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Title: A Condescending Smirk at Rural America
Review: I tried to like this book, I really did. I started to read it when it first came out, in the 80s, and again recently, and I just didn't enjoy it. It reminds me of PBS specials where some Harvard-educated musicologist ventures into the swamplands to interview old bluesmen, and tell us all the deep socio-economic underpinnings of the lyrics. Forget it. It's just the blues - it's meant to be felt in your bones, not theorized about. "Blue Highways" gave me the same feeling. W.L.H.Moon comes off as self-centered and condescending; he seems to secretly pity those he meets, even as he wants us to chuckle knowingly at them. There are plenty of American travelogues written by people who actually live there. Don't waste your time on this one.
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