The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Presidents, Vice-presidents, and the American Road

By Carll Tucker

Book Overview

After reaching age 50, author and publisher Carll Tucker knew he needed to make some changes. To figure out his new life, he took to the American road alone in an RV for nine months. His plan was to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0913113476
• ISBN13: 9780913113479
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert
• Length: 281 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

a magnificent read for thoughtful boomers and beyond

I was immediately attracted to this book, as it is so easy to relate to someone who just wants to get in a vehicle and take off. Explore both his country and his own life. Mr. Tucker does some of both and has a wonderful way of taking you along with him on both journeys. He needed an excuse to go and stay on the road, given how he's lived life so far. He couldn't possibly just go, he must have a goal. I thought his goal, visiting all the gravesites of Presidents and V.P.s was a worthy, and unique rationale. I've not enjoyed a road trip as much since Bill Bryson's "Lost Continent"...although that is a very different view of America. After you read this book check what has happened to Mr Tucker since writing this book, I think you'll be very happy for him given all his pondering of his marriage to find out where is personal road has led him.

"Travels With Charley" for the 21st Century

Baby Boomers Rejoice: perhaps for some for you the Steinbeck book (the subtitle was "In Search of America") was the first travel(ogue) book you read. I read it at age 13th and at age 60, I have discovered a worthy successor, this in-search-of-myself book by Carll Tucker. What an inspired idea to visit the grave site of every President and Vice President of the U.S. of A! The soul-searching complements the trivial-pursuit aspect of the book. Bottomline: a terrific read! Brooklyn Baby Boomer

A fine travel memoir

The Bear Went Over The Mountain (Carll Tucker , Liebert Press 2008) My copy of this book is dog-eared, marked, sweated on (from the gym), twisted, torn and beaten. I'm not giving it back to the lender, either. I wont. It will be on my shelves in the company of great books or in my hands until my own clock boinks, springs come out and both hands drop to 6. There will be Christmas and birthday copies for my friends who really should read this. That's the real review.

A tour of the country, of our presidents and vice-presidents, and through Tucker's life

Carll Tucker was going through the kind of restlessness that many people feel in their 40s and 50s. During mine, I went and got an MBA from the University of Michigan. Tucker's approach was much less conventional. He decided to get a motor home and head out on the road for nine months visiting the graves of all the Presidents and Vice-Presidents. The Vice-Presidents is the especially cool part. Heck, I didn't even know who most of them were. Do you? It turns out that the one thing I thought would end up being a drag turned out to be quite an enjoyable aspect of the book. Tucker is kind of a grumpy guy who tends to look down his nose on the non-New York, non-Ivy League world most of us occupy and find quite nice. His political views are also quite different than mine. But sometimes, having a traveling companion who sees things differently, and is willing to call things as he sees them is much more fun and worthwhile than having someone who simply reflects what you already know and believe. His love for America is quite clear and I enjoyed his reasons for loving her. When he expressed frustration with the America bashers like Howard Zinn I was with him 100%. Yet, this isn't a book just about his visits to the graves and a certainly not a systematic catalogue of those visits (although the book includes a nice presentation of his photographs of the graves great and small). Tucker provides his views of other graves he visited and his thinking through his own life. I was touched by his discussion of Thoreau and the father figure he became for him when his own father died when he was 16. Tucker clearly has many unresolved issues with his father. What he says about the figures varies. He tries to fill us in with information we are unlikely to know or can't look up easily. And he is willing to provide a bit of humor. He seems a bit obsessed with the possibility that Buchanan was homosexual and passes on the historical gossip about his relationship with a former VP named King. Does this gossip really count as news in 2007? I am glad that the book has a list of the Presidents and Vice-Presidents that also shows when they served. However, the book really could have used an index. Yes, I realize the book is meant as a story about a journey and that what he provides isn't really about being a formal study. But if I don't remember where so and so is buried, but I want to find a passage I really liked, it isn't that easy to find it again. But this is a minor quibble. At the end of the book, we realize that we saw a lot by going over the mountain with this bear. Sadly, his marriage is over, but he does seem more at peace with himself at the end than he was at the beginning. We learned some things we didn't know. Some of it from Tucker and some of it with him. And Tucker's opinions, views, and comments caused us to think through our own opinions, views, and mutter our own comments. We shared some laughs, were annoyed a few times, a