In his first frankly autobiographical work, Jack Kerouac tells the exhilarating story of the years when he was writing the books that captivated and infuriated the public, restless years wandering during which he worked as a railway brakeman in California, a steward on a tramp steamer, and a fire lookout on the crest of Desolation Peak in the Cascade Mountains. Resembling his novels in its exuberant style and "jazzy impressionistic prose" (The New Yorker), Lonesome Traveler gives us "Kerouac's nerve ends vs. the universe, with flashes of poetry, truth, and daffiness' (The New York Times Book Review).