The Lost Continent cover art

The Lost Continent

Travels In Small Town America

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Lost Continent

By: Bill Bryson
Narrated by: William Roberts
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

 Hardly anyone ever leaves Des Moines, Iowa. But Bill Bryson did, and after 10 years in England he decided to go home, to a foreign country. In an ageing Chevrolet Chevette, he drove nearly 14,000 miles through 38 states to compile this hilarious and perceptive state-of-the-nation report on small-town America. From the Deep South to the Wild West, from Elvis' birthplace through to Custer's Last Stand, Bryson visits places he renamed Dullard, Coma, and Doldrum (so the residents don't sue or come after him with baseball bats). But his hopes of finding the American dream end in a nightmare of greed, ignorance, and pollution. This is a wickedly witty and savagely funny assessment of a country lost to itself, and to him.

©1989 Bill Bryson (P)2014 Audible, Inc. North America Travel Writing & Commentary United States Funny Witty Old West Wild West

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Neither Here nor There cover art
Made in America cover art
The Bill Bryson BBC Radio Collection cover art
Icons of England cover art
Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days cover art
How an Average Man Lived an Adventurous Life cover art
A Lap Around America cover art
Dear Bill Bryson cover art
Slaughterhouse-Five cover art
Billy Connolly's Route 66 cover art
The Old Patagonian Express cover art
Assassination Vacation cover art
Blue Highways cover art
Gulliver's Travels: A Signature Performance by David Hyde Pierce cover art
War and Peace cover art
The Sun Also Rises cover art
All stars
Most relevant
I won't be the first person to tell you that Bryson is smart, funny, and has absorbed British sarcasm by osmosis so seamlessly that it almost trumps us when narrated in the velvety American accent of the actor on this audiobook. Small town America is pulled apart, examined forensically by each of its cast of stock characters and institutions, and then put back together with a new-found affection by both you and the author. This book is like dismantling an old Chevy, finding that it still works, restoring it and then driving it around proudly. You'll feel both the European distaste for anything nouveau that Bryson has adopted, and the universal pull towards Americana. Brilliant.

The road trip you're dying to take

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I was excited about this as I'd enjoyed other books by Bill Bryson until I realised these books are very similar so I gave up before the end but it only cost me £1.99p so I wasn't too disappointed

I think I've listened to enough Bill Bryson

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Once again, Bill Bryson's words and William Roberts' narration take this audio book into my personal top ten. Bill's travels across America are told in his usual observant and witty style. Full of interesting facts, anecdotes and laugh-out-loud moments.

Would definitely recommend it.

Excellent combination of author and narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A great book that I would never have read but having to read to me made it very entertaining indeed!

Funny dry humour

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Bryson and Roberts are the perfect combination! This travel diary is incredibly funny, witty, and honest, as it lightheartedly highlights the upsides and downsides of American small town life. I loved every minute of it. Highly recommended!!

Another classic from Bryson!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews