A ROLLICKING STORY ABOUT LIFE ALONG THE CONTROVERSIAL KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE, BY THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF and "CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC and "In this lively story, evocative of bestselling road-trip classics such as William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways" and Bill Bryson's "The Lost Continent," Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tony Horwitz takes an epic journey along one of the most hotly debated stretches of land in North the route of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. Armed with maps and cheerful curiosity, he travels from the oil-drunk boomtown of Fort McMurray, Alberta (a.k.a. Fort McMoney), down through the plains and prairie of the United States, where mountains of pipe lie in wait for the torrent of crude that could soon flow if the White House approves the controversial plan to turn on the spigots that will deliver oil from Canada directly to the Gulf of Mexico.Along the way, Horwitz meets a cavalcade of characters, including ranchers who either love or loathe the idea of oil flowing beneath their land, "rig pigs" and "cement heads" who are eager to make a buck in the tar sands, and strippers and other local entrepreneurs who are ready to help them spend it. He drives miles of lonesome road in his quest to understand what this pipeline means to everyone involved - from Native Americans to environmentalists to industry bureaucrats. He sees firsthand not only how an oil spill can devastate acres of rich farmland, but how opportunity in the oil patch can enrich lives and towns. Over homemade farm dinners and countless tavern beers, Horwitz realizes that the questions surrounding the XL debate go beyond pat declarations about independence from foreign oil or the damage wrought by one pipeline. They go to the heart of an energy revolution that is transforming North America, with enormous consequences for its economy, environment, and foreign policy.ABOUT THE AUTHORTony Horwitz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who spent a decade as a foreign correspondent, mainly covering wars and conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe for the "Wall Street Journal." His books include the bestsellers "Confederates in the Attic," "Blue Latitudes," "Baghdad Without a Map," and "A Voyage Long and Strange." His most recent, "Midnight Rising," was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2011 and one of the year's ten best books by Library Journal and won the 2012 William Henry Seward Award for excellence in Civil War biography. Horwitz has also written for "The New Yorker" and "Smithsonian" and has been a fellow at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute. He lives with his wife, Geraldine Brooks, and their sons, Nathaniel and Bizu, on Martha's Vineyard.PRAISE FOR TONY HORWITZ"Horwitz wears himself lightly, and is extraordinarily good at drawing out strangers. Cheerfully energetic, he goes where a less intrepid reporter would not." - Roy Blount, Jr., The New York Times"Like travel writer Bill Bryson, Horwitz has a penchant for meeting colorful characters and getting himself into bizarre situations." - The Christian Science Monitor"Horwitz has an ear for a good yarn and an instinct for the trail leading to an entertaining anecdote." - The Washington Post"A trip with Horwitz is as good as it gets." - The Charlotte Observer