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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America Hardcover – January 1, 1989

by Bill Bryson (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 4,945 ratings
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When a native of Iowa returns from England to wander across America's heartland in search of the perfect small town, the result is a string of hilarious anecdotes and biting social commentary
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  1. Print length
    314 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper & Row Publishers
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1989
  5. ISBN-10
    0060161582
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0060161583
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bryson, a freelance journalist, succumbed to nostalgia upon returning home to Iowa after living for 20 years in England: he decided to relive the dreary vacation car trips of his American childhood. Starting out at his mother's house in Des Moines, he motors through 38 states over the course of two months, looking for the quintessential American small town--something he never encountered as a boy, and certainly doesn't discover now, as he tours superhighways, motels, shopping malls, fast-food joints and tourist traps. And, like a bored, bemused minor tagging along after adults, he trashes almost everything he sees, including the Smithsonian Museum and the trees in Sequoia National Park. Some of Bryson's comments are hilarious--if you enjoy the nonstop whining wisecracks of a 36-year-old kid. First serial to Cond e Nast Traveler; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

An expatriate American now living in England chronicles a trip around the United States in which he describes American foibles to the British. The first two chapters capture the tedium of a family vacation and the daffy absurdity of life in the author's home state of Iowa. Midwesterners will grab friends to read choice bits, saying "see." But after these wonderful opening chapters, the author's comic tricks become repetitive: "then I said this outrageous thing; no, not really, but . . . . " While the sometimes irrelevant statistics are interesting, they, too eventually become tedious. As the book grinds on, it descends into a litany of "then I went here, and next I went there." Browsers reading the opening bits will snatch it off the shelves, but many will return it unfinished. ($100,000 promotion; 50,000 copy first printing).
- Nora Rawlinson, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper & Row Publishers; First Edition (January 1, 1989)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 314 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060161582
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060161583
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.43 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 4,945 ratings

About the author

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Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson

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Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. Settled in England for many years, he moved to America with his wife and four children for a few years ,but has since returned to live in the UK. His bestselling travel books include The Lost Continent, Notes From a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods and Down Under. His acclaimed work of popular science, A Short History of Nearly Everything, won the Aventis Prize and the Descartes Prize, and was the biggest selling non-fiction book of the decade in the UK.

Photography © Julian J

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
4,945 global ratings
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The book itself is excellent. However- the printing quality is shockingly bad. It looks like they printed it on an ordinary printer, rather than on a book printer, so the text is all low resolution and fuzzy and very annoying and difficult to read
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Top reviews from the United States

c allan bell
5.0 out of 5 stars Semi-Accurate and Funny
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2024
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An enjoyable read.
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Helen in Wyoming
4.0 out of 5 stars Expect to spend a lot of time laiughing.
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2024
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Read for enjoymnet. Be sure to have a box of tissues near-by. You are likely to laughing so hard your eyes will leak.
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Marcus White
3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting road trip, but he sure does complain a lot
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2023
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So, I first read "A Walk in the Woods" and loved it. I enjoy hiking so I have been planning hiking the Appalachian Trail one day after reading it. This was my first Bill Bryson book and I decided to read another.
Another activity I have done a little of and want to explore more of is a road trip across the United States. I drove from Atlanta to For Drum in Norther New York in 2019, stopping along Chattanooga, Nashville, Gatlinburg, Washington DC, Atlantic City, and then Fort Drum itself. Having read other books on road trips, I was hoping this one would be entertaining with all the sites and annoying things you find on road trips.
So, he must have done this road trip in more than one year. In some places, it says the places were closing up for the season like he was driving in fall. Then in the last part he says it was in May. That was confusing, then he basically just complained about everything. I can say from road trips, finding a place that sells sandwiches and stocking up in case restaurants are closed or full is essential. He was alone on this road trip and I would be bored out of my mind if I was driving over 13,000 miles alone. He also stopped at tourist spots, then complained they catered to tourists. I may read the other book where he is traveling with the same guy he traveled with in "A Walk in the Woods," but I do not think I will read any more of his books after this. He really came off as an unpleasant person in this book, just complaining and mocking small town people. I would not recommend this book for anyone.
3 people found this helpful
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Melissa McLaughlin
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun adventure!
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2023
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Bill Bryson never disappoints. This book is a descriptive and clever way to remind us that there’s adventure in towns big and small
One person found this helpful
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Elizabeth Rose
4.0 out of 5 stars A little dated but funny as heck
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2022
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I came of age and started travelling the U.S. in the mid-80s, so this book, describing two trips across the U.S. (one going east, one going west, both starting in Iowa) in the late 80s brought back some great memories. And reminded me that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I could've done without the fat women jokes (this was published in the late 80s, when our last "acceptable" prejudice was even more acceptable), and they were fairly numerous, so in spite of trying to consider the context of the era, I still took off a star. I think I would've found them obnoxious in 1989, too.

