Here’s “Go Your Own Way,” my review of Rinker Buck’s new book The Oregon Trail: An American Journey, which appeared in The Wall Street Journal on August 1 & 2, 2015.
I really enjoyed it.
Solid “A.”
Here’s the full list of books I’ve reviewed for The WSJ, The Washington Post, NPR Books, and others.
Your review of “The Oregon Trail” in WSJ was interesting. However, there adventure seemed somewhat artificial. However, for a real travel adventure read “The Asphalt Trails” by Renner. These teenagers had a real “wild west” adventure in the late 1950’s. I cam upon this privately printed book available from Amazon, although poorly written,rivals the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. This book needs editing and a wide circulation. It is a true American adventure story.
Asphalt Trails sounds good, Mr. Selenke. Thanks for the reccy. I don’t think Rinker Buck makes any bones about his “adventure” being anything other than an anachronistic oddity. But it was definitely a crazyass undertaking, and not an easy one. It’s much more than an “adventure” story, too, with trail history and local color interwoven with the narrative. Have you read it? I thought it was very, very good.