Reviewers Say . . .
Reviewers Say . . .
I could not put the book down. Michael listens to Americans better than anyone since Whitman, Steinbeck, or Moyers and explains brilliantly what he hears. Running on Empty is a monumentally significant work appearing at the perfect time, as clear a delineation of income disparity as I have seen anywhere.
Road book critic Ronald Primeau
Michael's observations on what is driving middle Americans to the margins are both acute and important. In Running on Empty, he explores a disquieted America as if it were a foreign country that he was seeing for the first time. Unflaggingly curious, gregarious, and good humored, he guides us through a human panorama, from Native Americans and high plains Tea Partyers, to "road angels," spunky RVers, and a middle class that Michael finds increasingly apprehensive in an era of deepening economic insecurity.
Prize-winning and Pulitzer Prize-nominated historian Fergus Bordewich
"Clear punchy style demolishes plutocrat arguments"
"Fills an urgent need"
"Eminently readable"
"Brilliant"
"Acute and important"
"Monumentally significant"
"Lucid and persuasive"
"An original voice"
"Distills the exhilaration of the open road"
"America through mature eyes"
Michael’s book distills exhilaration of the open road, the vastness of the country, and the desire to see America in its best and most bountiful manifestation. A politically minded road book with a generous heart, Running on Empty is a charming blend of Whitman’s maximalism, Kerouac’s enthusiasm and Least Heat-Moon’s earthy anthropology. He finds an original voice in observing what he sees as the great American problem of the 21st century: the daunting wealth gap.
Kirkus Reviews
This story pulled me impulsively along, like a friend in a classic car pulling alongside and shouting through the open window, “Come on, let’s go!”
Novelist William Van der Mei
Running on Empty is a once-in-a-lifetime journey chronicled into a wonderful read and so much more than a travel book – also a treatise in history, geography, psychology and sociology, with dashes of humor, politics and auto mechanics sprinkled throughout for added flavor. Michael's vivid insightful prose makes it a pleasure to be introduced to the fascinating, yet ordinary people along the back roads of rural America. He invites us to enjoy the experiences along the way, and at the end of a long day share a reflective and relaxing evening under the stars, Margarita in hand.
Prize-winning Canadian author Bryan Prince
"Pulled me impulsively along"
"A wonderful read"
"Beautifully written and a joy to read"
Running on Empty will take you away into the reality of America today: an enjoyable trip with a cautionary message. Michael engages the reader with clear signs of economic decline that he clearly supports with a bevy of unassailable statistics: America is becoming a land of Have Nots who are “running on empty”because of tax cuts and financial manipulation by the ultra-rich.
Prize-winning author Tom Calarco
A great introduction to the road book genre. With inclusive and culturally diverse perspective, Michael weaves income disparity with human interest stories about his encounters with Americans across the spectrum into graphic display of America’s economic inequalities. Without sounding preachy, he makes points succinctly as with, “If poverty, marginal or worse, is one’s lot in life, better lush riverside riparian forest than urban or suburban decay."
Publisher Wayne Young
"Distills exhilaration"