Tales of the Iron Road: My Life As King of the Hobos - Hardcover

Graham, Maury; Hemming, Robert J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 155778129X ISBN 13: 9781557781291

Publisher: Paragon House, 1990

Synopsis

The author recounts the thirty years he spent as a hobo traveling around the U.S., and discusses hobo lore and customs

About this title

From Library Journal:

More like the gypsy than the homeless drifter, the hobo is truly a character of unique attraction, though representing a socially unacceptable way of life. Closely aligned with America's system of railroads, hobos and hoboing have been around since the Civil War, although they were much popularized during the Great Depression. "Steam Train" Graham began hoboing in 1931 and by 1980 had traveled countless miles across the nation. In more recent years, he has become a celebrity of sorts. In this remarkable book he relates a saga of his life and travels, not a sociological treatise. Graham has a wife and two daughters, and they share a strong sense of family. His story does much to establish a definitive history of the American hobo. Highly recommended for most collections.
- Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Starting in 1931 at age 14, Graham rode the rails until 1980. From a broken home, shunted from father to mother to aunt to married siblings, he found the family he had missed as a child in hobo camps across the country. Writing with the author of Gales of November , he stresses that he is a hobo, and not a bum or a wino, a distinction, he notes, that the general public does not always make. Five times elected King of the Hobos at the annual Hobo convention in Britt, Iowa, he laments the incipient end of hoboing, which has a history dating back to the post-Civil War era and saw its most populous days during the Depression. Now, according to Graham, with the number of rail lines cut, there may be no more than 300 true hobos. This is an intriguing look at a vanishing way of life. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Paragon House
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 155778129X
• ISBN 13: 9781557781291
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 222