He looked out past the barren landscape and was sure that just beyond the mountains
in the distance he would find what had been lost. He believed many things that weren't true.

Tom Ryder is a writer and a reluctant film star, and, he is dying.

In 1951, Tom won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Highway Cross. Despite his claims that it was just a story, many believed it to be an autobiographical account of something tragically lost in youth. Together with his dog Josie, Tom travels down deserted Western highways and stops beside makeshift memorials that have been left by the dead's loved ones and friends. For years, he has kept a notebook with the names of the dead, some of their stories and what song was playing on his truck's radio when he found them.

Tom Ryder wanders open highways in search of something he's sure is just beyond those mountains in the distance.

Michael Katakis has authored a number of books including A Thousand Shards of Glass: There is Another America, Traveller: Observations from an American in Exile, and Dangerous Men . His work has been translated into multiple languages and his writing and photography have been collected by a wide range of institutions including, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C., the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Library in London and Stanford University's Special Collections Department. In 1999, Michael was elected 'Fellow' of the Royal Geographical Society and in 2001 his, and Dr. Kris Hardin's exhibition, A Time and Place Before War, opened at the Geographical Society in London. The British Library acquired Michael's photographic work for their collection in 2008. The Library is now the repository for his entire work. He lives in France and England with his wife, Melissa Sullivan.

"Road Songs is a new American classic and a literary jewel." — Sabrina Gabriele, Published Italian author