and his wife could have been the most eccentric of the bunch. Seeing that he is about the same age as I am, I expected to have more in common with him than was apparent. Maybe he needed to add another month to his tour.. I'll bet he would have forty years ago!I would recommend this book.. I just felt that it was a tad incomplete.
    • 4/5
      Certain ingredients seem to be a requirement of Road books: a vehicle with quirks that must be mastered; an unlikely or distant destination; meetings with friendly, salt of the earth people; a meeting or more with cranky, possibly bigoted people; miles and miles of boring scenery; miles and miles of unbelievably magnificent scenery; a breakdown or other emergency in some remote place---you get the idea. Despite the destination or the route, it seems that travel books can be as formulaic in their way as a romance novel. Caputo's stated objective for the trip from Key West to Alaska was to discover what holds the country together. I don't think there is a definite answer to this question, so I was not surprised that he did not discover one. The tale of the trip was interesting, but not unforgettable. A good read.
    • 4/5
      I always enjoy reading travel books, so I was eagerly looking forward to this, since I have harbored in the back of my mind to do something similar on my own one day. So I thought that the idea of going from the southernmost point in the US, to the outer reaches of Alaska in an Airstream would be a good read. I was not sorely disappointed, but the underlying premise that Caputo wanted to continue to highlight as he traveled was "what keeps this country together," and I am not sure he ever really got at the issue during his travels, albeit possibly anecdotally. I was glad he took, more often that not, the back roads, avoiding the sterile nature of our interstate system. I myself have done this from time to time and have not been disappointed by the towns that used to be hustling and bustling until the major highways diverted traffic from their reaches. But I was left somewhat wanting more throughout the book. Additionally, I couldnt help but discern what I would characterize as modest condescension from Caputo with his interaction with the "country folk" he met along his way. Not always, but I would pick up on it from time to time, and ultimately it detracted from my read. I think Caputo and his wife (and dogs) made a remarkable journey that most Americans would love to undertake, but I think there was more of a story to tell, and if he had the time to take a bit longer on his journey, I think it might have been better told.
    • 3/5
      Two major life-changing events happened to Philip Caputo in 2010: he turned 70 and his father died. The two events, especially because they occurred so close together, left Caputo speculating about his own old age and how many years might remain to him. Realizing that he was approaching a now-or-never age, the author, accompanied by his wife, set out on a road trip he first contemplated during a 1996 visit to a remote Alaskan village. The result is The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Artic Ocean.During that first visit to Alaska, Caputo was struck by the idea that Eskimo children in the most remote portions of that vast state pledged allegiance to the same American flag that the children of Cuban immigrants saluted some 6,000 miles away in Key West, Florida. How could that be? What was the glue that held a country as large as the United States together? Caputo and his wife, towing a vintage little Airstream trailer behind them, set off from Key West in 2011 to answer those questions for themselves.As they make their northwestward trek across the country, Caputo gathers many different opinions about the state of the country and why people think that it still works. Not surprisingly, most of what the author hears from his new road-buddies is not particularly deep or insightful – but it does reflect the basic good common sense of most Americans, people that, no matter what region they live in, still have more in common than not. The system, Caputo decides, may be more politically strained right now than it has been in decades but it still manages to hold America together. Frankly, however, Caputo’s stated goal of explaining America’s unity does not make for a very intriguing travel book. Fans of the genre are likely to be a bit bored by the repetitiveness of Caputo’s questions and the responses he solicits from those he meets along the road. More interesting are the author’s struggles with the Airstream, his other assorted problems along the road (including the difficulty of finding gasoline when he needs it), and the supreme effort he and his wife make to remain civil to each other despite their cramped quarters. These are the things of which such an epic road trip are really made. Bottom Line: interesting travel book that does not quite achieve its stated goal (see the book’s subtitle). Still worth a look, especially for fans of Caputo’s writing.
    • 4/5
      Similar to Steinbeck, this is an account of Caputo's trip across the US, in an RV. He travels with his wife Leslie and two English setters, with the starting point Key West Fl, and ending at Deadhorse Alaska. Where possible they traveled the route of Lewis and Clark. The subtitle of the book "Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean" reflects Caputo's attempt to answer the question What's keeping this country together?. The book meanders as much as their trip. While always entertaining, frequently Caputo either doesn't ask the question of the people they meet, or if he does, he must feel the answer wasn't worth passing along. An easy read, and enjoyable, but doesn't really answer the question he raised.
    • 4/5
      Caputo, at the age of 70, with wife and two dogs, sets out to take an old Airstream Trailer behind a Toyota Tundra pickup truck from the southern most point on Key West, Florida to the northern most driveable point on the Arctic Ocean in Alaska. The result is not too surprising to those who have read Steinbeck's "Travels With Charlie" and William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways." What makes this trip different is that Caputo keeps asking along the way what holds together our current America with its polarized politics and social views, and its many ethnic groups. The book's final sentence probably gives the best answer. Easy to read and a pleasure.
    • 4/5
      " What keeps us together?" "Hope... Isn't that what it's always been?"The author's father once said that there was nothing like being "in a car with everything you need, nothing more, and an open road in front of you." Jack Kerouac wrote "Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is so ever on the road." When Caputo's father, who loved being on the road himself, died, the author realized at age 69 that a lot of his own life was behind him, and he pondered about life ahead. He came up with this crazy idea to go from the southernmost point in the United States (Key West) to the country's northernmost point in Alaska, not "purely for the adventure" but rather to discover what people across this country think holds us (as a nation) together in a time when we are so torn apart on several issues. His intention is not to "take the pulse of the nation," an impossible task, but to ask his question to the people he meets along the way. His vehicle of choice for the journey is a leased, classic Airstream trailer, "wanderlust made visible and tangible." With his wife and two dogs in tow, he made his long journey, choosing to mainly follow America's backroads and highways, following the journey made by Lewis and Clark as much as possible to the west coast. Along the way he meets a wide variety of people, visits places and does things he's never before experienced. As someone who also loves to travel America's backroads and smaller highways, camp, stop in at mom-and-pop eateries and start conversations with perfect strangers I meet, this book definitely appealed to me. I would love to retrace Mr. Caputo's footsteps/tire tracks someday, but since that's probably not ever going to happen, reading about his journey is almost as good. His descriptions of places I've been are right on the money, but it's the people he meets that keep things really interesting. "Listening" to them and hearing what they have to say about America, their communities and themselves is an eye opener. There are funny parts to this book and some where you just want to cry. I'd love to hear this as an audio book with the author doing the reading. Just a few minor niggles: a) while I happen to share many of the author's points of view, I can see how his political musing might be a turnoff for some people who don't -- I felt the emphasis should have been more on what other Americans thought, considering the premise of his adventure; and b) a map would have been extremely helpful -- I had my Ipad on my lap looking at each highway, each road, each town, etc.where a map could have provided a one-stop visual representation of the trip. All in all, The Longest Road is an enjoyable read, and I've selected this book for one of my book group's choices for the fall. Definitely recommended; try not to let the politics get in the way of the rest of the journey.
    • 4/5
      Partial disclosure: I can all too well remember turning 30, back when 30 was seen as the end. Have since survived several decades more, thank you. In this book, Phil Caputo celebrates his 70th birthday, as I expect to soon enough. He celebrated that milestone [pun intended] on the road somewhere in Missouri, concerned "how to age without growing into a cranky old fart." In fact, fending off that fear is an impetus for this book. At age 69 he buys an Airstream and a monster pickup to tow it, and with wife Leslie and two English setters as fellow travelers, sets off to drive from Key West to Deadhorse on Alaska's north coast, some 5,500 miles, not rolling down the Interstates.The book that comes out of this whim is an entertaining mix of travelogue, newbie adventures with big trucks and small Airstreams, stories related by people he and Leslie meet, and old guy musings on life, nature, and politics. There's a lot of humor here, some pain and misfortune, but most of all a sense of optimism and strong hope. Phil starts with a story of his father, a traveling machinist, reminiscing, "There was nothing like it, to be in a car with everything you need, nothing more, and an open road in front of you." But, to Phil, now older than his father then, the sense was more of much life behind and less ahead. That realization transmutes to another purpose for the trip, and the book. The America that Phil and his generation had experienced can be viewed as one characterized by disruptions and upheavals. The current social and political fabric too appeared to be threatening to fall apart. What kept, he asked, the "pluribus" an "unum"? What holds America together?The people he meets offer their thoughts. From Carol Harrison Springer, a cattle and horse farmer in Missouri's Meramec Valley: "I think the glue is a belief, that's not clearly defined, that we have more in common than not, that we're more alike than we're different. I'm not sure it's true, but the important thing is that we believe it is." And from Ansel Woodenknife, at a campsite near South Dakota's Black Hills, "Because we all believe in this country that we're people who are free to be people. You get that, and you don't have to fear anybody anymore."Sometimes Caputo's liberal/conservative backing-and-forthing gets a bit tedious, tendentious. But, his intentions are good, and the honesty and wisdom of the people he meets he makes clearly apparent.All in all, a book well worth the reading.
