Turn Left At The Trojan Horse: A Would-Be Hero's American Odyssey - Softcover

Herzog, Brad

3.31

294 ratings by Goodreads

9780806532028: Turn Left At The Trojan Horse: A Would-Be Hero's American Odyssey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0806532025 ISBN 13: 9780806532028

Publisher: Citadel, 2010

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Turn Left at the Trojan Horse has been described as On the Road meets Eat, Pray, Love because it goes well beyond a road trip. More than just a funny and profound narrative of Brad Herzog's cross-country trek toward a college reunion in Ithaca (New York) and more than another reimagining of Odysseus's ancient journey (he visits places like Troy, OR... Iliad, MT... Apollo, PA...), it is a memoir exploring the parameters of a heroic existence - by chronicling the lives of people in America's oft-ignored spaces, by examining the universal truths embedded in ancient myths, and by undertaking a fair bit of self-evaluation. It is the memoir of an Everyman searching for the hero within.

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From the Back Cover:

"Go away. Figure it out," she was saying. "Don't come back until you do." She looked at the calendar. "You have thirty-one days."

With these words, like Helen of Troy launching a thousand ships across the Aegean, Brad Herzog's wife launched a Winnebago Aspect onto the open road.

A modern-day Odysseus in Kerouac clothing, Brad Herzog plunges into a solo cross-country search for insight. With middle age bearing down on him, he takes stock: How has he measured up to his own youthful aspirations? In contemporary America, what is a life well lived? What is a heroic life?

From the foothills of Washington's Mount Olympus, through the forgotten corners of America, and finally to his college reunion in Ithaca, New York, Brad shares his personal odyssey. Stopping in classically named towns, he meets everyday heroes, including a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in Troy, Oregon; a modern-day hobo in Iliad, Montana; and a bomb-squad soldier in Sparta, Wisconsin. These encounters and Brad's effortlessly infused musings make for an exciting, one-of-a-kind ride.

"A truly epic journey." --A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

"As we sit in Herzog's passenger seat, we cannot help but stare out the window and even see our own reflection in the glass."--Liz Robbins, author of A Race Like No Other

"Turn Left at the Trojan Horse had me howling with laughter and nodding at the razor-sharp observation." --Tahir Shah, author of The Caliph's House

About the Author:

Brad Herzog lives on California's Monterey Peninsula with his wife and their two sons. He has been described as a "modern-day Steinbeck" and a "Picasso of the Winnebago," and Lonely Planet has ranked his travel memoirs among eight classics of the genre, along with books like Travels with Charley and On the Road. As an award-winning freelance writer, he has chronicled some of the nation's most unusual and intriguing subcultures, from nudists to North Pole explorers and from Pez collectors to pro mini golfers. Please visit him at bradherzog.com.

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