" Just Go Down to the Road takes us along on the many twists and turns of Campbell's journey from teenage rebel to the heights of British intellectual and literary life. The book is bursting with vignettes and adventures en route , including a generous selection of black-and-white snapshots."-- The American Scholar "Above all, this is a memoir not so much of trouble - though Campbell acknowledges that but for the grace of literature, trouble might have been his lot - as of opportunity. Campbell joins a line of modern Scots, running from Robert Louis Stevenson to the anarchist vagabond Stuart Christie, who have just gone down to the road and taken it from there."-- Times Literary Supplement "A spirited tale of an unconventional road to adulthood, livelihood, and the world of literature." Booklist "The writing throughout is excellent and measured."-- August Kleinzahler , author of Sleeping It Off in Rapid City " Just Go Down to the Road sings with color and character . Literary to its core yet without a note of pretension, this is the captivating account of the writer as a thrawn young man.
" The Literary Review "This memoir is one of a youth that remains vividly alive in memory, and now comes alive again on the page. It is very Scottish, revealing and yet also restrained in its selection of moments in a life - a memoir which is also a work of art. I hope there will be a sequel."-- The Scotsman "An engrossing account of a young man discovering what he wants to do with his life."-- Michael Dirda, Washington Post "This deftly written memoir . is the story of a writer finding his own voice." The Wall Street Journal "An enthralling and compulsively readable memoir: James Campbell is a marvelously charming teller of his improbable progress from high school dropout to literary critic and intellectual. There is no resisting the humor and modesty, the humanity and tenderness of his vivid account.
"-- Phillip Lopate, author of To Show and to Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction "Just Go Down to the Road brings an exciting time in world and literary history to life. It's a remarkable travel account that began with the simple suggestion: 'Just go down to the road, Jim. You'll get a lift .'" Foreword Reviews PRAISE FOR JAMES CAMPBELL'S OTHER BOOKS: "A life-sized portrait in very broad strokes . A lively book that is immensely readable, serious, careful, and informed." Boston Globe on Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin "A marvelously illuminating literary biography . [and] an affectionate yet critical portrait." Publishers Weekly on Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin "[A] brilliantly sympathetic and compelling analysis of the Beat phenomenon.
" The Guardian on This Is the Beat Generation "Campbell is simply one of the rare critics on whom, to cite Henry James, 'nothing is lost.'" Marjorie Perloff on Syncopations "A witty and insightful look at a fascinating, romantic land by a native son." Library Journal on Invisible Country.