Monster of a Land: On the Road in Search of Modern America

by Lauren Hough

From The New York Times bestselling author of a Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing comes an update of John Steinback’s trip in Travels with Charley, a cross-country journey exploring modern America with Lauren Hough’s signature observational wit, searing social commentary, and perspective as someone who knows what it’s like to truly exist on the margins in this country.

Lauren Hough has always been haunted by the road trips she never got to no money, no vacation days, no car capable of making the trip. So, upon finally finding herself in a situation where such a trip might be possible—being a writer may not always pay better than being a bartender or a cable guy, but at least the schedule’s flexible—she leaps at the chance, refurbishing a ramshackle 2001 Dodge van and setting off from Austin, Texas with her Husky mix Woody by her side.

Her influences feel obvious—but a lot has changed about the United States since the 1962 trip John Steinbeck chronicles in Travels with Charley. And Lauren Hough isn’t John Steinbeck—unless the Noble Prize-winning author of The Grapes of Wrath had a secret past as a six-foot-tall lesbian and Air Force vet. But even better as a social lubricant than beer, a dog is the ultimate conversation starter. With Woody as wingman, Lauren chats—at gas stations and restaurants and auto shops and bars—with an incredible cross-section of Americans from all walks of life and every possible political perspective. And as she circumnavigates the country, she documents, with all-too-rare empathy, what it means to be poor, to be marginalized, and to be seen as Other in America.

Part travelogue, part social commentary, and 100% Lauren Hough, Monster of a Land unites her poignant vulnerability, her hilarious narrative voice, and her razor-sharp insights into a journey that will show us how far we’ve come as a country, and how far we still have to go.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Travel, Biography Memoir

336 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication June 16, 2026

About the author

LAUREN HOUGH was born in Germany and raised in seven countries and West Texas. She’s been an airman in the U.S. Air Force, a green-aproned barista, a bartender, a livery driver, and, for a time, a cable guy. Her work has appeared in Granta, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, The Guardian, and HuffPost. She lives in Austin with a dog named Teddy.

Reviews

[Frank Duke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed. I was looking forward to this book as an updated take on Steinbeck's Travels with Charly. Instead, I got a confused narrative about a lesbian driving cross country in a haphazard manner. For example, in writing of driving from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, a city roughly 60 miles southeast of Baton Rouge, she tells of passing through Lafayette at the roughly half-way point on I-10; the only problem is that Lafayette is west of Baton Rouge and not between that city and New Orleans. Equally annoying, she expresses shock at driving into Indiana on the drive from Detroit to Chicago, but there is no way to make that trip unless you drive through Ohio, Kentucky, and all of Illinois with passing through Indiana.

I was also annoyed at her stereotyping of southerners as racist MAGA supporters who wave the Confederate battle flag. As a man born in Alabama who lives in Louisiana after spending my career in the South, I was offended.

Hough describes herself at one point as a lesbian author who writes for lesbians. Clearly, I was not her intended audience.

[Roxane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a wee bit biased because (unbeknownst to me when I started the book), my hilarious little dog Max makes an appearance toward the end. But beyond that, my goodness, what a sophomore effort from Lauren Hough. This is a road trip memoir, sure, but really it is a keenly observed story about America and the complexity of her people. Hough brings genuine empathy and nuance, to recognizing that most of what divides us is orchestrated by the obscene wealth disparity shaping our lives. She offers a unique portrait of the forgotten places from one coast of the country to the other, blended with a moving, sometimes haunting, and often hilarious portrait of herself and the dogs she has loved. You will be changed by this remarkable book, and for the better.

And the haters are gonna be soooooo maaaaaaad because this is even better than Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing.