Turn Left at the Trojan Horse: A Would-Be Hero's American Odyssey

✍ Scribed by Herzog, Brad

• Book ID: 106884464
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 185 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9780806532028

✦ Synopsis

From Publishers Weekly

The author takes a circuitous route east from California by driving an RV across Oregon, Washington, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other points between and beyond. Inspired by Odysseus and a cast of supporting gods and goddesses, vignettes illuminate some form of heroic action, with Herzog discovering attributes of bravery and endurance in a variety of everyday characters. The author asks "What is a hero?" and finds answers in sources such as the 1997 North Dakota flood, and Sparta, Wisconsin, home to Fort McCoy, where he ponders military life, drawing parallels with Odysseus and his wife Penelope, "a de facto single mother, her husband essentially missing in action until she hears from him next." Points of interest that inspire Herzog include the Mount Olympus Water and Theme Park at the Wisconsin Dells and an Ohio eatery called Pandora's Lunch Box, which allows him to tell the entertaining tale of the original Pandora. And after meandering around Pennsylvania's eternally burning mine fire in Centralia, he takes on labyrinthine history with an Appalachian labyrinth owner who claims to possess multiple personalities, just another character on another pit stop along an intriguing excursion.
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Review

"Herzog's third travel memoir follows the highways cross-country examining the idea of the hero along the way. He captures stunning details of the American landscape. The hero's return, is irresistible...a near-perfect ending." --Kirkus Reviews

"This is how a quest should be done...Herzog's stitching is so good, so seamless -- he follows Odysseus' story until it becomes his own. -- Los Angeles Times

"Herzog is that rare person blessed with an innovative spirit and creative mind, persistence in pinpointing the heart of the issue . . . and skill in applying his reflections to paper." --Houston Chronicle

"Herzog is the perfect travel companion: funny, wise and as good a storyteller as you'll find. You can't help but want to spend a month in his passenger seat after reading this book." --Chad Millman, author of The Detonators and The Odds

"Thank you Brad Herzog for taking me on a great cross-country journey. To quote another storyteller, his words winged like arrows to the mark." --AJ Jacobs, author of The Guinea Pig Diaries and The Year of Living Biblically