Two Frenchmen Hitchhiking
Across 1946 America
by Jacques Houdaille
translated from the French by Fannie Lillian Miles Bellamy
112 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, $11.95 Trade Paper ISBN 1-59663-534-7
Seaboard Press
 

Herein lies the fascinating story of two French students who hitchhiked from Boston to California, way back in 1946.

In the spring of 1962 the author met a student, Fannie Lillian Miles while teaching French at Howard University in Washington, DC. Their next encounter was forty years later, in October of 2003 in Paris. During the course of catching up on the previous decades, Jacques mentioned that he had a written record of what was probably "the most interesting period in my life"—hitchhiking from Boston to the California coast with fellow graduate student, Joseph, during the summer of 1946. Fannie immediately agreed to translate and thus, this tale was born. The book is illustrated with photos, both contemporary as well as those taken by the intrepid travelers. This is a delightful tale and an unmatched peek at immediately post-war America.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eminent demographer Jacques Houdaille was born in Paris, France in 1912. He attended the Sorbonne and received his Master’s from Boston University and a doctorate from Catholic University. He spent many years in the United States as a professor of French at Howard University and Georgetown University. He returned to France in 1969 and took a job with the Department of Demography. His body of work includes such titles as Les Parisiens de 1793 and La Population de la France — de Louis XIV La Restoration (1670–1829). More about his research and studies can be easily found on the World Wide Web. Monsieur Houdaille resides in Paris.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Fannie Lillian Miles Bellamy, a secondary school educator, was born in Drakes Branch, Virginia. She is a graduate of Bennett College and has done work at George Washington University, Howard University, and the Universities of Toulouse and Bordeaux. She retired from teaching French and English after one year in Dillon County, SC and twenty-nine years in Fairfax County, VA. She has been substitute teaching for the past fifteen years. Mrs. Bellamy is the author of Defaming Teddy and two children’s books, Fanning Island and Jacques, the Yorkshire Terrier. Her many trips to France and other parts of the world are highlighted in her autobiography, My Love Affair with the French. Mrs. Bellamy resides in Fairfax County with her husband Paul and her Yorkie, Jacques.