Stomping Grounds: A Pilgrim's Progress Through Eight American Subcultures

As America becomes more centralized and more anonymous; what do citizens do to give themselves a sense of community? Mr. Sides shows us one way to overcome facelessness: get a very specialized interest and find some other folks who share it. Then have a reunion, a festival-a party.These fascinating essays take up the stodgy Bohemian Club (the most private club in the world), Airsteam caravaners, Tupperware Jubilee, Bass fisherman, the Church of God in Christ Convocation, Iditarod-the 1500 mile Alaska dog sled race, Black Hills Motor Classic-the big Harley ruckus in Sturgis SD, and the Rainbow Family of Living Light gathering -a reunion of the flower children held yearly in a U.S. National Forest. The most boring group by far are our captains of industry, military and government who belong to the Bohemian Club. In spite of their magnificent scenery, it reads like a board meeting. The Airstream people are a model of organization; participants are color coded down to their socks. The Rainbow Families pride themselves on their lack of organization and it is a true wonder they all manage to get to the chosen site at all, and then survive the experience. The year recounted was spent in the stark Jarbidge Wilderness in northern NV. It sounded about as pleasant as breaking rocks at Alcatraz, but all had a wonderful time. I wonder that the good citizens of Sturgis don't flee before the onslaught of The Hawgs, all grown older but still with the sense of humor of half-tamed grizzly bears.This is a fun book to read, and Mr. Sides has organized it very well. He gives us a brief history of each organization, interviews participants, and gives an overview of the events provided. He is non-judgmental, for the most part, and I commend him for bravery above and beyond the call of journalism for sticking it out in Sturgis SD, and the Nevada wilderness. In Nevada it looked like you had a good chance of dying of natural causes (sun stroke, typhoid and hypothermia); in Sturgis, your demise would be sudden death by Harley.