[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-115585-en":3,"doc-seo-115585-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},115585,137451207643,"Noah","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2",1,"Story & Novel","Monster of a Land - On the Road in Search of Modern America","Travel nonfiction tracking automobile journeys across the United States in search of modern American life. The book frames the country through encounters, observations, and social conditions of the 21st century, using map-based and chaptered segments to structure the road narrative. First hardcover edition published by Pantheon Books, with changed identifying details and a portion previously appearing in Texas Highways magazine.","ALSO BY LAUREN HOUGH Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nFIRST EDITION PUBLISHED BY PANTHEON BOOKS 2026  \nCopyright © 2026 by Good Dog Harper LLC  \nPenguin Random House values and supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thankyou for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader. Please note that no part of this book maybe used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence  \ntechnologies or systems.  \nPublished by Pantheon Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.  \nPantheon Books and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random  \nHouse LLC.  \nThis is a work of nonfiction. Some names and identifying details have been changed.  \nA portion of this work was originally published, in different form, in Texas Highways  \nmagazine.  \nMap by James Brown Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hough, Lauren, 1977– author.  \nTitle: Monster of a land : on the road in search of modern America / Lauren Hough. Description: First hardcover edition. | New York : Pantheon Books, 2026. Identifiers: LCCN 2025041929 (print) | LCCN 2025041930 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593686621 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593686638 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Hough, Lauren, 1977—Travel—United States. | United States—Description and travel. | Automobile travel—United States. | United States—Social conditions—21st century. | LCGFT: Travel writing.  \nClassification: LCC E169.Z83 H68 2026 (print) | LCC E169.Z83 (ebook) | DDC  \n917.304—dc23/eng/20260223 LC record available at [https://lccn.loc.gov/2025041929](https://lccn.loc.gov/2025041929)  \nLC ebook record available at [https://lccn.loc.gov/2025041930](https://lccn.loc.gov/2025041930)[ ](https://lccn.loc.gov/2025041930)Ebook ISBN 9780593686638 [penguinrandomhouse.com](penguinrandomhouse.com | pantheonbooks.com)[ | ](penguinrandomhouse.com | pantheonbooks.com)[pantheonbooks.com](penguinrandomhouse.com | pantheonbooks.com)[ ](penguinrandomhouse.com | pantheonbooks.com)Cover images: (dog) courtesy of the author; (sunglasses) atakan/Getty Images;(landscape) Cavan Images/Getty Images  \nCover design by Tyler Comrie  \nThe authorized representative in the EU for product safety and compliance is Penguin Random House Ireland, Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin D02 YH68, Ireland, [https://eu-contact.penguin.ie](https://eu-contact.penguin.ie).  \nep_prh_ 7.3a_ 156354930_c0_r0  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nContents  \nDedication  \nEpigraph  \nMap  \nChapter 1  \nChapter 2  \nChapter 3  \nChapter 4  \nChapter 5  \nChapter 6  \nChapter 7  \nChapter 8  \nChapter 9  \nChapter 10  \nChapter 11  \nChapter 12  \nChapter 13  \nChapter 14  \nChapter 15  \nChapter 16  \nChapter 17  \nChapter 18  \nChapter 19  \nChapter 20  \nChapter 21  \nChapter 22  \nChapter 23  \nChapter 24  \nChapter 25  \nChapter 26  \nChapter 27  \nChapter 28  \nChapter 29  \nChapter 30  \nChapter 31  \nChapter 32  \nChapter 33  \nChapter 34  \nChapter 35  \nAn Epitaph  \nAcknowledgments  \nA Note about the Author  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nThis one’s for my dad, who taught me how to read and how to fish and how to pet a dog and a lot more than that, I’m sure. But I think he’ll agree—those are the important things.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nThis monster of a land, this mightiest of nations, this spawn of the future, turns out to be the macrocosm of microcosm me.  \n—JOHN STEINBECK  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)","cbCaidO7dsdxlYwG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidO7dsdxlYwG","pdf",4549064,5,318,"English","en",105,"# Dedication\n# Epigraph\n# Map\n# Chapter 1\n# Chapter 2\n# Chapter 3\n# Chapter 4\n# Chapter 5\n# Chapter 6\n# Chapter 7\n# Chapter 8\n# Chapter 9\n# Chapter 10\n# Chapter 11\n# Chapter 12\n# Chapter 13\n# Chapter 14\n# Chapter 15\n# Chapter 16\n# Chapter 17\n# Chapter 18\n# Chapter 19\n# Chapter 20\n# Chapter 21\n# Chapter 22\n# Chapter 23\n# Chapter 24\n# Chapter 25\n# Chapter 26\n# Chapter 27\n# Chapter 28\n# Chapter 29\n# Chapter 30\n# Chapter 31\n# Chapter 32\n# Chapter 33\n# Chapter 34\n# Chapter 35\n# An Epitaph\n# Acknowledgments\n# A Note about the Author","[{\"question\":\"What is the subject of Monster of a Land?\",\"answer\":\"It is a nonfiction travel journey across the United States, seeking to understand modern America through on-the-road observations and encounters.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the book structured?\",\"answer\":\"The narrative is organized into an epigraph, a map, and multiple chapters (Chapter 1 through Chapter 35), followed by an epitaph, acknowledgments, and a note about the author.\"},{\"question\":\"Is any part of the work previously published?\",\"answer\":\"A portion of the work was originally published in a different form in Texas Highways magazine, and some names and identifying details were changed.\"}]","Monster of a Land - 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