Blue Highways Revisited
Edgar IV & Edgar III
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About Blue Highways Revisited
In 1978, William Least Heat-Moon made an almost 14,000-mile journey on the back roads of America, visiting 38 states along the way. In December 1982, the popular Blue Highways, chronicling his adventures, was published. Three decades later, we (Edgar Ailor III and son, Edgar Ailor IV) retraced and photographed Heat-Moon’s route, culminating in Blue Highways Revisited, released for publication in May 2012, on the thirtieth anniversary of Blue Highways. A foreword by Heat-Moon notes, “The photographs, often with amazing accuracy, capture my verbal images and the spirit of the book. Taking the journey again through these pictures, I have been intrigued and even somewhat reassured that America is changing not quite so destructively as often it can seem.” Through illustrative photography and text, we capture once more the local color and beauty of the back roads, cafes, taverns, and people of Heat-Moon’s original journey. With side-by-side photographic comparisons of eleven of Heat-Moon’s characters and archival information provided by Heat-Moon, Blue Highways Revisited reflects upon and extends Heat-Moon’s cross-country study of American culture and spirit. Blue Highways Revisited carries the journey forward three decades for the people and places of Blue Highways, but we can't reinvent the wit, humor, and storytelling Heat-Moon brings to the pages. So pick up your old copy of Blue Highways or if your friend never returned it, get a new one -- it’s never been out of print, and the Thirtieth Anniversary Edition of Blue Highways will be released by Little Brown and Company in late 2012. Blue Highways Revisited reaffirms that the “blue highway” is still a romantic symbol of the free and restless American spirit, as we lose ourselves to the open road just as Heat-Moon did so long ago.
We appreciate Heat-Moon and Little, Brown and Company allowing us to use quotations, the map of Heat-Moon’s route, and Heat-Moon’s original photographs from Blue Highways in Blue Highways Revisited and this web site.
