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| Along the Edge of America | 
| Author: Peter Jenkins
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy Used: $0.84
You Save: $14.16 (94%)
New (24) Collectible (3) from $7.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 111747
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0395877377
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.60443
UPC: 046442877374
EAN: 9780395877371
ASIN: 0395877377
Publication Date: September 15, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!
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Amazon.com Review
In the past, Peter Jenkins' explorations (The Walk West, A Walk Across America, The Road Unseen) have been confined to land, but now Jenkins takes to the watery edge of the Gulf Coast, traveling in a 25-foot cruiser from the Florida Keys to Texas cattle country. Jenkins's riveting storytelling is all the more fascinating because his adventure is not just a paean to dare-devil accomplishments. Jenkins explains from the start that this trip was meant to renew the confidence he'd had before a bad divorce laid him low. But while he rediscovers his zest for life, he also learns how to operate a boat, navigate a storm, and avoid getting hijacked--all the while sharing the stories of the individuals he meets, from the alligator-wrestling Parker brothers to Mr. James Bloodworth and Bloodworth's Drugstore, where you can still get a hand-scooped milkshake for $1.15. Jenkins relates a great tale, with honesty, humor, and a fine ear for language.
Product Description
The best-selling author and walker Peter Jenkins, landlubber par excellence, now takes to the waves and explores, as only he can, a part of America rich in history, mystery, and lore: from the Florida Keys to the Mexican border, by way of the Everglades, the treacherous "jungle woods," genteel southern homesteads, the Cajun marshlands, and Texas's coastal cattle country. It's a riveting encounter with hardy, resourceful, colorful - and occasionally dangerous - characters who have one thing in common: a fierce love for their world of wind and water and sun, a world that Jenkins brings uniquely to life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...
 Jenkins Recovers His Lost Spirit August 9, 2007
When Peter Jenkins finished college he made a decision that was destined to change him forever. He decided that he was not ready for things like graduate school or a steady job. Instead, he decided to walk across America with his dog, Cooper. As word of what he was doing spread around the country, Jenkins was asked to speak to small groups and eventually found himself writing the magazine articles for major publications that led to his bestsellers describing his adventure.
A Walk Across America covers his walk from New York to New Orleans where he fell in love with both the city and the woman who was to become his wife. The Walk West is about his walk with his new wife from New Orleans to Oregon, completing the long journey that he had envisioned as a fresh college graduate. Jenkins continued to travel and to write books about his trips and the people whom he met along the way, and he was so well rewarded for his efforts that he was able to settle his wife and children on a 190-acre farm to live the good life. But despite the fact that he sensed that something was wrong, that the "good life" was killing him both spiritually and physically, Jenkins could not bring himself to do anything about it.
Reality has a habit of slapping a guy in the face to get his attention if he insists on ignoring it for too long. And that's what happened to Peter Jenkins in 1987 when he returned from a two-week book tour promoting Across China only to be met at the airport by a good friend who was there to hand him his car keys and a letter from his wife telling him that she had filed for divorce. Several years later, having remarried and started a second family, Jenkins still felt that something was missing, that some part of him had died and that he missed it. That's when he decided to see if he could recapture the innocence and optimism that he had when he started that first walk across America.
Along the Edge of America is the result of his decision to see if he could rekindle the sense of adventure that had served him so well as a young man. Although he knew very little about boats or navigation, Jenkins decided that his next adventure would take him from Key West, Florida, all the way along the Gulf Coast of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas until he reached the Mexican border, a trip that totaled over 2500 miles (including his side trips exploring rivers and bays that he encountered).
As usual, a Peter Jenkins book is about much more than just getting from point A to point B. The fun begins with watching Jenkins start from a level of zero ability and confidence when it comes to handling a boat on his own as he slowly progresses to the point that he just might be able make the trip that he planned, "might" being the key word even when his instructor has done all he could for him and has left him alone with the Cooper, his new boat.
Jenkins spread his trip over a period of almost two years and that allowed him to settle into several of the various communities that he found along the Gulf for months at a time. Along the way, we meet the people whose families have taken their living from the Gulf of Mexico for generations, people who do not always trust strangers but who eventually open up to Jenkins and, through him, tell us their stories. Anyone who believes that the tiny coastal communities along the Gulf Coast are just like the rest of America will never think that again after seeing how these adaptive people struggle today for their survival. They survive their encounters with Mother Nature in a way that only people who live near large bodies of water are ever asked to do.
