{"product_id":"9781501333408","title":"Train","description":"\u003cp\u003eObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTriggering severe nostalgia and denoting adventure, mystery, and glamour, the passenger train is still portrayed as the most romantic mode of transportation in history. But what does long-distance travel by train really add up to today? In 2005, after quitting not only a successful museum job, but a profession, writer A. N. Devers bought a 30-day rail pass and circumnavigated the United States (and a bit of Canada), disembarking and visiting over a dozen towns and cities, finding that the passenger car was at once adventure and a nightmare – the promise of self-discovery and renewal via train trip was only a daydream.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInstead she emerged from her 8,111-mile jourbaney with a close view of America's crumbling infrastructure and the decaying communities alongside the tracks. The train, it turbans out, is a portal to what might have existed if America's rails hadn't been sold off and bought out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eObject Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47055515484400,"sku":"9781501333408","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781501333408_p0.jpg?v=1763708552","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781501333408","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}