Hardcover · 304 pages · 26 writers · 140+ photographs
Some of the greatest stories of American literature are the stories of the authors themselves and the places that sparked their imaginations.
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A Journey Through Literary America
by Thomas R. Hummel and Photography by Tamra L. Dempsey
This award-winning 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.
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.
Some of the greatest stories of American literature are the stories of the authors themselves and the places that sparked their imaginations.
A Journey Through
Literary America
by Thomas R. Hummel and Photography by Tamra L. Dempsey
Hardcover · 304 pages · 26 writers · 140+ photographs
This award-winning 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.
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.
Share With Your Friends
26 featured writers.
140+ photographs.
One remarkable literary landscape.
ACROSS AMERICA
Part literary history, part biography, part photography book and part travel companion.
What Readers Say
RAVE REVIEWS / ENDORSEMENTS
“Elegantly illustrated and written from a unique historical perspective, A Journey Through Literary America reacquaints the reader with the writers who established and continued our literary tradition. Beginning with Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper, the meticulously chosen photographs not only capture the natural wonders that have dazzled and influenced American writers for three centuries but also offer insight into the settings in which they lived and wrote. A beautiful and necessary book.”
— Elaine Kendall
LOS ANGELES TIMES
“This absolutely gorgeous book belongs in every book lover’s library.”
— SHELF AWARENESS
“What a very beautiful and evocative book! I am pleased—and honored—to be a part of it.”
— Rita Dove
UNITED STATES POET LAUREATE
PULITZER PRIZE FOR POETRY
“Needless to say, this volume is both a treat and treasure. Informative as it is beautiful, it will make a wonderful addition to any library. And, if you’re looking for the perfect gift for the book lover in your life, look no further than A Journey Through Literary America.”
— Marc Shuster
SMALL PRESS REVIEWS
“A wondrous tour ideal for enriching any literary collection – and sure to appeal to armchair travelers as well, A Journey Through Literary America lives up to its title and is highly recommended.”
— Michael Dunford
MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
“It is indeed a gorgeous book. Neither the text nor photos dominate, but work well in harmony to create a book that can be browsed for its images or curled up with and delved into for its writing.”
— Denise Hill
NEWPAGES
“Travel, a sense of place, and writers are old friends, and Thomas R. Hummel has written a book that showcases that relationship. In his wonderfully written and packaged project, A Journey Through Literary America, Hummel chases down the physical landscapes that inspired twenty-six of America’s finest authors, beginning with Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper’s Catskills’ haunts in New York, to the Wyoming known and beloved by Annie Proulx. Because many of these locales are spectacularly picturesque, Hummel’s essays are accompanied by more than 140 photographs by Santa Barbara photographer Tamra L. Dempsey. For example, Ernest Hemingway’s writing drew on the summers of his youth, spent on the lakes and rivers of northern Michigan, and Dempsey helps us to understand why. All of the essays include telling passages from the great authors themselves.”
— Matt Sutherland
FOREWORD REVIEW
♥️ It’s the perfect gift for book lovers. ♥️
Take a look inside.
SWIPE THROUGH BEGINNINGS CHAPTER
See where the stories began.
AN AMERICAN ROAD TRIP — THROUGH ITS LITERATURE
From Walden Pond to Hemingway’s Michigan, Faulkner’s Mississippi and Steinbeck’s California, A Journey Through Literary America travels to the real places that shaped the writers — and the writing — we still read today.
Beginnings
WASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859)
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (1789-1851)
The Catskills, New York
Beginnings
WASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859)
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (1789-1851)
The Catskills, New York
But the place I mean is next to the river, where one of the ridges juts out a little from the rest, and where the rocks fall, for the best part of a thousand feet, so much up and down, that a man standing on their edges is fool enough to think he can jump from top to bottom.”
“What do you see when you get there?” asked Edwards.
“Creation,” said Natty, dropping the end of his rod into the water, and sweeping one hand around him in a circle: “all creation, lad.”
