
American Rambler
Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed
Author: Isaac Fitzgerald
Narrator: Isaac Fitzgerald
Unabridged: 11 hr 24 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 05/12/2026
Categories: Nonfiction, Travel, Hikes & Walks, History, North American History
Synopsis
“Rollicking, heartfelt. . . . Made me feel the kind of wonder and hope I’ve been longing for.” —John Green, author of Everything Is Tuberculosis
As a child, Isaac Fitzgerald was captivated by Johnny Appleseed, drawn to the legend by family ties, his father’s larger-than-life stories, and a shared restlessness to leave home and discover what lay beyond.
In American Rambler, he sets out on a year-long journey to follow Appleseed’s path, walking (okay, sometimes driving, and at one point, even floating downstream) from Massachusetts to Indiana. On this journey, Fitzgerald turns a childhood fascination into a profound reckoning of loss and grief, ritual and faith, grimy gas station bathrooms and scenic apple picking. He is followed by a mysterious creature, camps in hostile environments, trespasses more than once, and is warmed by the generosity of strangers at every turn.
A moving blend of memoir, history, and travelogue, American Rambler is at once an ode to the American heartland, a meditation on escaping the breakneck pace of modern life, and a clear-eyed look at the myths—often violent, sometimes hopeful, frequently romanticized—at the very core of American identity and history.