States of Mind: A Search for Virtue in America (The States of Mind Collection) - Softcover

Herzog, Brad

Softcover

ISBN 10: 099624221X ISBN 13: 9780996242219

Publisher: Why Not Books, 2016

Synopsis

Can you find love in Love, Virginia? Is there inspiration in Inspiration, Arizona? Wisdom in Wisdom, Montana? It is 1995, and young author Brad Herzog wonders if the cynicism of his generation reflects America or merely misjudges it. So he and his wife empty their bank accounts, pack everything into a Winnebago and set a course for the fine print of the atlas. The road takes them to Triumph, Louisiana, where they find a community twice destroyed by hurricanes and twice rebuilt. In Justice, West Virginia, half the population descends from the Hatfields and McCoys. Faith, South Dakota is a hailstorm, a grasshopper plague and a religious debate. Harmony, California is up for sale.What began as a literal search for the small places on the map becomes a figurative examination of virtues lost amid disillusionment. Equal parts whimsy and wonder, STATES OF MIND eloquently reminds us that large insight is the amalgam of small discoveries. *Recommended reading for nationwide AP Human Geography course.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Is there love in Love, Virginia, or hope in Hope, Mississippi? Brad Herzog, a disillusioned Generation X-er and his wife traversed the country in a 34-foot Winnebago in an attempt to seek out the states of mind so elusive in the eyes of Americans today. They turned a literal search for small places on the map into a figurative examination of the small places of the heart.

In this journey across America, Herzog reports on the state of 18 tiny towns and villages. States of Mind goes beyond the traditional travel narrative, presenting the small town as microcosm and the hamlet as allegory.

For example, in Comfort, Texas, Herzog examines the concept of comfort as it applies to roots, loyalty to home, and America's nomadic tradition. He unearths the fact that the town, founded by German immigrants, is the site of the only Union monument on Confederate soil, dedicated to several dozen German freethinkers who refused to pledge loyalty to the Confederacy and were then slaughtered while trying to escape to Mexico.

Through its setting, its history, or its remarkable citizens, each town provided Herzog with a way to merge the literal and figurative. Triumph, Louisiana, located at the end of the Mississippi River, has been completely destroyed twice by hurricanes_and rebuilt twice. Freedom, Wyoming, is a state-line town founded by a Mormon polygamist escaping religious persecution. Half the population of Justice, West Virginia, consists of descendants of the infamous Hatfields and McCoys. Hope, Mississippi, is near the site where three civil-rights workers were murdered in 1964.

About the Author:

Brad Herzog is the author of more than three-dozen books, including three critically acclaimed travel memoirs about his journeys through small-town America - TURN LEFT AT THE TROJAN HORSE, SMALL WORLD, and STATES OF MIND, which was featured on Oprah and The Today Show and reached the top of the Amazon bestseller list. He lives on California's Monterey Peninsula with his wife and two sons. For more information visit www.Bradherzog.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: Why Not Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 099624221X
• ISBN 13: 9780996242219
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 412