Part 5, Chapter 16 Summary and Analysis

"Recommended Itinerary" is originally a commencement address to the Middlebury, VT, class of 1986, admonishing the graduates to go far. They should visit Florence to get over the idea the present outranks all other times in attainments, Edinburgh, Palenque's Mayan ruins to realize rulers as remarkable as King Pacal are forgotten, and Monticello, paying special attention to Jefferson's 450-variety vegetable garden and recalling the author of the Declaration of Independence says, "No greater service can be rendered any country than to introduce a new plant to its culture." Think how different this is from Hollywood's plans for celebrating the Statue of Liberty centenary.

Tour the heartland of Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas and contemplate those who have worked hard so many seasons but now are gone. Go to eastern Kentucky to see how strip-mining has raped the land and realize reports...