Overview

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Triggering severe nostalgia and denoting adventure, mystery, and glamour, the passenger train is still portrayed as the most romantic mode of transportation in history. But what does long-distance travel by train really add up to today? In 2005, after quitting not only a successful museum job, but a profession, writer A. N. Devers bought a 30-day rail pass and circumnavigated the United States (and a bit of Canada), disembarking and visiting over a dozen towns and cities, finding that the passenger car was at once adventure and a nightmare—the promise of self-discovery and renewal via train trip was only a daydream. Instead she emerged from her 8,111-mile journey with a close view of America’s crumbling infrastructure and the decaying communities alongside the tracks. The train, it turns out, is a portal to what might have existed if America’s rails hadn’t been sold off and bought out. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Full Product Details

Author:   A. N. Devers (Freelance Writer, UK, and Owner of The Second Shelf bookstore)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN:  

9781501333408

ISBN 10:   1501333402
Pages:   160
Publication Date:   06 March 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Day 1: Brooklyn, NY to New York City Penn Station to Washington DC Union Station Day 2: New York to Washington D.C. Day 3: Washington D.C. to Kannapolis, NC Day 4: Davidson, NC Day 5: Davidson, NC Day 6: Charlotte to New Orleans Day 7-8: New Orleans Day 9: New Orleans to Tucson, AZ Day 10: Tucson Day 12: Tucson Day 13: Tucson to Winslow, AZ Day 14: Winslow, AZ Day 15: Winslow to Los Angeles Day 16: Los Angeles Day 17: Los Angeles Day 18: Los Angeles to Portland Day 19: Portland Day 21: Portland to Glacier National Park, MT Day 22: Glacier National Park, July 4 Day 23: Glacier to Chicago Day 24: Chicago Day 25: Chicago to Mackinaw, MI Day 26: Mackinaw, MI to Mackinaw, Canada Day 27: Mackinaw, Canada to Montreal Day 28-29: Montreal Day 30: Montreal to NYC Day 31: Home Notes Index

Reviews

Author Information

A. N. Devers is a writer, journalist, editor, and critic based in London, UK. Her writing has appeared in Departures, Fine Books, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Tin House, Bust, and online in LitHub, Lenny, The New Yorker, The Daily Beast, The New Republic, The Paris Review, Salon, Slate, among many other publications. She is an editor at Longreads and at A Public Space. She received notable mention from Best American Essays in 2011 and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. In 2010 she launched WritersHouses.com, a website dedicated to literary pilgrimage and a database of writers’ houses open to the public around the world.

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