Includes bibliographical references and index

pt. 1: Rise of hobohemia, 1870-1920. "The great army of tramps": The making of America's tramp army ; Tasting of the "Fountain of Indolence" ; Origin myths of tramping -- The other side of the road: "The broken home circle" ; From patriarch to pariah ; "From the fraternity of haut beaus" -- "Hallelujah, I'm a bum!": The opening of the wageworkers' frontier ; The main stem ; "(White) man's country" ; Hobosexuality -- pt. 2. Hobohemia and homelessness in the early twentieth century. The politics of hobohemia: Organizing the main stem ; "The song of the jungles" -- "A civilization without homes": Reforming the main stem ; "The hotel spirit" ; The comic tramp -- pt. 3. Resettling the hobo army, 1920-1980. The decline and fall of hobohemia: The closing of the wageworker's frontier ; Contesting hobohemia -- Forgotten men: A New Deal for the American homeless ; Folklores of homelessness -- Coming home: The decline and fall of skid row ; Dharma bums and easy riders -- pt. 4. The enduring legacy : homelessness and American culture since 1980. Rediscovering homelessness: The new homeless ; Romancing the road, surviving the streets

In the years following the Civil War, a veritable army of homeless men swept across America's "wageworkers' frontier" and forged a beguiling and bedeviling counterculture known as "hobohemia." Jealously guarding the American road as the preserve of white manhood, hoboes swaggered onto center stage of the new urban culture. DePastino tells the epic story of hobohemia's rise and fall, drawing on sources ranging from diaries, letters, and police reports to movies and memoirs. He also, crucially, shows how the hobo army prompted the creation of an entirely new social order and political economy, influencing the creation of welfare state measures, the promotion of mass consumption, and the suburbanization of America. This sweeping retelling of American nationhood in light of enduring struggles over "home" does more than chart the change from "homelessness" to "houselessness," it offers a new context for thinking about Americans' struggles against inequality and alienation.--From publisher description

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