This collection of eloquent essays that examine the relationship between the American landscape and the national character serves to remind us that despite our differences we all belong to the same land Publishers Weekly. How was it possible I wondered that all of this American landin every directioncould be fastened together into a whole What does it mean when a nation accustomed to moving begins to settle down when political discord threatens unity and when technology disrupts traditional ways of building communities Is a shared soil enough to reinvigorate a national spirit From the embaattled newsrooms of small town newspapers to the pornography film sets of the Los Angeles basin from the checkout lanes of Dollar General to the holy sites of Mormonism from the nations highest peaks to the razed remains of a cherished home like a latterday Woody Guthrie Tom Zoellner takes to the highways and byways of a vast land in search of the soul of its people. By turns nostalgic and probing incisive and enraged Zoellners reflections reveal a nation divided by faith politics and shifting economies butmore importantlyone united by a shared sense of ownership in the common land. show more