“Cross Country”: Across America with Lewis and Clark, Emily Post, Jack Kerouac, Etc.*

Travel Blog  •  Michael Yessis  •  07.03.06 | 10:05 AM ET

imageFor the second time in less than a month a travel book made the cover of the New York Times Book Review Sunday. Robert Sullivan’s Cross Country is the latest book to get what might be the most coveted review spot in U.S. media, and like The Naked Tourist The Places in Between in early June, it earned a rave review. “‘Cross Country’ is delightful as history, but it’s the tender portrait of a family driving home together, enjoying their time just the four of them, that resonates on closing the book,” Bruce Barcott writes. “America may or may not ‘be’ the road, but for the Sullivans and so many other families, their time there comes to define them.”

The Times has posted the first chapter of Cross Country, as well as a conversation with Sullivan and his daughter Louise, and Times editors Sam Tanenhaus and Robert R. Harris. In the audio, Sullivan discusses, among other things, the book, road food and the incredibly long and highly amusing subhead to his book: “Fifteen Years and Ninety Thousand Miles on the Roads and Interstates of America with Lewis and Clark, a Lot of Bad Motels, a Moving Van, Emily Post, Jack Kerouac, My Wife, My Mother-in-Law, Two Kids, and Enough Coffee to Kill an Elephant.”

Yes, he invokes that Emily Post.

* Corrected, per the note below. Indeed, we wrote last month about “The Places in Between” making the cover.

Tags: North America, United States, News and Briefs


3 Comments for “Cross Country”: Across America with Lewis and Clark, Emily Post, Jack Kerouac, Etc.*

VR 07.03.06 | 2:08 PM ET

Agree it’s a happy trend, but the front page rave review in early June was for Rory Stewart’s *The Places In Between.*

*Naked Tourist* was favorably reviewed in the Summer Reading Book Review, which had a section on travel writing, and also in the daily review.

Jim Benning 07.03.06 | 3:34 PM ET

Michael is out of reach, but from what I can tell, you’re right, so I’ve made the correction. Thanks for keeping us honest, VR.

mike 07.03.06 | 10:15 PM ET

My mistake. I wrote down the wrong book and didn’t double check before posting.

Thanks for setting the record straight.

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