Kindle Edition Amazon reidchampagne.com Category:  Humor Publisher: kindle ISBN-10:  B007K7HAMM Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 213 Copyright: March 13, 2012 Price: $0.99 (eBook) A journey of innocence, naivete, overreach and Magoo-like self-discovery A 60 something writer looks back on his 1970s European vagabonding years to see if he'd learned anything about life and love. He decides he went 1 for 2. Excerpt 1971 was a good year to leave the country and see the world. Not the way some of my draft eligible college graduate peers were doing it: limiting their global ambitions to Canada. I had a much broader reach. Never mind that my draft lottery number was 323, which meant unless we were fighting the War of the Worlds, I was free to go wherever I wanted. Never mind that an indulgent, if not somewhat gullible, group known as the English Speaking Union was providing me with a plane ticket, tuition and all expenses paid to attend a six-week summer program of study at Oxford University. Nor was it that the American college industry at that time had not yet merged with the American banking industry to reintroduce the system of indentured servitude to the college-bound, leaving me for the most part debt-free upon graduation. No wasit even that I was among that first wave of Baby Boomers born in 1949, and into a world of affluence and freedom of movement that would, within a generation, prove to be unique in the almost boundless opportunities it offered. Nor was it due to that Newsweek cover story in August, 1970 entitled “Young Americans Abroad,” depicting a group of vagabonds strumming guitar on the steps of some European cathedral. (My memory is of a Time cover of a denim-bedecked, red-bandanna-ed and bearded long hair with his thumb out on some European autoroute.) It was impulse, pure and simple impulse that I acted upon, but enabled by all of the above. But 1971 was still a good year to leave the country. By then America had shot all its inspirational leaders, with the possible exception of Ralph Nader. And then the country had turned its guns on its own children at Kent State. Nixon had laid out an end to the war that included expanding its bombing targets into other Asian countries. The anti-war movement had begun to crumble, its numbers reduced by all whose lottery numbers were in the 200s and above. The best jobs seemed to be concentrated within various elements of the military-industrial complex. The world economy was in recession. Bob Dylan wasn’t going to release another album until 1973. I had graduated four years of college with a brief relationship that resulted in a friendship-or-else non-negotiable demand and precisely two other dates. In short, it was a perfect time for me to hit the road without any chance of breaking any hearts. So in June of that year, I stuffed about $200 bucks in my wallet and a duffle bag with clothes and some books -The Education of Henry Adams, Arnold Toynbee’s A Study of History (all 12 or so volumes) and The New Testament - that last one a relic of my “campus conversion,” and the first step toward that cosmic love thing.) Finally, I made a cardboard sign that read “New York.” Since my paid-in-full plane ticket was for a New York to Paris flight, I was going to hitchhike my way through America in the manner of Woody Guthrie, Jack Kerouac and of someone who had managed to plan ahead only enough to sock $200 bucks away for what was planned to be at least a year abroad. My father dropped me off on Highway 90 that led from New Orleans to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Atlanta, which was my first planned stop for the day. I had no fear of the road in the Deep South, which was probably completely unfounded by the reality. Oh, and I was determined to maintain a journal of my travels and experience cosmic love. Too much Fifth Dimension in my cereal perhaps.

A journey to my younger self
This book really took me back to my own younger days traveling in Europe. Although my experiences were very different, I greatly enjoyed reliving the author’s journey with him. His reflections include humor and pathos as a young person’s genuine experiences would be. As such, I think the book would be appealing not only to those who made similar trips, as well as those who would like to make such a trip, but also to anyone who could vicariously enjoy the adventures of a coming of age experience. I found the expressed insecurities and uncertainties very relatable and the book an enjoyable experience.

1970s American vagabond in Europe a personal journey
Here you have a book about a young man's wanderings through Europe in the 1970's. Not a travelogue, but rather a personal journey, as reflected in his journal entries.

The book is presented, almost entirely, as written in his journal. The author adds very little in the way of expanded narrative, memory apparently having faded. One can understand and even overlook this shortcoming. But more difficult to overlook is the writer's continual criticism of his younger self -- and, more pointedly, of what he sees as the insufficiencies of the journal itself. This, seemingly unwarranted -- journals are generally not intended to be complete in all detail. The unending run of critical comment quickly wears thin. Fortunately these remarks are presented in bracketed format -- readily recognized, and easily skipped over.

Overall, a good read for anyone interested in the subject. Thousands of young Americans hit the road in the 60's and 70's. Some were called hippies, but most were just young travelers out for adventure, testing the new culture of expanding freedoms.

Sadly, too few of these accounts found their way into print. And this, perhaps, is most noteable here -- when there are few, each one is of value.
This then is indeed a book of some value -- interesting and attention holding (even if somewhat flawed).
And for those of us who, regrettably, missed the adventures of those times, it is a book of particular interest. A full unflawed narrative might have been a five star. As is, a three star, but most readable and recommended.