Unauthorized America: A Travel Guide to the Places the Chamber of Commerce Won't Tell You about

by Vince Staten

1990. Author: Vince Staten. Publisher: Harpercollins. 307 pages. Paperback. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060965142
• ISBN13: 9780060965143
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A Classic

Although this book needs to be updated (Mike Tyson alone could add a dozen pages) this book is a classic. James Brown's PCP-fueled two-state police chase? You can follow the route here. Hilarious in its inclusiveness, it manages to keep things tasteful despite hotspots like "Where Margaret Mitchell got run over by a car" (downtown Atlanta)and "Where Jayne Mansfield got decapitated" (California). Some inclusions in an updated edition could include "Where Jean Claude Van Damme got beat up by a bouncer" (Scores Nightclub, Queens NY)and "Where Stephen King got run over by a car" (Route 5 near Fryeburg, ME).

A good guide to the offbeat

If you're planning a trip and you'd rather skip the usual theme parks, outlet malls and hole-in-the-wall museums, this book is packed with ideas ranging from a town that got "nuked" (sort of -- the bomb didn't go off) to places where Sean Penn got into fights (yes, there was more than one).