Turn Left at the Trojan Horse: A Would-Be Hero’s American Odyssey

The author takes a circuitous route east from California by driving an RV across Oregon, Washington, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other points between and beyond. Inspired by Odysseus and a cast of supporting gods and goddesses, vignettes illuminate some form of heroic action, with Herzog discovering attributes of bravery and endurance in a variety of everyday characters. The author asks “What is a hero?” and finds answers in sources such as the 1997 North Dakota flood, and Sparta, Wisconsin, home to Fort McCoy, where he ponders military life, drawing parallels with Odysseus and his wife Penelope, “a de facto single mother, her husband essentially missing in action until she hears from him next.” Points of interest that inspire Herzog include the Mount Olympus Water and Theme Park at the Wisconsin Dells and an Ohio eatery called Pandora’s Lunch Box, which allows him to tell the entertaining tale of the original Pandora. And after meandering around Pennsylvania’s eternally burning mine fire in Centralia, he takes on labyrinthine history with an Appalachian labyrinth owner who claims to possess multiple personalities, just another character on another pit stop along an intriguing excursion. (June)