Two Summers: Nixon and Trump by Greyhound Bus

by Tim Albert

‘A lovely evocation of heady times in America’ – James Naughtie In 1969 the 22-year-old Tim Albert spent three happy months on a 12,000 mile road trip around the United States on Greyhound buses. Half a century later - to the day - he set out to revisit his trip, armed with his original 30,000-word diary. Would he find the America of President Donald Trump much altered from the America of President Richard Nixon? How would Greyhound bus travel have changed in a world flooded by motor cars and electronic devices? And would his 72-year-old body last the course? In this funny and finely observed account, our game hero tours New York with a 50-year-old Michelin Guide; discovers that bus passengers speak into their phones and not to each other; celebrates the golden jubilees of the moon landings, the gay rights movement and Kermit the Frog; declines the offer of a mail-order AK-47; and is told by half the people he meets that the President is a dangerous embarrassment and by the other half that he is a saviour who never lies. When two older ladies assume our scruffy traveller is homeless and reach into their handbags to give him money for food, he realises that one thing hasn’t changed - the generosity of Americans. ‘Not just a changed country but a changed narrator’ – Alice Allan

264 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2020

About the author

My first published work was in 1964 when I won a school prize for an angst-ridden sonnet about climbing up a municipal rubbish dump.
My latest work is somewhat lighter - it describes a repeat trip I took around the United States on Greyhound buses after a gap of 50 years.
In between I have had one career as a journalist writing for local, national and medical publications - and another as a communications trainer, trying (with limited success) to persuade doctors and other health professionals that they do not need to write in pompous prose.
I have published four books on medical writing, a memoir and a travel book. I live in in Surrey, England with a saintly wife and a needy garden.

Reviews

[Liz Wager · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best travel books contain a healthy dose of autobiography. The reader enjoys not only vicarious armchair travel, but the company of an engaging guide. In Tim Albert's thoughtful yet entertaining account of two journeys separated by 50 years we meet not only the current 72-year-old author, but also his 22-year-old self, via his diaries. With some wry and witty observations on ageing, the infuriations of modern technology as well as on life in the USofA, this is a great read.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much, but it probably helps that I have talked to the author, and also that I'm an American of a certain age living in Britain who remembers both 1969 and 2016. So the author and I have that in common. We also share a background in journalism, which makes it even more engaging for me. Memoir is a tricky medium to get right. It's easy to be self-indulgent, or digress in ways that don't retain reader interest. But the backbone of this book is politics, a comparison of the American pulse as taken in 1969 by a young man and again in 2016 by the same, now much older individual. So that structure helps keep the narrative focused. There's also the technical aspects of organising a trip via Greyhound bus, which itself illustrates how the US has changed in the 50 years between these two trips. And not for the better, as I'm sure you imagine. All in all, a very good book for understanding this confusing political landscape.

[Anne Wellman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really well-written account of two trips around the US fifty years apart, throwing light on the changing face of the country. Highly recommended.