What compelled you write it? Was it cathartic? ROBERT WOLF: Writing Blue Highways is a very personal book, very honest and revealing. I was fortunate to find Heat-Moon at his home in Missouri for this in-depth conversation. It is a short, powerful work, written with passion. His latest work, Writing Blue Highways, is an unusual and useful blend of autobiography and writing guide.

Heat-Moon's other works include Roads to Quoz and River-Horse. The subtitle, A Deep Map, a term popularized by Heat-Moon, is a documentary that layers topographical notes with observations on regional life, folkways, and whatever else deepens insight into the region. Like its predecessor, PrairyErth is a documentary. Heat-Moon's next book, PrairyErth, recounted a journey taken on foot through Chase County, Kansas. It stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for 42 weeks. Heat-Moon, who descends from Osage and European ancestors, outfitted a Ford van he named Ghost Dancing, and lit out.īlue Highways is a record of Heat-Moon's conversations with people throughout his journey, layered with descriptions of the land and towns he visited. His college teaching position had been cut and his 600 applications to other colleges all met with rejection.

Heat-Moon undertook the journey when his life had pretty much come to a dead end. He made his reputation with Blue Highways, a detailed account of a 1,300-mile journey through America. William Least Heat-Moon is one of America's indefatigable travelers, a man on a perpetual quest to know himself and his country.

Least heat moon