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Description
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Triggering severe nostalgia and denoting adventure, mystery, and glamour, the passenger train is still portrayed as the most romantic mode of transportation in history. But what does long-distance travel by train really add up to today? In 2005, after quitting not only a successful museum job, but a profession, writer A. N. Devers bought a 30-day rail pass and circumnavigated the United States (and a bit of Canada), disembarking and visiting over a dozen towns and cities, finding that the passenger car was at once adventure and a nightmare-the promise of self-discovery and renewal via train trip was only a daydream.
Instead she emerged from her 8,111-mile journey with a close view of America's crumbling infrastructure and the decaying communities alongside the tracks. The train, it turns out, is a portal to what might have existed if America's rails hadn't been sold off and bought out.
Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Table of Contents
Day 2: New York to Washington D.C.
Day 3: Washington D.C. to Kannapolis, NC
Day 4: Davidson, NC
Day 5: Davidson, NC
Day 6: Charlotte to New Orleans
Day 7-8: New Orleans
Day 9: New Orleans to Tucson, AZ
Day 10: Tucson
Day 12: Tucson
Day 13: Tucson to Winslow, AZ
Day 14: Winslow, AZ
Day 15: Winslow to Los Angeles
Day 16: Los Angeles
Day 17: Los Angeles
Day 18: Los Angeles to Portland
Day 19: Portland
Day 21: Portland to Glacier National Park, MT
Day 22: Glacier National Park, July 4
Day 23: Glacier to Chicago
Day 24: Chicago
Day 25: Chicago to Mackinaw, MI
Day 26: Mackinaw, MI to Mackinaw, Canada
Day 27: Mackinaw, Canada to Montreal
Day 28-29: Montreal
Day 30: Montreal to NYC
Day 31: Home
Notes
Index
Product details
| Published | Mar 26 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 160 |
| ISBN | 9781501333422 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Series | Object Lessons |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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