An edition of Off the road (1994)

Off the road

a modern-day walk down the Pilgrim's route into Spain

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Off the road
Jack Hitt
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Last edited by ImportBot
August 17, 2022 | History
An edition of Off the road (1994)

Off the road

a modern-day walk down the Pilgrim's route into Spain

  • 2.00 ·
  • 1 Rating
  • 0 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

In this irreverent, ruminative adventure, Jack Hitt sets out to walk the 500 miles along the pilgrimage route from France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Off the Road charts the serendipitous encounters of another American innocent abroad, only this one submits to the rigorous traditions of Europe's oldest form of packaged tour. The result is a comic yet sympathetic attempt to understand the vanishing role of religion in modern life.

Off the Road is an unforgettable tour of the sites that people believe God once touched: the strange fortress said to contain the real secret Adam learned when he bit the apple; the miraculous chickens of the fourteenth century whose descendants still dance in the church of Santo Domingo; the sites associated with the murderous monks known as the Knights Templar; and the places housing relics ranging from a vial of the Virgin Mary's milk to a sheet of Saint Bartholomew's skin.

Along the way, in small-town shelters or lost among Spanish mountains, Jack Hitt finds himself persevering by day and bunking down by night with an unlikely cast of fellows - a Flemish film crew, a drunken gypsy, a draconian Belgian air force officer, a man who speaks no languages, a one-legged pilgrim, and a Welsh family with a mule.

Off the Road rediscovers the warm hilarity that underlies the solemn rituals of the past. In the day-to-day grind of walking under a hot Spanish sun, Jack Hitt and his smelly cohorts not only find occasional good meals and dry shelter, but they also stumble upon some fresh ideas about old-time zealotry and modern belief. Anyone disturbed by America's sense of a disposable past will relish the way this offbeat journey through history turns into a provocative rethinking of the present.

Publish Date
Publisher
Aurum
Language
English
Pages
255

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Off the road
Off the road: a modern-day walk down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain
2005, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
in English - 1st Simon & Schuster Paperback ed.
Cover of: Off the Road
Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain
2005, Simon & Schuster
in English
Cover of: Off the road
Cover of: Off the road
Off the road: a modern-day walk down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain
1994, Simon & Schuster
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
London

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
914.60483

The Physical Object

Pagination
255p. ;
Number of pages
255

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL15381803M
ISBN 10
1854103067
OCLC/WorldCat
33011625
Library Thing
346084
Goodreads
2288217

Source records

Better World Books record

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
August 17, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
April 28, 2011 Edited by OCLC Bot Added OCLC numbers.
August 18, 2010 Edited by IdentifierBot added LibraryThing ID
April 16, 2010 Edited by bgimpertBot Added goodreads ID.
September 19, 2008 Created by ImportBot Imported from Talis record