— James Fenimore Cooper
The Pioneers, 1823
ALL CREATION — Catskill Mountains, New York
The glittering line of the Hudson River at dawn, as seen from the jagged cliffs of the Escarpment. From this point, James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking (Natty) fancied he could see “all creation.”
New England: Her Early Leafs
RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803–1882)
HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862)
Concord, Massachusetts
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804–1864)
Concord, Salem & the Berkshires, Massachusetts
HERMAN MELVILLE (1819–1891)
New Bedford & the Berkshires, Massachusetts
ROBERT FROST (1874–1963)
Vermont & New Hampshire
ALL CREATION — Catskill Mountains, New York
The glittering line of the Hudson River at dawn, as seen from the jagged cliffs of the Escarpment. From this point, James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking (Natty) fancied he could see “all creation.”
New England:
Her Early Leafs
RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803–1882)
& HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862)
Concord, Massachusetts
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804–1864)
Concord, Salem & the Berkshires, Massachusetts
HERMAN MELVILLE (1819–1891)
New Bedford & the Berkshires, Massachusetts
ROBERT FROST (1874–1963)
Vermont & New Hampshire
It is a soothing employment, on one of those fine days in the fall when all the warmth of the sun is fully appreciated, to sit on a stump on such a height as this, overlooking the pond, and study the dimpling circles which are incessantly inscribed on its otherwise invisible surface amid the reflected skies and trees.”
— Henry David Thoreau
Walden, 1854
REFLECTIONS — Concord, Massachusetts
Walden Pond. In the 1700’s, Walden Woods was a hideout for fugitives. By the 1820’s, the once-forbidding woods and pond had become a place of profound inspiration.
Reeling Westward:
From the Pioneer Spirit to the “Turn of the World”
WILLA CATHER (1873–1947)
Red Cloud, Nebraska
WALLACE STEGNER (1909–1993)
Leadville, Colorado • New Almaden, California & the West
JOHN STEINBECK (1902–1968)
Monterey, Pacific Grove & Salinas, California
ROBINSON JEFFERS (1887–1962)
Carmel & Big Sur, California
REFLECTIONS — Concord, Massachusetts
Walden Pond. In the 1700’s, Walden Woods was a hideout for fugitives. By the 1820’s, the once-forbidding woods and pond had become a place of profound inspiration.
Reeling Westward:
From the Pioneer Spirit to the “Turn of the World”
WILLA CATHER (1873–1947)
Red Cloud, Nebraska
WALLACE STEGNER (1909–1993)
Leadville, Colorado • New Almaden, California & the West
JOHN STEINBECK (1902–1968)
Monterey, Pacific Grove & Salinas, California
ROBINSON JEFFERS (1887–1962)
Carmel & Big Sur, California
As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the color of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up. And there was so much motion in it…”
— Willa Cather
My Ántonia, 1918
GRASS IS TO COUNTRY AS WATER IS TO SEA — Red Cloud, Nebraska
The 610 acre Willa Cather Memorial Prairie preserves an example of the native grassland that once covered Nebraska.
Not Forgotten: Yoknapatawpha to Altamont
WILLIAM FAULKNER (1897–1962)
Oxford, Mississippi
THOMAS WOLFE (1900–1938)
Asheville, North Carolina
GRASS IS TO COUNTRY AS WATER IS TO SEA — Red Cloud, Nebraska
The 610 acre Willa Cather Memorial Prairie preserves an example of the native grassland that once covered Nebraska.
Not Forgotten: Yoknapatawpha to Altamont
WILLIAM FAULKNER (1897–1962)
Oxford, Mississippi
THOMAS WOLFE (1900–1938)
Asheville, North Carolina
The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
— Willaim Faulkner
Requiem for a Nun, 1951
THOMAS WOLFE MEMORIAL — Asheville, North Carolina
Main Streets: Gopher Prairie, Minnesota to Winesburg, Ohio
SINCLAIR LEWIS (1885–1951)
Sauk Centre, Minnesota
SHERWOOD ANDERSON (1876–1941)
Clyde, Ohio
THOMAS WOLFE MEMORIAL — Asheville, North Carolina
Main Streets:
Gopher Prairie, Minnesota to Winesburg, Ohio
SINCLAIR LEWIS (1885–1951)
Sauk Centre, Minnesota
SHERWOOD ANDERSON (1876–1941)
Clyde, Ohio
George Willard stops tremblingly by a picket fence under a streetlamp, reflecting: “I must get myself in touch with something orderly and big that swings through the night like a star.”
