The Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism (Blackwell Public Philosophy Series) eBook

Although the words in the title technically are correct, they imply two things that won’t be found in the reading of the book:

1) This road trip is “Excellent” and “True” so there must be something awesome in it to leave the reader incredulous

2)The focus is on the actual 1953 road trip at all times, or at least the vast majority of the time

While there certainly were some events that occurred in Harry’s trip that were unlikely, none of the events made me think the author was lying to jazz up the story. “True” doesn’t need to be in the title at all. Also, the actual events of the trip only take up about half of the book. The other half is made up of flashbacks and flashforwards concerning the people and places that were visited. I’m happy that the digressions are in there, because they’re quite educational and interesting. I just expected the book to cover a timespan of about two weeks and no more.

The road trip sounded nice and all, and made me want to take one myself, but there really wasn’t anything special about it other than the people that went on it were sought-after celebrities. They didn’t go skydiving or anything. They just ate pot roast and things like that. The trip itself simply wasn’t exciting enough to make a whole book, so a lot of local history had to be tossed in there. I had to admit though, it was nice to see a reporter cover some history that goes in a different direction than wars and natural disasters. Seeing the history of small country restaurants and roadside motels from the 50’s to the present was actually quite refreshing.

I’m pleased with everything about the book except its title. I think a more accurate title would have been: “A Drive Across America, Harry’s Time and Today.”