Description: Clinging to the catwalk in a prone position on the top of the boxcar, I bounced & jolted through the Canadian night. There had been times in my life when I had been miserable, but nothing like this. Thus begins the story of young Russ who, at the age of 16 & in the midst of the Depression, signs on a freighter in San Francisco. Finding conditions on board intolerable, he jumps ship in Canada. First with a mate & later alone, he rides the rails as a hobo through Canada & the northern United States. He eventually ends up in New York City, after working the wheat harvest & hoboing along the way. He gets a job for a couple of months and, with his bankroll replenished, continues hitchhiking & again riding the rails, on a southerly route via New Orleans & Texas, back to his native San Francisco. A Land So Fair & Bright is a journey of discovery - the discovery of a land & its people, of hair-raising danger, of hard work & hunger, but also of the joys & pleasures of life, of travel, of friendship & love. In the end, it is the story of how a young man discovers himself in the months of travel that shape his life. Beautifully written, this refreshing story evokes the harshness of Depression America as seen through the eyes of a young man who never loses hope that, at the end of the day's journey, he will find something to eat, work, a friend. His adventures are gripping, his enthusiasm infectious. A true story well-told, this book draws a vivid picture of a fascinating period in recent American history. It is that special kind of coming-of-age story the reader will long remember.

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