Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1855)

This poetry collection is one of two books Heat-Moon brings on his journey. Whitman, an American humanist writer, explores self-discovery and humanity’s relationship to nature. In an interview with independent journalist Hank Nuwer, Heat-Moon stated that “in the early part of Blue Highways, Walt Whitman predominates where there’s some bitterness and certainly a great sense of loss in the narrator” (Nuwer, Hank. “The Road to Serendipity.” 2007).

Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt (1932)

In the second book Heat-Moon takes with him, American writer Neihardt tells the story of an Oglala Lakota traditional healer named Black Elk. The book also addresses the Native American ceremony of the Ghost Dance, after which Heat-Moon names his van. In the interview with Nuwer, Heat-Moon explained that “as the book goes on, and the narrator moves more into a reemergence, a reawakening of his red background, Black Elk becomes the predominant outside spokesman.”

Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck (1962)

American author John Steinbeck wrote his own travelogue portraying a 1960 road trip around the States. Literary scholar Renée Bryzik asserts that Blue Highways resembles a mix between the Steinway text and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (Bryzik, Renée.