    • 5/5
      Reading this book brought back memories of other great adventure stories, such as On The Road and Sacajewea. The physical and mental difficulties traveling such great distances are described honestly. Many people would be discouraged and gone back home, but hope and the bonding with the people they encountered along the way drove them on. The book renewed my faith in people and hope for the future., especially when Caputo visited his friends at the end of his journey. He asks Erika, "What are your thoughts? What keeps us together?" Hope". she says, Isn't that what it's always been?" I give it five stars--a great book.
    • 4/5
      Just happened to toss this book in my trip as I left for the Oregon Coast so I was immersed in Lewis and Clark territory while reading 'Road', a very happy accident! While Caputo's writing in this particular book is not quite as soulful as some of the earlier wilderness/adventure writers he references, he does mix the human aspect, the historical background, and the natural elements he encounters between Key West and Prudhoe Bay in such a deceptively easy manner that I had the welcome sensation of being the fifth passenger on their epic journey. Caputo's also entertaining without turning the journey into a comedy which I appreciate. I thoroughly enjoyed the book overall, but I found the back-and-forth between portraying the part of a political neutral with rural interviewees, the decidedly strong political opinion of the writer, and then the intermittent philosophizing about the weakness of "middle of the roaders" to come across as contradictory and (gasp) a tad hypocritical in spots, but it was a minor annoyance and certainly not enough to jackknife the story. There are some real nuggets of true Americana in here and I'd definitely recommend it. Hopefully one day I'll get to follow in Mr. Caputo's wandering shoes--but I'll probably only bring along one dog :).
    • 5/5
      It's been a long time since I read Philip Caputo's A RUMOR OF WAR, probably thirty years or more. Since then it has become a recognized classic of war literature. Just a few years ago I read another more recent Caputo memoir, MEANS OF ESCAPE, detailing some of the dangerous and out-of-the way world events he has covered as a journalist. Both books also give you some glimpses into his earlier life, growing up in Illinois. I enjoyed both of those books, Caputo being a damn fine writer.But now here's this strange new book, a "travel book" I guess you'd have to classify it, although Caputo's journalistic curiosity is still in there, as evidenced by the people he interviews along the way, asking his standard question about what they think is the glue that holds together a country as vast and varied as the USA. And he gets plenty of thought-provoking answers. Here's the thing though: Caputo is seventy now. Even before I began reading, I couldn't help but wonder, Geeze, Phil, why in the hell wouldja wanna take a trip that covers close to NINE THOUSAND MILES at your age?! And this ain't no first class flight arrangement either. It's a frigging ROAD trip, driving a truck pulling a trailer, AND he takes along his wife and two large English Setters!! Yeah, you heard me right: 9,000 miles, zig-zagging across the continent from Key West all the way to Deadhorse, Alaska, on the Arctic Ocean!! And his wife is one of those gems who is NEVER wrong, is ALWAYS right. We know this because he tells us. And it gets demonstrated here and there, of course, since Caputo is something of a novice, we find out, at pulling, and especially backing up, a trailer. Granted, it's just a small Airstream, but still ... Ya know? Remember that Lucy and Desi movie, THE LONG LONG TRAILER? Well there are actually a few comic moments here like that. He and his wife get warned early on that a trip like this could put a serious strain on their marriage.I guess what I'm trying to tell ya is that this is a funny book, a VERY funny book. I must confess that I didn't remember Caputo being such a funny guy, but then a Vietnam memoir and then another book about being shot at in various world trouble spots perhaps didn't really lend themselves to many humorous moments. This book has plenty of them. In fact, maybe instead of calling it a travel book, a more apt term might be a "geezer book." An ON THE ROAD for the Earl and Opal set. To be fair though, only Caputo fits the geezer description. His wife, Leslie Ware, is considerably younger (and taller [and probably smarter