'An encyclopaedic tour of a now largely forgotten archive of hobo literature in the US … Clayton succeeds in his extraordinary effort to recover the stories of those obscured by popular hobo narratives.' Times Literary Supplement
Part I. Context: Introduction: hobohemia and the literary imperative; 1. From tramp to hobo: the representation of postbellum US transiency; Part II. The Vagabond and the Tramp: 2. In search of experience: vagabond travel narratives; 3. Vulnerable youth and hobosexuality in the work of Jack London and A-No.1; 4. 'That's why the lady is a tramp': the hidden story of female transiency; Part III. The Hobo Transformed: 5. Between hobohemia and academia: Nels Anderson's double voice; 6. 'The laureate of the logging camps': language, food and revolution in the work of T-Bone Slim; 7. 'I'm a hobo myself sometimes': African-American transiency in Black vernacular music; Conclusion: The end of the road? Transiency beyond the hobo.