In the end, Peter Jenkins found exactly what he hoped to find: the best of himself and everyone whom he met during his search. He managed to fight off hijackers, out-run Hurricane Andrew and survive a nearly tragic encounter with another storm. But the most important thing that he did was to reclaim the man who had been lost to him for so many years.
 Not nearly as good as A Walk Across America July 28, 2005
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
In his book describing his walk across many eastern states Jenkins does an excellent job of describing the scenery and people he encounters. You really feel that he bonds with those he meets.
The boat trip described in this book seems much less interesting - mostly because it seems so forced. It seems that Jenkins looks back fondly on his long walk and wants nothing more than to recreate it - this time on a boat. The trouble is, an adventure like his walk is impossible to recreate.
A Walk Across America was written after the fact. His adventuresome spirit led him to many intriguing places and he only thought to write about it after it was over. In this book however, Jenkins seems to be on a hunt for interesting folks to include in a new book.
Sometimes he succeeds in finding interesting people (a Vietnam vet and his brother, a Texas sheriff) but more often than not the people he describes were a bit eccentric but really not worth writing about in a book.
 I love the American characters Peter Jenkins finds December 29, 2003
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Peter, the person who walked across America and just came back from a year and a half in Alaska, takes to the water in his boat The Cooper. I think he is brilliant at finding distinctly American characters that capture so much. Here he explores the Gulf Coast region and all I knew of it prior to this book was Spring Break on the Florida Panhandle, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and not much more. If you want to believe America is a glossy, full color TV comercial stay brain washed and do not read this book or any other of his books. If you wnat to make fun of people or feel superior to them read some of the other travel writers. If you want to get to know a diverse group of people that make up some of your own country read this book and all the rest of his. I was as moved by the story of the ragged, toughened brothers Billy and Red and their surpriing love story as any human story I have ever read. Thanks Peter for taking me on another journey outside of my comfort zone.
A Glimpse of Life on the Gulf October 26, 2003
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I found and read Peter's "Walk Across America" several months ago and enjoyed it, so bought "Along the Edge" because I have thought about doing some traveling by boat along the coast. Peter's writing has a certain "basic" style; his books are honest and straightforward. The book details his purchase of a power boat and subsequent journey from Florida along the gulf coast. The chapters chronicle the people he meets along with a bit of insight about the geographic areas he encounters - a slice of life that most of us would never know first-hand. This book is light, upbeat reading. Readers will feel as if they are along for the ride, as in his first book. What an interesting life this writer leads, although I did tend to wonder how his new wife and kids dealt with his long hiatus off to wander and write despite their seemingly minimal visits. I enjoy his books because they are light, entertaining travelogues for those of us who like to wander uninhibited to new places and meet new people. Peter is a bit of a nomad who allows us to vicariously set off on new adventures and peek into our daydreams from a "being-there" perspective.
New Year's Day, 2003 January 2, 2003
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This review is for ""Along the Edge of America" by Peter Jenkins, which I've recently finished reading. I want this book review to serve also as my tribute to a very good writer. I still have my paperback copies of "A Walk Across America" published in 1979 and "The Walk West", circa 198l. Somewhat faded and yellowed, but treasured. These books have been unforgettable to me. The late 70's and the 80's, to the present time, often find me temporarily leaving reality behind. Escaping my own daily struggles and cares, I can mentally journey down roads or waterways with Peter, experiencing the colors and textures of his adventures, his people and the landscapes he paints with sentences. I well know the feeling of loss of confidence in ones self. Most of us do, and get beyond it, somehow. In "Along the Edge of America" Peter found his own way of conquering past disappointments. His story reflects a happier man who is better able to accept what life has handed him and to more fully enjoy the rest of it. A gentle sadness falls over me as I come to the end of any book written by Peter Jenkins. I wonder, "Will there be another book?", "What part of the world will I learn about this time?", "What people will I know through his stories?" I've never personally visited any of the people described in Peter Jenkins books. But he has introduced them to me and made me feel their happiness as well as their sorrows and regrets. We all have plenty of those three things in our lives. "Along the Edge of America" seems an honest account of a very trying, yet valuable portion of this man's life. It's a good group of stories and very pleasing to read. Thank you, Peter Jenkins.
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