The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey

by Brinkley, Douglas G.

• ISBN13: 9781560254966
• ISBN10: 1560254963
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-05
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

Professor Douglas Brinkley arranged to teach a six-week experimental class aboard a fully equipped sleeper bus. The class would visit thirty states and ten national parks. They would read twelve books by great American writers. They would see Bob Dylan in Seattle, gamble at a Vegas casino, dance to Bourbon Street jazz in New Orleans, pay homage to Elvis Presley's Graceland and William Faulkner's Rowan Oak, ride the whitewater rapids on the Rio Grande, and experience a California earthquake. Their journey took them to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Abraham Lincoln's Springfield, Harry Truman's Independence, and Theodore Roosevelt's North Dakota badlands. And it gave them the unforgettable experience of meeting some of their cultural heroes, including William S. Burroughs and Ken Kesey, who took the gang for a spin in his own psychedelic bus. Driven by Doug Brinkley's energetic prose, The Majic Bus is a spirited travelogue of a unique experience.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
There is No Truth But in Transit: The Making of "An American Odyssey"	p. 12
Frank Perugi and His "Majic Bus"	p. 34
Virginia Is for Lovers of Thomas Jefferson and Sam Shepard	p. 60
In Thomas Wolfe Country with Georgia on Our Minds	p. 81
Back from the Wind: Atlanta and New Orleans	p. 103
Into the Mississippi Delta	p. 130
Chicago: Our Kind of Town	p. 153
From Lincoln's Springfield to Truman's Independence	p. 171
William S. Burroughs and the Sunflower State	p. 202
The New Age, Buddhism, and Boulder	p. 222
The Rocky Mountains and Mesa Verde National Park	p. 250
Billy the Kid, D. H. Lawrence, and the Land of Enchantment	p. 277
Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Route 66, and the Grand Canyon	p. 312
Slot Machines and Neon Lights in the Mojave Desert	p. 332
Santa Barbara and Carmel (Or, Looking for Clint Eastwood in Steinbeck Country)	p. 356
San Francisco: The Gold and White Acropolis	p. 384
Redwood Battles, Bigfoot, Paul Bunyan, and Earthquakes	p. 407
Further with Ken Kesey and Bob Dylan in the Grunge Belt	p. 426
The Badlands, Black Hills, and Cattle Branding	p. 453
Afterword	p. 484
Acknowledgments	p. 493
Selected Bibliography	p. 498
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.