— Sherwood Anderson
“An Awakening” Winesburg, Ohio, 1919
— Clyde, Ohio
The Inner Migration: What Happens to a Dream
LANGSTON HUGHES (1902–1967)
Harlem, New York
TONI MORRISON (1931– 2019)
Lorain, Ohio
RITA DOVE (1952– )
Akron, Ohio
— Clyde, Ohio
The Inner Migration: What Happens to a Dream
LANGSTON HUGHES (1902–1967)
Harlem, New York
TONI MORRISON (1931– )
Lorain, Ohio
RITA DOVE (1952– )
Akron, Ohio
We build our temples for tomorrow, as strong as we know how
and we stand on the top of the mountain, free within ourselves.”
— Langston Hughes
“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”
The Nation, 1926
Harlem lights glitter in the background of the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River — New York, New York
Twentieth Century Excursions
HENRY MILLER (1891–1980)
Brooklyn, New York
ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1899–1961)
Horton Bay & Walloon Lake, Michigan
FLANNERY O’CONNOR (1925–1964)
Milledgeville, Georgia
JOHN UPDIKE (1932–2009)
Shillington, Plowville & Reading, Pennsylvania
PHILIP ROTH (1933–2018)
Newark & Mendham, New Jersey
RAYMOND CARVER (1938–1988)
Yakima & Port Angeles, Washington
E. ANNIE PROULX (1935– )
Wyoming
RICHARD FORD (1944– )
Princeton, Hopewell, Pennington & the Shore, New Jersey
Harlem lights glitter in the background of the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River — New York, New York
Twentieth Century Excursions
HENRY MILLER (1891–1980)
Brooklyn, New York
ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1899–1961)
Horton Bay & Walloon Lake, Michigan
FLANNERY O’CONNOR (1925–1964)
Milledgeville, Georgia
JOHN UPDIKE (1932–2009)
Shillington, Plowville & Reading, Pennsylvania
PHILIP ROTH (1933–2018)
Newark & Mendham, New Jersey
RAYMOND CARVER (1938–1988)
Yakima & Port Angeles, Washington
E. ANNIE PROULX (1935– )
Wyoming
RICHARD FORD (1944– )
Princeton, Hopewell, Pennington & the Shore, New Jersey
The manmade horizon, the brutal cut in the body of the giant city—it felt as though they were entering the shadow world of hell, when all the boy was seeing was the railroad’s answer to the populist crusade to hoist the tracks above the grade crossings so as to end the crashes and the pedestrian carnage.”
— Philip Roth
American Pastoral, 1997
HOISTED TRACKS — Newark, New Jersey
See America through the writers who gave it a voice.
It is a beautiful and necessary book.
This absolutely gorgeous book belongs in every book lover’s library.
Needless to say, this volume is both a treat and treasure. Informative as it is beautiful, it will make a wonderful addition to any library. And, if you’re looking for the perfect gift for the book lover in your life, look no further than A Journey Through Literary America.
What a very beautiful and evocative book! I am pleased — and honored — to be a part of it.
A wondrous tour ideal for enriching any literary collection – and sure to appeal to armchair travelers as well, A Journey Through Literary America lives up to its title and is highly recommended.
It is indeed a gorgeous book. Neither the text nor photos dominate, but work well in harmony to create a book that can be browsed for its images or curled up with and delved into for its writing.
a wonderfully written and packaged project
A Journey Through Literary America
$35.00
Description
Explore the fascinating stories of 26 great American authors with images of the places that inspired them to write. It’s the perfect gift for book lovers. 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.
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.
