Additional Information:
Release Date: September 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-57869-038-1
LCCN: 2020903372
eBook: 978-1-57869-039-8 Click Here to Purchase eBook
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Here.

SYNOPSIS

In the summer of 1978, Griffin-Nolan and a friend took to the road, hitchhiking from New York to California, on to New Orleans and back home to New York. As 2018 approached, the itch to hitch returned—but most people seemed to believe that this was now impossible. Griffin-Nolan decided to find out why nobody hitchhiked anymore. With a backpack, a hashtag, and a sign, he stuck out his thumb near his house, and let luck, and the road, take him where it would. Nobody Hitchhikes Anymore is an “act of loving rebellion” (Sean Kirst, Buffalo News) and a travelogue about a changing society and the people who lifted him up.    

ADVANCE PRAISE

“Hitchhiking, in essence, involves those with the elemental—a vehicle that moves—offering the most immediate of gifts to those, at least in the moment, who are utterly without. It is also a chance for little miracles, for connections and confessions, and as Griffin-Nolan unwinds each one within these chapters—as you meet the jobless and the dreamers and the nostalgic and, again and again and again, the fundamentally kind—you realize that his journey, above all else, is an act of loving rebellion.”

— Sean Kirst, Buffalo News columnist and Ernie Pyle Award winner

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“This easily falls into the lineage of such works as Travels with Charley in Search of America [John Steinbeck] and Blue Highways [William Least Heat-Moon], ventures seeking the out-of-the-way and an America that eludes the headlines. Ed Griffin-Nolan ups the ante on travel tales by placing himself entirely at the mercy of those Americans who lie beyond newscasts and social media at a time when the culture says, ‘Don’t do that.’ The boldness alone is captivating. But his approach, in the hands of a masterful storyteller, opens a path to some profound insights into all of us who make up the American reality.”

—Tom Roberts, former editor of National Catholic Reporter and author of Joan Chittister: Her Journey from Certainty to Faith

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“Griffin-Nolan’s spontaneous, unpredictable pilgrimage to revive old memories works wonderfully as a reminiscence for those who were there in the ‘70s and as encouragement for those who might contemplate such a venture now.“

—Feathered Quill Book Reviews

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"I love this book! It is a portrait of America in the here and now—some of it so desperate, some so kind and humane. Ed is a compassionate man, and a terrific story teller."

—Ginny Sassaman, author of Preaching Happiness: Creating a Just and Joyful World

Critics’ Reviews

“Sharply observant, contemplative writing that captures the buzz of hitchhiking. A former journalist sets out to re-experience the hitchhiking adventures of his past in this absorbing travel memoir.”

—Kirkus Reviews (starred review), read the full review here.

IN THE NEWS

Urban CNY News, December 16, 2021: Ed Griffin-Nolan’s “Nobody Hitchhikes Anymore” Selected as one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Indie Books of 2021

Urban CNY News, July 26, 2021: Syracuse Author Wins Independent Book Award

New York Almanac, January 25, 2021: A New Book Considers Why Nobody Hitchhikes Anymore

MEET ED