The Lost Continent

Travels in Small-Town America

Bill Bryson

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Paperback

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English

Black Swan
01 February 2016

Travel & holiday; Travel writing

Series: Bryson

Bill Bryson's very first travel book, a sidesplittingly funny road trip around small town America.

'I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to'

And, as soon as Bill Bryson was old enough, he left. Des Moines couldn't hold him, but it did lure him back. After ten years in England, he returned to the land of his youth, and drove almost 14,000 miles in search of a mythical small town called Amalgam, the kind of trim and sunny place where the films of his youth were set. Instead, his search led him to Anywhere, USA; a lookalike strip of gas stations, motels and hamburger outlets populated by lookalike people with a penchant for synthetic fibres. He discovered a continent that was doubly lost; lost to itself because blighted by greed, pollution, mobile homes and television; lost to him because he had become a stranger in his own land.

Bryson's acclaimed first success, The Lost Continent is a classic of travel literature - hilariously, stomach-achingly, funny, yet tinged with heartache - and the book that first staked Bill Bryson's claim as the most beloved writer of his generation.

By: Bill Bryson
Imprint: Black Swan
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 127mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 262g
ISBN: 9781784161804
ISBN 10: 1784161802
Series: Bryson
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 01 February 2016
Recommended Age: From 0 years
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Reviews for The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America

A very funny performance, littered with wonderful lines and memorable images * Literary Review * Funny as this wonderful book is, it is also a serious indictment of the American way of life and the direction in which it is going... he is genuinely shocked, as we are, by the statistics of affluence, poverty, crime and culture that he drops in hither and thither * Irish Times * Hilarious... he can be suave, sarcastic and very funny... not your typical travel writer * Sunday Telegraph * High-spirited... hilarious * Observer *