No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey Through the American South

by Gary Younge

Book Overview

In 1997 Gary Younge explored the American South by retracing the route of the original Freedom Riders of the 1960s. His road trip was a remarkable socio-cultural adventure for an outsider. He was British, journalistically curious, and black.

As he traveled by Greyhound bus through the former Confederate states, he experienced an awakening. He felt culturally tied to this strange yet familiar place. Though a Briton by birth and the child of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578064880
• ISBN13: 9781578064885
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Gary Younge Knows the U.S.

If Lewis Lapham, Toni Morrison, Christopher Hitchens (the old school one, not the current crazy one), and Dave Chappelle decided to raise a child together, Gary Younge would be the result. His trenchant wit and radar for the ridiculous combine with a devastatingly precise writing style that yields "shock and awe" yucks on every page. I read him everywhere I can, and when my "The Nation" arrives, he's the first writer I look for. (The second is Patricia Williams). Younge's travelogue amounts to a long overdue manifesto standing in sharp contrast to those I've groaned through authored by dominant culture "experts." Paul Theroux comes (painfully) to mind. Germaine Greer...wow. I think Younge's books should be used in high school U.S. History, Journalism, and English course; at the very least, use his texts as a counterpoise to conventional ones. As I sit patiently listening to lachrymose PTA parents offer testimonials about how "my child" was "transformed" by the "Journey to the Past" field trip, I grit my teeth and wish I could suggest that everyone save thousands of dollars by simply reading this book. There were so many times I laughed, closed the book and my eyes, and felt reassured that I'm not the only one not drinking the KoolAid about the reality of race in the U.S.

To see ourselves as others see us...

Requires a black man from England to slip behind the curtain and report on the quondam parlous State of african americans... He did it. You should read it. Who ever you may be. Truly a good read on many levels-- as a travelogue, as a history review of a critical time in US emancipation.. It's all good. And well crafted too; beautifully polished phrases encapsulate moments and people. Really, it's all good.

Fascinating Ride Through the South

Gary Younge is a young British journalist of Bermudan descent, who decides to take a trip through the American South in search of some of the symbols of black culture he most identified with in his youth. Along the way Younge interviews a variety of activists, civil rights figures, and every day people, and comments on the landscape around him. As an American living in Britain, this book was fascinating to me. Younge goes on a classic "fish out of water" tour of the US, but the racial twist makes the book all the more interesting. The book is at turns sad, thought-provoking, and even at times laugh out loud funny. (Check out the letter he finds left in a motel room drawer.) Younge is surprisingly fair in his interpretation of the culture he meets, giving credit where it is due, and genuinely seeming to see both sides of the story. This is surprising because the author freely admits to his Marxist youth: he (still) refuses to stand for the Union Jack, though he proudly rises for the playing of the Internationale. Given that background, I expected a much more harsh view of the US, but Younge manages to surprise me. The book is a quick read, and I wish Younge had lingered in a couple of places a bit more: his passages on Savannah and New Orleans are unfortunately short. The book ends up more as a sociological/political book than a travel book, but Mr. Younge has all the makings of a great travel writer, with a keen ear for interestinc characters and dialogue, and an ability to evoke the essence of a place. Nevertheless, I can still strongly recommend this book to anyone: five stars.

A Black Brit follows the path of the US Freedom Riders

Gary Younge is a black Englishman who decides to travel through the US South by bus, following the path of the 1961 Freedom Riders, who did such things as having their black participants use white-only restrooms in an effort to spur civil rights reforms. The Freedom Riders were key players in the US civil rights movement, and some of them were beaten or even murdered. Younge wanted to retrace their steps in 1997 to see if there was anything that would resonate with him as a British black man.The book is successful on several levels: As a travelogue, as a history of the civil rights movement, and as an introduction to the South for the non-US reader. (A blunt hint from Younge to non-US readers: Avoid long-distance bus trips.) To my surprise, Younge was generally positive about the US, despite some instances when he's exposed to modern racism, such as being turned away from an empty motel. Although racism lingers, Younge seems impressed that the US has dealt with its sordid past of racial oppression in a more constructive manner than Britain has. He marvels that US blacks can salute the flag and be patriotic without feeling hypocritical, whereas he, as a British black, finds it impossible to salute the Union Jack or to feel patriotism as a Brit. All in all, it's a fascinating treatment of the American South and its complicated history of race relations.