The rest was typical dry-humor Bryson, with keen observations about his travels, interspersed with pithy anecdotes of the family vacations of his youth.

But here's the two things that amaze me. He manages to avoid Texas (although the Alamo gets a mention), which is a feat in itself. And he reveals that in all his youth growing up in Des Moines, he never made a trip to Minnesota, which is literally right up the road. (Spoiler Alert) He finally passes through a patch on this trip.

He missed seeing some great places, and I kept wanting to say, damn, Bill, if you had only stayed on Hwy 10001 for another 20 miles, you woulda seen.... But what he did see and describe was pretty great.

For a trip down memory lane, or, if you're a millenial, a glimpse of ancient American history 😉, I recommend it.
4 people found this helpful
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John G Ellis FAIA RIBA
5.0 out of 5 stars Search for the perfect American town
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2023
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Bill Bryson writes with humour and style about his travels across America following similar journeys with his parents when he was a kid. His descriptions of the sprawl and wastelands of much of America are only too accurate while in the search for the ideal American town of past eras. His descriptions of Des Moines are so hilarious I almost wanted to go there and see it for myself. His road travels take him to New York and California past all the weird features that only an American landscape and cultures provide.
I remember hearing his reading the book on the BBC as their Book at Bedtime and racing the following morning to buy a copy. It was that good!
One person found this helpful
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Interested customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Not owrth reading if there's anything else to do.
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2016
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The first problem, from which this book suffers is that it is essentially a compilation of what are intended to be humorous comments, with little no plot to sustain them. Unless books like that are read in very small doses they get quite old, quite fast. It's like dessert--the first bite is always the best; soon after that the long term drawback of excess calories outweighs (if you'll pardon the expression) the pleasure they provide. So, whether you like his humor or not, I would recommend small bites.

The more difficult problem for me was that I found a lot of his attempts at humor fell wide of the mark--or at least, of my mark. And as I continued through the book this became a more serious negative. I kept hoping things would get better, and they never did. Having spent four years in the Navy, and about the same time before that proving that I was immature, I have been exposed to enough frat-boy humor and dirty words that I no longer find them amusing. Nor do I find making fun of people who are doing their best particularly amusing. I will concede that Bryson is one of the better practitioners of this brand of humor, but it palls on me quite quickly.

I finally gave the book two stars because it isn't really awful. It just isn't worth the time to read it.

Having said which, the book is not without its moments. It's hard to miss being amusing if you keep at it long enough. But it certainly has no value as a social commentary on small towns, and what amusement I occasionally got was not worth the effort.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Bryson never disappoints
Reviewed in Canada on November 28, 2023
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Not quite as good as his Australian adventures nor his English escapades, nevertheless Bill Bryson's return to the land of his birth gives rise to plenty of laughs. The east coast is to the author decidedly more interesting than the rest of the country. Bryson's preferences for old-timey colonial ways are well-known, but his commentary on social issues prove insightful when read at a remove, such as the then racial reality of the Deep South.
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ana
5.0 out of 5 stars Muy bueno
Reviewed in Spain on October 22, 2021
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Me encantó
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rohit
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing quality and writing
Reviewed in India on February 26, 2020
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Book quality is amazing considering its printed in 1990s.
Bought in second hand but its almost new and no wear and scribbles.
Overall more than satisfied with pages quality font size, binding and one of the funniest books to read
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Lost Continent
Reviewed in France on August 21, 2016
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A really enjoyable book from beginning to end.

I love all Bill Bryson's books and this is no exception. He writes with authority and with great humour
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Un cliente
5.0 out of 5 stars Il mio primo libro di Bryson.
Reviewed in Italy on April 14, 2016
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Ho letto prima la versione italiana di questo libro e ho deciso di rileggerlo in lingua originale per cercare le differenze e vedere il cambiamento di stile.
Ovviamente la traduzione italiana cambia lo stile e anche se è ben fatta e sempre brillante, in lingua originale l'autore sembra molto più vicino.
Bryson racconta del suo viaggio in America, alla ricerca dei suoi luoghi d'infanzia, libro intelligente e leggero.
Consigliato in tutte e due le lingue.
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