Listening to America aims to “light out for the territories,” traveling less visited byways and taking time to see this immense, extraordinary country with fresh eyes while listening to the many voices of America’s past, present, and future.

We invite you to join us on this journey. 


DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD

LISTEN TO OUR LATEST PODCAST

Videos

ESSAYS, INTERVIEWS AND FEATURES

John Steinbeck with his dog CharleyRead more +25 April 2024 By Russ Eagle in Features

John Steinbeck’s True Motivations for Hitting the Road in 1960

As Clay begins his great Travels With Charley journey, our resident Steinbeck specialist, Russ Eagle, weighs in on what spurred the Nobel Prize-winning author to take to the road in a custom truck camper and his dog in 1960.
Read more +01 April 2024 By Clay Jenkinson in Features

John Brown: A Remarkable American Story

Hero, terrorist, martyr or madman? Clay examines the dramatic life of John Brown.
Wild horsesRead more +18 March 2024 By Clay Jenkinson in Features

Wild Horses in the Badlands: Wildlife or Livestock?

There’s horse trouble in Theodore Roosevelt National Park which is home to a feral herd of about 200 equines.

Connect with Listening to America

Events

April 30, 2024: Smithsonian Associates Lecture/Seminar: Steinbeck and the Arthurian Saga
Online/Zoom

Cultural Tours & Retreats

July 21–30, 2024: Lewis & Clark Trail

September 22–29, 2024: Literary England

 

January 5–10, 2025: Winter Retreat: Thoreau’s Walden & Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire 

January 12–17, 2025: Winter Retreat: Classic Shakespeare: King Lear & As You Like It

Online Classes

New Online Course coming soon! 

Books We’re Reading

Blue Highways: Journey Into America by William Least Heat Moon, first published in 1984.Read more +25 March 2024 By Clay Jenkinson in Books

Rereading Blue Highways — An Enduring Backroads Journal

Originally published is 1982, Clay says William Least Heat Moon’s Blue Highways is still our best backroads manifesto.
Book cover: 1984Read more +07 March 2024 By Clay Jenkinson in Books

Reading Orwell’s 1984 In 2024

The question is: how prophetic was Orwell? What does he say to us in the age of “fake news” and “alternative facts”?
Map of Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804–06. (LOC)Read more +02 March 2024 By Clay Jenkinson in Books

Notes on Geert Mak’s In America: Travels with John Steinbeck

Mak’s In America: Travels with John Steinbeck is without question the best book written about retracing the 1960 Travels with Charley journey.
Clay Jenkinson

Clay Jenkinson

A prolific author and noted humanities scholar, Clay Jenkinson is a frequent guest on national media and is regularly featured in documentary films, including several by Ken Burns. Clay is the recipient of the National Humanities Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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