the oregon trail a new american journey by rinker buck

Buck and his foul-mouthed handyman brother, Nick, set out to follow the 2,000-mile path, with only a covered wagon and mule team as their mode of transportation. These trips ignited a lust for travel and history that stuck with Buck, and that came roaring back when he found out that the Oregon Trail is meticulously preserved and traversable. Simultaneously a majestic journey across the West, a significant work of history, and a moving personal saga, Buck’s chronicle is a “laugh-out-loud masterpiece” ( Willamette Week) that “so ensnares the emotions it becomes a tear-jerker at its close” ( Star Tribune, Minneapolis) and “will leave you daydreaming and hungry to see this land” ( The Boston Globe).ĭespite growing up on the East Coast, Buck's (Flight of Passage) fondest childhood memories are of going on family trips with his eccentric father, who insisted on 'seeing America slowly' by traveling and camping out in a covered wagon. Buck’s voice, which is alert and unpretentious in a manner that put me in mind of Bill Bryson’s comic tone in A Walk in the Woods.” -Dwight Garner, The New York TimesĪ major bestseller that has been hailed as a “quintessential American story” ( Christian Science Monitor), Rinker Buck’s The Oregon Trail is an epic account of traveling the 2,000-mile length of the Oregon Trail the old-fashioned way-in a covered wagon with a team of mules-that has captivated readers, critics, and booksellers from coast to coast. “Absorbing…Winning…The many layers in The Oregon Trail are linked by Mr. “Amazing…A real nonfiction thriller.” -Ian Frazier, The New York Review of Books

“Enchanting…A book filled with so much love…Long before Oregon, Rinker Buck has convinced us that the best way to see America is from the seat of a covered wagon.” - The Wall Street Journal

The oregon trail a new american journey by rinker buck