too]).Caputo does invoke Kerouac now and then, and Steinbeck's famous TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY too, as well as Francis Parkman and Lewis and Clark, as he retraces parts of the trails of all of the above. He's done his reporter's homework and inserts bits and pieces of pertinent history throughout his narrative, all interesting and relevant. It's possible I enjoyed this book even more than I might have because the book I had just finished previously was Larry McMurtry's ROADS. McMurtry too drove all over the USA to write his book. But he stuck to the superhighways and was more interested in making time, exploring his own inner psyche, and speeding through places that had some literary significance. (And McMurtry is not a funny guy; in fact he comes across as a rather humorless, dour sort.) Caputo's route was closer to that of William Least Heat-Moon of BLUE HIGHWAYS fame. He took some less-traveled roads and also took the time to get down off his pickup and talk with folks along the way. Mostly regular "jes' folks" sorta people. Although the Caputos also stopped off in Montana to visit their dear friends Jim and Linda Harrison. If you are a reader of Jim Harrison's many works, then you will immediately relate when Caputo calls him a "champion conversationalist ... [who] switches subjects so quickly that following his trains of thought is like trying to follow electrons bouncing off one another in the Large Hadron Collider ... he has one of the most original minds I've ever encountered." Too true.(Full disclosure: I have a special place in my booklover heart for Harrison, since he grew up in my home town of Reed City, Michigan.)Perhaps one of my favorite parts of THE LONGEST ROAD comes near the end when Caputo visits the tiny and primitive settlement of Chicken, Alaska. Chicken was the setting for one of my mother's favorite books, TISHA, about a young teacher there in the 1920s. Mom read that book probably half a dozen times. I was reading it to her again when she died not long ago. Reading Caputo's description of the place, it doesn't sound like things have improved all that much in the past eighty-some years.If I have any complaints about this book, it's a minor one. I wish it had a map - or maps - tracing the route Caputo traveled. It was awkward wrassling my big Rand-McNally Atlas into my lap every other chapter or so. But I was reading an advance review copy. Maybe the final version will throw in some maps. I hope so.I think I've already said Phil Caputo is a damn fine writer. That's a pretty well-established fact. Well this is a damn fine book, entertaining, and a fine mix of serious and funny. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Philip Caputo wanted to take a long trip. He used various ways to give it meaning so his book describing the trip would capture the reader. He chose to go from the most southern to the most northern points of the US. He followed old Indian or frontier trails when possible, and he asked those he met if they thought the US was still united and if so why? None of the approaches quite did the trick and I was left wondering why I cared. The survey might have been interesting but was skewed since his route assured that those he asked were all small town/rural, hardly typical Americans. What saved the book were the interesting characters he meets, some bizarre, some inspiring.
    • 3/5
      Philip Caputo, a veteran journalist best known for "Rumor of War," decides to travel from the USA's southernmost point to the top of Alaska in hopes of figuring out what holds this fractured country together. In his ambition and attitude, he reminded me of Paul Theroux with a couple of critical distinctions: Theroux is a much better writer and he wouldn't be caught dead in an Airstream. Caputo simply isn't a very engaging or interesting travel companion, and the reader will be forgiven for wondering why his wife--and perhaps his dogs--put up with him during this four-month odyssey. What kept me reading were the people Caputo met along the way,. Most were interesting and many were delightful; other travelers have observed that most people they met on the road were thoughtful and generous, and that was usually the case here. The book is also a useful travel guide for anyone hankering to explore the Great Plains and the West. While Caputo's writing is sometimes clunky and he frequently runs out of metaphors, he made me really, really want to go to the Badlands. (Early Reviewer)