Reviews
"This is a wonderful book."
Between Frederick Buechner's profound autobiography Sacred Journey and Russell Baker's warm and humorous Growing Up, Matt Matthews' One Thousand Miles charts a compelling journey all its own through the past and the present. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, this engaging tale of a son's pilgrimage into the heart of his father's story is a treat for believers and non-believers, for anyone fascinated with WWII and the generation that endured it, with the metes and bounds of family and memory, with history; in short, for everyone. This is a wonderful book. Janet Peery, The River Beyond the World, a National Book Award Finalist.
" . . . a must read."
Matt taps into my own longing to understand and connect with my three-time war veteran father and my own need to make sense of that war's legacy . . . This is a "must read" for all children and grandchildren of these Silent Generation war heroes--and for families of every man and woman coming home from a modern day war zone. Mark W. Lenneville, Chaplain (LTC), US Army, (ret.)
"Written with insight, humor, and grace."
One Thousand Miles is a window through which all fathers and sons, and all who have ever had a father or a son, can see each other (and maybe themselves) anew. Barrie Miller Kirby, No Such Thing As A Cherokee Princess.
"[S]mart, funny, keenly observed . . . "
There's no epiphany here, but by following his father's footsteps during the war, Matthews comes to understand his father and his family in new ways, and we feel enlightened by having been along for the ride. Deno Trakis, Because Memory Isn't Eternal and Messenger from Mystery.
"[An] extraordinary story of an ordinary American family . . . "
For those of us who did not live through the Second World War, One Thousand Miles is a gentle but insistent transport. For those who did, it will be a welcome reminder of some of the most important meanings of the overused word "honor." Don Belanus, captain, Chaplain Corps, US Navy (ret.)
" . . . as profoundly engaging as it is beautifully crafted."
Matt Matthews writes with compassion, humor, and the wisdom to let moving events speak for themselves. The result is a richly layered narrative of love between a son and his father. For both Matthews and the reader, it ultimately becomes a meditation on what to release and what to keep forever close as we move into a future that honors the love we feel for another. Steve Doughty, The Man with Six Typewriters and The Way of Discernment.