[.ca] Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great ... (ISBN 0415945755)

From Amazon.com:
"Go fend for yourself," Clarence Lee's father said. "I can't afford to have you around any longer." Like hundreds of thousands of other young people across the country during the Great Depression, the 16-year-old left home, hopped a freight train, and started riding the rails. An estimated 250,000 men and women--many of them in their teens--turned to the trains as fast and free transportation. Some left out of desperation and went looking for work, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles on the rumor of a job waiting farther down the line. Others left out of boredom; still others with a romantic idea of life on the road. Many realized, too late, that they were leaving little for nothing. Henry Ford, for one, thought the boxcar teens had it made: "Why it's the best education in the world for those boys, that traveling around! They get more experience in a few weeks than they would in years at school." As one contemporary observer noted, however, after about six months on the road, "the boys and girls lost their fresh outlook and eagerness. Trips across the continent were no longer educational, but were quests for bread." Errol Lincoln Uys (pronounced "Ace") has collected thousands of letters written by boxcar boys and girls about their experiences, and peppers his chapters on the various aspects of hobo life with lengthy quotations, allowing the riders to speak for themselves. They talk about the danger--"You had to be careful not to stumble and fall under the wheels when you climbed on the cars"--and the desperation--"We were always hungry. Wasn't just 'cause dinner was hours late. It may have been a couple of days late. You were hungry, cold, miserable, with nobody to help you." They also talk about the remarkable kindness of strangers who fed and clothed the riders. Whether you're a "gaycat" (novice rider) or a "dingbat" (seasoned hobo), Riding the Rails is entertaining and inspiring, recapturing a time when the country was "dying by inches." --Sunny Delaney

Profoundly moving:
My interest in this book was sparked by a bit of family history. A great-uncle of mine hoboed on trains before the 1920s. Born in 1900, he was attempting to hop a train in 1919 in Chicago, but lost his grip, fell from the car, and lost a leg beneath the train. All I know about this uncle was from a newspaper clipping from 1919 when a brave reporter interviewed my great-uncle just before he died from the infection in his leg. The stories in "Riding the Rails" were tremendously moving to me. It gave me a perspecitive of the Depression and of Hoboes I hadn't had before. The personal stories were incredible, and the lucidity of expression by these people looking back on those difficult years was accurately relayed in the book. More than once I had to stop reading because of the tears in my eyes. I know this must sound melodramatic, but this book really moved me. But also, I must say this book reaffirmed my faith in human kindness and the perseverance of the human spirit.

Made the Depression come alive:
This book helps bring home the reality of life during the Depression. I think it would be a good one for high-school- or junior-high-age kids to read while studying this period of history. It doesn't tell the whole story by any means but it would be a good adjunct to a study of the period. I disagree completely with the reviewer who said that the use of many, short quotes "makes for dull reading and dilutes the overall power of the experiences shared by these people." For one thing, there are longer first-person accounts at the end of each chapter. And to me the shorter quotes used in each chapter are moving in themselves. I also appreciated the greater scope of commentary they provided, more than just few stories in their entirety would have done. I also disagree with the person who said there should have been more first-person accounts and less commentary. I think the commentary helps set the historical perspective, which not all readers might have. That said, I can see how someone might want to read more first-hand accounts after reading this book. Some are mentioned in the bibliography.

It Could Happen Again!:
Mr. Uys did an excellent, remarkable job on this book which relates a very important part of American history--the depresion. He let the people speak, and "hearing" them was very moving. These words weren't just cut-and-dried pieces of information about an era--this was REAL. These people were there, they lived it, and only they could tell it authentically. Think! No work, no food, no homes! Just riding the rails from here to there and back again and trying to find a way to stay alive. We also learn more about President Roosevelt's CCC and how it saved many boys by giving them hot meals, shelter, work, discipline, and confidence in themelves. I better understand now the depression and why my grandparents and parents still cling so tightly to their hard-earned money. I wish so much that a book like this would be used in our schools so the younger generations could know that history isn't just some long ago dead subject. We need to know from the people who "were there" the events that shaped America. And all Americans should heed what these people have to say and appreciate those who fought and toiled for what we now take for granted. It could happen again.

Beautiful Writing:
The testimonies of these people (who rode the rails in their youth) are often spell-binding and heart-breaking, and funny. Mr. Uys is a pleasantly unobtrusive narrator, happy to stand back in the wings. He is right to let these people tell their own stories, and it should be noted that when he does speak up on the page, his voice is kind, his sentences graceful and shimmering with an understated elegance that one sees less and less these days.

Almost Makes You Want to Hop a Freight:
"Riding the Rails" is a powerful combination of youth sociology and oral history. We hear from former adventure seekers, runaways, hobos, migrants and hustlers. Before TV, jet travel, and interstate highways, people saw the country from passenger trains or by hopping aboard boxcars. This book describes wanderlust, hunger, loneliness, criminals, railroad police, genuine acts of charity, plus frightful hazards from weather and accidents. The book reminds us that during the Great Depression, laid-off workers (such as my grandfather) hopped freight trains and traveled long distances to find a job - any job. The 1934 movie "It Happened One Night" even shows Clark Gable waving solemnly to forlorn men atop a passing freight train. Look at the photograph of the smiling young diner at the CCC work camp and you'll see why Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President four times. The author placed ads in major publications hoping to locate a few dozen surviving wanderers from the 1930's. He received several thousand replies, and eventually conducted 500 interviews. The book succeeds primarily because the subjects tell their moving tales. "Riding the Rails" is readable, personal history.