The Last Great Walk: The True Story of a 1909 Walk from New York to San Francisco, and Why it Matters Today
by Wayne Curtis
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Description
"In 1909, Edward Payson Weston walked from New York to San Francisco, covering around 40 miles a day and greeted by wildly cheering audiences in every city. The New York Times called it the "first bona-fide walk ... across the American continent," and eagerly chronicled a journey in which Weston was beset by fatigue, mosquitos, vicious headwinds, and brutal heat. He was 70 years old. Using the framework of Weston?s fascinating and surprising story, journalist Wayne Curtis investigates show more exactly what we lost when we turned away from foot travel, and what we could potentially regain with America?s new embrace of pedestrianism. From how our brains and legs evolved to accommodate our ancient traveling needs to the way that American cities have been designed to cater to cars and discourage pedestrians, Curtis guides readers through an engaging, intelligent exploration of how something as simple as the way we get from one place to another continues to shape our health, our environment, and even our national identity. Not walking, he argues, may be one of the most radical things humans have ever done."--Publisher's website. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This book claims to be an account of a 1909 walk by a 70 year old man from NYC to San Francisco and that is true, but a major focus of the book is about walking in general, from evolution, to health and mind benefits, to the battle in city design between autos and walkers.
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Best Literary Walks
35 works; 5 members
Author Information
26+ Works 765 Members
Wayne Curtis has written frequently about cocktails, spirits, travel, and history for numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Imbibe, the Daily Beast, The American Scholar, and Garden Gun, and was the spirits and cocktails columnist for The Atlantic for eight years. He lives in New Orleans most of the year, show more and in Maine during the yellow fever. show less
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Sports and Leisure, Travel, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 796.51092 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Sports Outdoor leisure Hiking and Backpacking Standard subdivisions History, geographic treatment, biography {hiker guides to non-urban areas} Biography
- LCC
- GV1072 .W47 .C87 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Recreation. Leisure Recreation. Leisure Sports Track and field athletics
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 66
- Popularity
- 470,906
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.20)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 1
