A Journey Through Literary America :: Blog

A Journey Through Literary America
This 304 page coffee table book takes a look at 26 of America’s great authors and the places that inspired them. Unique to this book of literary biography is the element of the photograph. With over 140 photographs throughout, the images add mood and dimension to the writing – and they are often shockingly close to what the featured authors described in their own words. Lushly illustrated, and beautifully designed, the book is as much of a pleasure to look at as it is to read.

Rags to riches. Forbidden loves. Supernatural experiences. Narrow escapes. Some of the greatest stories of American literature are the stories of the authors themselves and the places that sparked their imaginations. In 2008, writer Thomas Hummel and photographer Tamra Dempsey set out in search of the sources of inspiration for 26 of this country’s greatest authors. Two years and twenty thousand miles later, the result is A Journey Through Literary America — a literary pilgrimage in photography and prose that begins in New York City.

“The land was ours before we were the land’s,” Robert Frost wrote. In the centuries after the founding of the United States, American writers painted the vast blank continent in colors from their own experience. Their experience became our experience. In seven sections, ranging from “New England’s Early Leafs” to “The Inner Migration,” from “America’s Main Streets” to “Twentieth Century Excursions,” this book examines the facets of the American literary experience through captivating biographies, over 140 vivid photographs, hand drawn maps by Sinclair Lewis and William Faulkner, and in the words of the authors themselves.

This is a volume for the literary enthusiast, the armchair traveler or the intrepid reader. It is a handsome and beautifully illustrated companion for those who seek to learn more about authors they have read and those who wish to discover new writers. It is also, simply and beautifully, a picture book of the United States.