Rolling Nowhere, Ted Conover
Rolling Nowhere, Ted Conover
List: $35.99 | Sale: $25.20
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Rolling Nowhere
Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes

Author: Ted Conover

Narrator: Ted Conover

Unabridged: 8 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 10/25/2005

Synopsis

"I crouched quietly in the patch of tall weeds. Around me fell the shadow of the viaduct that carried a highway over the railroad yards. From the edge of the yards, I squinted as I watched the railroad cars being switched from track to track. Cars and trucks were rolling over the viaduct, but what occupied my attention was the dark, cool corridor underneath it, where I hoped to intercept my train."Riding the rails, Ted Conover tasted the life of a tramp with companions like Pistol Pete, BB, and Sheba Sheila Sheils. From them he learned survival skills - how to "read" a freight train, scavenge for food and clothing, avoid the railroad "bulls." He was initiated into the customs of their unique, shadowy society - men and women bound together by a mutual bond of failure, camaraderie, and distrust.Sixty-five freight trains, 12,000 miles, and fifteen states later, Conover chronicles his impressions of their lives in this fascinating piece of first-hand reporting that becomes a thoughtful story of self-discovery.

About Ted Conover

Ted Conover is the author of several books including Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize) and Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America’s Hoboes. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and National Geographic. Recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he is Distinguished Writer-in-Residence in the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jonathan on May 12, 2015

I read this book because riding rails with hoboes was something I always wanted to do as a child. After reading this book I no longer felt the need. The experiences of this book are told in a very real way, and it does describe what life for rail-riders is like. But, the story is lacking and, like t......more

Goodreads review by Chris on January 12, 2009

What is most interesting about this book about riding freight trains with the tramps and hobos is that this is from the early 80s, not present day. I know lots of folks who ride freights and many of them have written zines about it. If this book was more present day, I might view it a bit different.......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on July 25, 2021

The idea of hopping trains and riding around the country seems like a entertaining adventure until the reality of it all comes crashing down. Conover, like most of us, saw the romanticism of the tramp, particularly the more written about one's of the great depression era, but during his travels in t......more

Goodreads review by Mélanie on April 18, 2024

Kerouac les appelait les "clochards célestes", ces hobos qui parcourent les Etats-Unis à l'œil sur des trains de marchandises. En 1980, Ted Conover décide de quitter le milieu aisé dont il vient pour embarquer avec eux, et nous livre un récit immense et réfléchi. Cette ode à la liberté sous toutes s......more

Goodreads review by D. B. on January 05, 2015

I couldn't help thinking of the song "Common People" while reading this song. Conover captures some interesting details of the culture and customs of riding the rails, but the sense that "if you called your dad, he could stop it all." I read the Rolling Nowhere because I was looking for an in-depth......more

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