Small World : A Microcosmic Journey, by Brad Herzog

Retrieved from: the library
(0743464702), 2004
Suggested by: Saw it while cataloging it

Odd that I'm reading this along with the Ambrose book (below). The author decides to visit the world by driving around the U.S. investigating small towns which share their names with big cities: Paris, Moscow, Cairo, etc. Kind of an oddball concept, but I'm for any excuse to be paid to drive around the country, so what the heck! So I have two versions of traveling around the country, for two different (or maybe not) reasons, bookending two centuries.

It's actually a sort of touching journey, in that he seems to have intentionally picked tiny burgs with not much of an attraction besides their name. For instance, he goes to Athens, New York, not Athens, Georgia, which would be considerably more of a hoppin' place.

Still by the end of the journey, he seems to have found that people in small towns in Montana, Maine, Arkansas and Arizona are just regular people getting by. They also tend to be more outspoken and accepting of his presence than one would expect; perhaps it's just that he's exceptional at drawing them out to talk about themselves and their town.

Along the way, Herzog meets stoners, hermits (quite a few of these), Hare Krishnas, gun-totin' grandmas, and Vietnam MIA victims' families. He never makes fun of their beliefs, walking a careful unseen tightrope of asking questions about life in the Great Flyover while at the same time not falling completely for anyone's hokum, which most of the people seem to appreciate. The reader ends up caring a lot about these folks, some of whom I'm pretty sure most of us would not be cheered to see hanging out at the local Starbucks.

Oddest chapter: the n*dists...er, n*turists (Athens, New York) {edited by The Cataloger 12/31/04}
Best written chapter: the forests of his neuroses (Siberia, Maine)
Most countercultural: the Gathering EMT (London, Wisconsin)
Most depressing: company town (Congo, Ohio)
Funniest: King David's town (Jerusalem, Arkansas)
Most touching: the mysterious stranger donating a tree (Bagdad, Arizona)

I almost feel like I traveled with the author. I know I'd like to have thought of this, and done it!