This Land is Your Land Audiobook By Beverly Gage, Beverly Gage - introduction cover art

This Land is Your Land

A Road Trip Through U.S. History

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

This Land is Your Land

By: Beverly Gage, Beverly Gage - introduction
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
Try for $0.00

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $18.74

Buy for $18.74

A Barack Obama Summer Reading List Selection

Pulitzer Prize–winning author of G-Man and acclaimed historian Beverly Gage takes the ultimate road trip into the American past.

Ride along with Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Beverly Gage as she travels the country to see the museums, historic sites, roadside attractions, reenactments, and souvenir shops where Americans learn—and fight—about our history. From the birth of the nation in Philadelphia to Disneyland and the California dream, This Land Is Your Land offers a guided tour of thirteen places and thirteen key moments that define America’s greatest successes and challenges.

The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a document that proclaimed the liberty and equality of all human beings, but produced a country that often failed to agree upon—or live up to—those ideals. This Land Is Your Land is for everyone who wants to find that history—to experience it and confront it, to celebrate it and condemn it—in the places where it happened.

Gage shows that Americans can face their past and still love their country. Toss the book in the back seat—or listen on audio with the windows down—and join the journey. Americas North America Politics & Government State & Local Travel Writing & Commentary United States
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

"Listeners will enjoy this thoughtful and informational journey across our nation."
"On the cusp of America’s 250th birthday, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gage embarks on a road trip to visit 13 locations across the country and explore the critical role that each played in forming the nation that exists today. Gage visits sites significant to the Revolutionary War, slavery, Native Americans, women’s suffrage, and more and delves into their histories, long-lasting aftereffects and, in some cases, how they've fared in modern America. Gabra Zackman is steady and measured as she details historical conflicts and tensions, and her tone is conversational when discussing individuals who made a lasting impact on the country. The introduction, read by Gage, is a highlight: She shares her reasons for writing the book and reflects on why engaging with our shared history is so important, especially today."
All stars
Most relevant
Thank you. Made me want to do additional history on our family. Really well written!!!!!

Thank you. Made me want to do additional history on our family. Really well written!!!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is a perfect way to celebrate the Semiquincentenial. it is not a deep dive into anything, but I still learned a lot I didn't know before. I thing road trip history might become a new genre. it works!

Easy listening while you learn

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is the latest book I am urging everyone to read. I learned so much, have added many sites on my Need-to-Visit list, and was thoroughly entertained as well. A great book for anyone who loves history, America, road trips, and US trivia.

Great book about America

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Based on the iconic folk-song title, I expected this book to have photos! However, it is really a narrative. The format is rather novel. She tells the history of race relations and civil rights in the U.S. through a series of road trips, beginning with Philadelphia to discuss the Revolutionary War, and heading west across the country, ending in southern California with Disneyland and Nixon and Reagan's presidential libraries. If the topics of race and civil rights don't appeal to you, then this book probably won't either, as it really is the focus.

We travel to:
--Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776;
--Virginia to discuss Washington and Jefferson's views of slavery through visits to Mt Vernon and Monticello;
--Tennessee and the Trail of Tears during the time of Andrew Jackson;
--Texas and the Alamo;
--Seneca Falls, NY, for the first women's rights convention in 1848;
--Charleston during the Civil War;
--Montana and Little Bighorn for Custer's last stand;
--Chicago and labor relations in the Gilded Age;
--the Dakotas for Teddy Roosevelt and the building of Mt. Rushmore;
--Henry Ford and the history of Detroit;
--Los Alamos and a Japanese concentration camp during WWII;
--Atlanta for the Civil Rights movement; and
--Southern California to discuss Walt Disney and his creation of Disneyland, as well as the presidential libraries of Nixon and Reagan.

While discussing Chicago and labor relations in the gilded age, the author mentions that there is no *National Museum* devoted to labor and working class history, She does not say there is no labor museum anywhere in the entire country, just that there is not a national museum devoted to this topic, with the implication that nationally we need more attention, recognition and exploration of issues surrounding labor and working class history. She's saying that this is an important issue that as a country we need to pay more attention to.

My own interest waxed and waned a bit across chapters, which can be expected given its broad sweep across 200+ years--it's not a focused narrative about a single event, and so some topics and locations are inevitably more or less interesting given one's own background and preferences. Again, if you don't care for her focus on the history of race relations and civil rights, then you may not like this book. The Amazon intro sums the book up well when it says that the Declaration of Independence "proclaimed the liberty and equality of all human beings, but produced a country that often failed to agree upon--or live up to--those ideals. This Land Is Your Land is for everyone who wants to find that history--to experience it and confront it, to celebrate it and condemn it--in the places where it happened."

Not what I expected but good anyway

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What to put on the roadtrip is subjective. I enjoyed it. Where Cage actually went somewhere, her perspective is engaging. When Cage endeavors to summarize places she did not visit, she disappoints. Her comments about the Trinity Site is a perfect example. She cannot bother to research when it is open or what’s there, let alone visit the Site. It is open two days per year and deeply interested to anyone interested in the history of science and/or geopolitics. Her regurgitation some random incurious tourist’s take was a pimple on this mostly enjoyable tour.

A selected roadtrip through US history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews