by Bill Geist
First published 2007
CBS News correspondent Bill Geist embarks on a cross-country journey to discover America's most eccentric small-town characters and bizarre local traditions. His approach combines deadpan humor with genuine affection for the oddball individuals he encounters. Geist profiles a 93-year-old pilot who delivers newspapers by plane, a Colorado entrepreneur who vacuums prairie dogs from the ground, and Elsie Eiler, the sole resident of Monowi, Nebraska, who serves as mayor, bartender, librarian, and police chief. He visits the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival and Sundown Days in Hanlontown, Iowa, where residents gather once yearly to watch the sun set between railroad tracks. From a Texas anchorwoman who broadcasts from her bedroom to a Kansas town where the Texaco station doubles as the finest restaurant, Geist documents twenty years of encounters with unforgettable Americans. The book offers readers a hilarious and heartwarming tour of fly-over country, revealing how small-town life thrives on creativity, community, and delightful weirdness.
Genres: biography, non-fiction, comedy, americana
Vibes: deadpan-humor, heartwarming, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: America, Monowi, Nebraska, Hanlontown, Iowa, Texas, Kansas
Period: 20th Century, 21st Century
256 pages · Hardcover · Broadway