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"There is no feeling in the world like sitting in a side-door Pullman and watching the world go by, listening to the clickety-clack of the wheels, hearing that old steam whistle blowing for crossings and towns." -George Phillips in Riding the Rails
At the height of the Great Depression, 250,000 teenage hoboes were riding the rails and roaming America. Some left home out of desperation and went looking for work and a better life, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles on the rumor of a job waiting farther down the line. Others left out of boredom; still others with a wanderlust and romantic idea of life on the road.
The restless youth of these boxcar boys and girls, many who went from "middle-class gentility to scrabble-ass poor" overnight, is recaptured in Riding the Rails. Based on the award-winning documentary, this book dispels the myths of a hobo existence and reveals the hard stories of a daring generation of American teenagers-forgotten heroes-who survived some of the hardest times in our nations' history. Whether you're a "gaycat" (novice rider) or a "dingbat" (seasoned hobo), Riding the Rails is entertaining and inspiring, recapturing a time when the country was "dying by inches."
- Sales Rank: #935746 in Books
- Brand: Brand: TV Books
- Published on: 1999-07-01
- Ingredients: Example Ingredients
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.26" h x 6.40" w x 9.25" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 336 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
Amazon.com Review
"Go fend for yourself," Clarence Lee's father said. "I can't afford to have you around any longer." Like hundreds of thousands of other young people across the country during the Great Depression, the 16-year-old left home, hopped a freight train, and started riding the rails. An estimated 250,000 men and women--many of them in their teens--turned to the trains as fast and free transportation. Some left out of desperation and went looking for work, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles on the rumor of a job waiting farther down the line. Others left out of boredom; still others with a romantic idea of life on the road. Many realized, too late, that they were leaving little for nothing. Henry Ford, for one, thought the boxcar teens had it made: "Why it's the best education in the world for those boys, that traveling around! They get more experience in a few weeks than they would in years at school." As one contemporary observer noted, however, after about six months on the road, "the boys and girls lost their fresh outlook and eagerness. Trips across the continent were no longer educational, but were quests for bread."
Errol Lincoln Uys (pronounced "Ace") has collected thousands of letters written by boxcar boys and girls about their experiences, and peppers his chapters on the various aspects of hobo life with lengthy quotations, allowing the riders to speak for themselves. They talk about the danger--"You had to be careful not to stumble and fall under the wheels when you climbed on the cars"--and the desperation--"We were always hungry. Wasn't just 'cause dinner was hours late. It may have been a couple of days late. You were hungry, cold, miserable, with nobody to help you." They also talk about the remarkable kindness of strangers who fed and clothed the riders. Whether you're a "gaycat" (novice rider) or a "dingbat" (seasoned hobo), Riding the Rails is entertaining and inspiring, recapturing a time when the country was "dying by inches." --Sunny Delaney
From Publishers Weekly
This erratic account of the 250,000 "boxcar boys and girls" who traversed the country during the Great Depression amounts to an oral history of the seldom-studied lives of teenage hoboes. Using material gathered for a documentary film of the same title (made by Michael Uys and Lexy Lovell, the author's son and daughter-in-law), Uys draws on interviews, letters and other fragments from thousands of former rail-riders who answered an announcement in Modern Maturity magazine seeking reminiscences about their lives. A number of anecdotes offer insight into the desperation that led teens to leave impoverished homes. A sign at a Louisiana cafe, for example, stated succinctly: "Dishwasher WantedAonly college graduates need apply." Jobs were so scarce that one 18-year-old climbed eagerly on a locomotive in Ohio after hearing there might be work at a Los Angeles hotdog stand. The poignancy of such moments is diminished, however, because the various episodes are hitched together like random cars on a freight train and the text takes on the aimless movement of its young subjects as they drift in search of a hot meal. The most accomplished passages frame the vicissitudes of hobo life within the larger context of Depression-era politics. For many former hoboes, New Deal programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps offered the only alternative to hunger, jail and degrading hardship. Most remarkably, perhaps, this book shows how the occasional generosities encountered on the road instilled in these wanderers a lifelong ethos of humility and compassion toward others. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
