the journey begins
who I amAs a young child in the 1950s, Michael was transferred to the care of his estranged, alcoholic father. Despite his mother’s stern warnings to do right by their son, Michael and his dad set off hitchhiking across the country. Trading his schoolbooks for a tattered Rand McNally atlas, Michael spent most of his childhood crisscrossing the country—rarely attending class, surviving on shoplifted sardines and sugared bread, sleeping in rundown rooming houses, and rousing his soused dad from seedy bars. The twosome was perpetually en route to someplace else.
Read the memoir that critics praised:
- “A remarkable story . . . that is poignant and very, very real.” Larry King, CNN
- “A moving and thoroughly engrossing testament to the resilience of the human spirit.” USA Today
- “A heartbreaking memoir of staggering mileage.” Entertainment Weekly
- “The gritty realism of a smoke-filled flophouse and wide-eyed joy of youth—an unusual combination but one that makes for a terrific tale.” Rocky Mountain News
- “A fascinating tale . . . This is not the typical memoir of a disadvantaged childhood. Keith knew his dad’s many faults, but loved him anyway.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- “Keith is an excellent storyteller . . . A well-told tale of an odd stretch in the life of an American boy.” The Boston Globe
- “A relentlessly gritty but good-humored tale of hope and survival.” Kirkus Review
The Next Better Place
» BC Bio
» See "Video" page
» Appearance on Public Radio's "Savvy Traveler"
» Apearance on Public Radio's "To the Best of Our Knowledge"
Keith at 10 years old
In 1959, at the age of eleven, Michael Keith ditched his relatively stable life with his mother and sisters in Albany, New York, and surreptitiously set off hitchhiking out West with his estranged, alcoholic dad. His memoir, told without sentimentality in the funny, world-wise voice of the young boy he once was, describes the bizarre characters they encounter in the rundown rooming houses and homeless missions of Pittsburgh and Ft. Worth, where they hole up as Michael's father works odd jobs to make enough money for them to move on; in the carnivals of the Midwest and the casinos of Las Vegas, where Michael dreams of Hollywood stardom; and in every two-bit town along the way, where they attend AA meetings just for a cup of coffee and a decent doughnut.
The Next Better Place explores the fine line between wanderlust and compulsion, between running away and arriving, and will resonate for anyone who has enjoyed the work of Tobias Wolff, Jack Kerouac, and William Kennedy.