''A Walk Across America'' is a nonfiction travel book first published in 1979. It was the first book written by travel author
Peter Jenkins, with support from the
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...
. The book depicts his journey from
Alfred, New York
Alfred is a town in Allegany County, New York, United States. The population was 4,896 at the 2020 census.
The Town of Alfred has a village named Alfred in the center of the town.
Alfred University and Alfred State College are located in th ...
, to
. While on his journey of self-discovery, he engaged himself in others' lives, lost his best friend, experienced a religious conversion, and courted a new wife.
Synopsis
Peter Jenkins was raised in a northern middle-class suburban home in Connecticut. While attending
Alfred University
Alfred University is a private university in Alfred (village), New York, Alfred, New York. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The ...
, he contracted an early marriage despite his sympathies for the new
hippie
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
youth movement and its belief in
free love. He graduated on 30 May 1973, feeling stifled by both his environment and his marriage. After separating from his wife, he cast about for an escape. He decided that despite his dislike of his native land, he would meet its citizens by walking from his college town of Alfred to the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
before continuing across the United States. On 15 October 1973, he shouldered his pack, whistled up his dog Cooper, and began walking south. He planned to stop and work during his journey whenever he needed money.
Jenkins' trip to the Gulf saw him lay over for the winter in
Appalachia
Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...
before he continued south. He worked at various laboring jobs, such as sawmill hand, as money was needed. As a hippie
Damnyankee outsider, Jenkins sometimes met with suspicion and hostility.
[ More often, he was greeted with hospitality from those from whom he least expected it. On occasion, initial hostility from others morphed into good will and friendship. Jenkins was invited to stay in the home of various ]good samaritan
In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...
s, including an Appalachian hermit and an African-American family. On occasion, he lived with these samaritans for considerable lengths of time; his stay with the African-American family lasted several months.
At one of his stays, at The Farm hippie commune in Tennessee, Cooper was run over and killed by a truck. After burying Cooper, he sorrowfully continued his hike solo, headed for Alabama. Once there, he met Governor George Wallace
George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...
; Wallace alerted state employees to keep a helpful lookout for Jenkins. Jenkins then attended a revival meeting
A revival meeting is a series of Christian religious services held to inspire active members of a church body to gain new converts and to call sinners to repent. Nineteenth-century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said, "Many blessings may come ...
in Mobile run by James Robison and embraced the Christian faith. Jenkins ended his trek in New Orleans, where he courted his new wife Barbara while they were living in a seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
. After some self-doubt as to her fitness to hike with him to the west coast, Barbara joined him in his journey.
Themes
A young man's process of coming of age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...
and self-discovery are the themes of ''A Walk Across America''. Realizing that his point of view is limited by his suburban rearing, Jenkins is determined to learn more about other American lifestyles. His route takes him into the American South
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
, a region reputed for racial and social prejudice; because he is an outsider, this makes him apprehensive. However, he was befriended by, and befriended, a wide array of people living outside his cultural ken. His travels on his personal odyssey added to the tension, whether nearly dying of influenza in an Appalachian Trail shelter, being threatened by prejudiced lawmen or rednecks,[Jenkins, 119-124, 167-172.] or menaced by wide trucks on a narrow bridge.
Jenkins concluded his book with his own personal summary: "I started out searching for myself and my country, and found both."
Publication details
Jenkins walked into the National Geographic Society's office in Washington early in his trip seeking support. The Society supplied him with a camera and lenses, and advised him of their interest in the book. He began writing an article for them when he got to New Orleans in 1975. Jenkins began writing ''A Walk Across America'' in Winter, 1976 while on a ranch in the Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
; he completed the book in Ouray, Colorado in 1978.
Published in 1979, ''A Walk Across America'' was into its sixth edition within a year, as it spent three months on the New York Times bestseller list. It was a selection of both the Newsweek Condensed Book Club and Reader's Digest Condensed Books
''Reader's Digest Condensed Books'' was a series of hardcover anthology collections, published by the American general interest monthly family magazine ''Reader's Digest'' and distributed by direct mail. Most volumes contained five (although a c ...
. It was also an alternate selection of the Word Book Club and the Literary Guild.[Reverse of title page, sixth edition.] ''A Walk Across America'' has been printed in 30 editions, including an audio book and an ebook version.
Endnotes
References
* Jenkins, Peter (1979: sixth edition). ''A Walk Across America''. Fawcett Crest. .
Further works by Peter Jenkins
*''A Walk Across America'' (1979)
*''The Walk West'' (1981)
*''Journey into China'' (1982)
*''The Tennessee Sampler'' (1985)
*''Across China'' (1986)
*''The Road Unseen'' (1987)
*''Close Friends'' (1989)
*''Along the Edge of America'' (1995)
*''The Untamed Coast'' (1995)
*''Looking for Alaska'' (2001)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walk Across America
1979 non-fiction books
Books about the United States
American travel books
Hiking books