When Uys's son and daughter-in-law solicited reminiscences for a documentary film on teenagers' lives on the rails between 1929 and 1941, some 3000 people replied, often at length. Many looked back fondly on a time when they truly felt free: "There is no feeling in the world like sitting in a side-door Pullman and watching the world go by, listening to the clickety-clack of the wheels, hearing that old steam whistle blowing for crossings and towns." Yet the overall tone of their memories is somber. "You were always with people on the trains but...everyone on the road... was lonely." "Kids on the road didn't know how to play....We never thought about being teenagers. All we thought about was surviving." This is an elegantly presented and quietly moving collection of firsthand reminiscences, capturing a unique moment in American history. Uys, a veteran writer and editor, is the author of the historical novel Brazil. Enthusiastically recommended for all public libraries.ADavid Keymer, California State Univ., Stanislaus
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
The Ride of Their Lives
By Trisha S. Jones
Uys' compilation of interviews is an eye opening read for anyone interested in how history reflects the present. As our country experiences dire economic hardship at this time, Riding the Rails reflects the best and the worst of the people and the societal atmosphere during The Great Depression. With its focus on teens, we learn of the desperate poverty that forced droves of young people to leave home during the 30's in hope of finding job opportunities and a better life somewhere down the tracks. Likewise, we read accounts from teens who, looking for the adventure and romance found in travel novels of the time, took to the rails only to learn some sobering realities. Regardless of thier reasons for leaving, each of Uys' interviewees carry with them lifelong lessons and impressions of humanity that influence the course of thier lives into adulthood. As an English graduate student, I depend on Amazon for all of my text purchases. I have never been disappointed in any product I have received.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Profoundly moving
By Richard Harrold
My interest in this book was sparked by a bit of family history. A great-uncle of mine hoboed on trains before the 1920s. Born in 1900, he was attempting to hop a train in 1919 in Chicago, but lost his grip, fell from the car, and lost a leg beneath the train. All I know about this uncle was from a newspaper clipping from 1919 when a brave reporter interviewed my great-uncle just before he died from the infection in his leg.
The stories in "Riding the Rails" were tremendously moving to me. It gave me a perspecitive of the Depression and of Hoboes I hadn't had before. The personal stories were incredible, and the lucidity of expression by these people looking back on those difficult years was accurately relayed in the book. More than once I had to stop reading because of the tears in my eyes. I know this must sound melodramatic, but this book really moved me. But also, I must say this book reaffirmed my faith in human kindness and the perseverance of the human spirit.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Gives insight to history and modern times
By Matthew Gunia
E.L. Uys should be commended for his efforts on this book. First, he tackles a topic that has not traditionally been looked at--teenagers who, during the Great Depression, decided for one reason or another, to leave their homes and families and illegally travel from city to city in trains. More than give a staight-through narrative as most authors do, he allows the rail riders to tell their own stories. Uys arranges the narratives (a chapter long, usually three in a row), then inserts his own chapter of commentary pointing out similarities and differences in the stories he's researched. What results is something that can be thought of as a book discussion group, where Uys is a participant. Uys simply points out many of the interesting aspects of the stories and sometimes other things he's researched while leaving the powerful first person narritive alone. Through this the reader can see not only the historical context and big picture (usually thanks to Uys), but also the smaller details that many third-person book length narratives might leave out--the long, maddening hours one would experience if he was unfortunate enough to hop on a car with a flat wheel (constant jackhammer-esque pounding for hours upon hours, preventing sleep or comfort of any kind); the looks on people's faces or tones of voices as they offer to help or chase away hobos; the story of the lady who called the police on a starving young begger as she fed some stray animals instead; the many anonymous people who paid for meals for starving teens; watching a fellow teenager die after he tried to jump onto a moving car, fell and had his legs severed by the train's wheels and the list can go on. This book was an interesing and moving one as Uys and his interviewees show both the freedoms and the dangers of riding the rails. As an interesting side-note. I decided to read this book afters seeing a documentary on MTV about modern day Rail Riders ("Travelers"). Knowing that a similar subculture of people still exist, experiencing the same freedom and dangers (added to it a sense of confusion and hopelessness) made the book that more moving. I would recommend it.
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