Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads

The Perfect Road-Trip

The first Paul Theroux non-fiction travel book that I read was just after graduate school. It changed forever the way I viewed travel and when encountering a unique situation in the world I would often think that this was a Paul Theroux moment. Deep South was a very satisfying read and Paul still has the special gift of writing about what many don’t see. What made Deep South different was that this was a road-trip. Paul mentioned that the night before a trip via air that he would often have a little uneasiness as one often does when thinking about getting to the airport on time, battling through the TSA and the zoo that most airports have become. The day he left Cape Cod by auto for the south he was relaxed and happy knowing that he could begin the day when he wished and end it when he wished. This past summer my wife and I took an extended road-trip to the Deep South. At the time I did not know that Paul was coming out with Deep South in October. What a thrill to get off the interstate and drive along back roads and through small towns for the first time. Perhaps Mr. Theroux is more adventurous than we are in that we never stayed in a motel owned by a Mr. Patel. Mr. Theroux brought a new perspective to race relations and trying to understand the past versus the present. He also had a very good point that the USA provides millions in aid to Africa at a time when sections of the South are in as much need for organized assistance. It took a while to finish this book because I had an atlas by my side and was constantly checking the towns and roads that he referenced as well as checking details on Google. This was a very fun read and perhaps it is time to rotate the tires and head back east to discover what Paul discovered that we missed. Read more