American Rambler

**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • New York Times bestselling author Isaac Fitzgerald sets off into the heart of America, following the path of the legendary Johnny Appleseed on an epic journey that both takes him far from home and brings him closer to it. “Rollicking, heartfelt. . . . Made me feel the kind of wonder and hope I’ve been longing for.” —John Green, author of Everything Is Tuberculosis** As a child, Isaac Fitzgerald was captivated by Johnny Appleseed, drawn to the legend by family ties, his father’s larger-than-life stories, and a shared restlessness to leave home and discover what lay beyond. In American Rambler, he sets out on a year-long journey to follow Appleseed’s path, walking (okay, sometimes driving, and at one point, even floating downstream) from Massachusetts to Indiana. On this journey, Fitzgerald turns a childhood fascination into a profound reckoning of loss and grief, ritual and faith, grimy gas station bathrooms and scenic apple picking. He is followed by a mysterious creature, camps in hostile environments, trespasses more than once, and is warmed by the generosity of strangers at every turn. A moving blend of memoir, history, and travelogue, American Rambler is at once an ode to the American heartland, a meditation on escaping the breakneck pace of modern life, and a clear-eyed look at the myths—often violent, sometimes hopeful, frequently romanticized—at the very core of American identity and history. With each step he takes, we see his unique talent for teasing out the human capacity for contemplation and kindness, bearing him up amidst loss and grief, ritual and faith, grimy gas-station bathrooms, and a whole lot of apple lore. From choral music in cathedrals to tattoo-trimmed vets in back-alley bars, this is a true American odyssey and an antidote to the breakneck pace of modern life. Hopeful, intimate, and often hilarious, this story is about uncovering the things that really matter in this life.