When Plennie Wingo lost his restaurant in the Great Depression, he had trouble making ends meet. One night, he overheard his daughter and her friends lament the fact that "everything under the sun had been done and how there were no more stunts to pull," and his mind went to work: William Williams pushed a peanut all the way to the top of Pikes Peak with his nose; Benny Fox sat atop a flagpole for 100 hours, breaking records and earning fame…if these people could do the amazing, the bizarre, the impossible, maybe he could perform his own feat—and make some money in the process. And so Wingo set off on a backward tour of the world, departing Abilene, Texas, and making his way across the United States in reverse. This remarkably absorbing true tale features photographs, newspaper columns, and quotes from Wingo's own writings, and is a fascinating snapshot of a dark period in American history told from a perspective of wonder and optimism.