My Life

My Life by Josiah Flynt. This memoir follows the extraordinary life of an American vagabond who chose the road as his principal school and theatre. Born into a refined Midwestern family, Flynt recounts a childhood marked by runaway trips, early impulses toward travel, and a stubborn urge to roam beyond the ordinary boundaries of respectability. The book surveys decades on the move—from small-town Evanston and reform school to prisons and the open road across the United States and Europe—interleaving vivid encounters with tramps, lawmen, and criminals with candid self-scrutiny. A persistent fascination with die Ferne, the ever-elusive Beyond, drives him toward new experiences, whether in Russia, Germany, England, or Italy, and toward conversations with remarkable figures such as Tolstoy and Ibsen. The narrative blends memoir and reportage, offering sharp observations on the underworld, graft, and social institutions, while tracing Flynt’s quest for a unique form of culture and self-understanding through a life lived on the margins of society.