Miles from Nowhere

Born and raised in a small town in Iowa, Dayton Duncan has been a reporter, humor columnist, editorial writer, chief of staff to a governor, and deputy press secretary for presidential campaigns. He lives in Walpole, New Hampshire. His books include Out West: An American Journey, also available in a Bison Books edition.

"In this splendid book a gifted observer and a terrific idea have come together in a real love match. In 1990, a century after the census bureau's famous observation of the frontier's imminent end, Dayton Duncan set out in an ageing GMC Suburban to visit a large sampling of counties outside Alaska that have fewer than two persons per square mile--the bureau's old standard for places still in a frontier condition. There are 132 such counties. All are in the West... The result of his tour is an insightful and entertaining book, troubling and funny and consistently illuminating... Much of the book's charm comes from Duncan's sketches of people who choose to live 'miles from nowhere'--ranchers in the Nebraska sandhills, a New Mexican bar owner, a priest and United Parcel Service driver along the Texas-Mexico border, and the descendant of a Seminole Negro army scout in west Texas. In them he finds characteristics associated with the mythic frontier... Great fun to read."--Montana. "With honesty and kindness, Duncan tells unromantic stories of unromantic people always with a broader story in mind and an obvious fondness for the land and the people."--Rocky Mountain News