Lake of the Ozarks: My Surreal Summers in a Vanishing America

by Bill Geist

Overview

Beloved TV host Bill Geist pens a reflective memoir of his incredible summers spent in the heart of America in this New York Times bestseller.


Before there was "tourism" and souvenir ashtrays became "kitsch," the Lake of the Ozarks was a Shangri-La for middle-class Midwestern families on vacation, complete with man-made beaches, Hillbilly Mini Golf, and feathered rubber tomahawks. It was there that author Bill Geist spent summers in the Sixties during his school and college years working at Arrowhead Lodge — a small resort owned by his bombastic uncle — in all areas of the operation, from cesspool attendant to bellhop.


What may have seemed just a summer job became, upon reflection, a transformative era where a cast of eccentric, small-town characters and experiences shaped (some might suggest "slightly twisted") Bill into the man he is today. He realized it was this time in his life that had a direct influence on his sensibilities, his humor, his writing, and ultimately a career searching the world for other such untamed creatures for the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, and CBS News.


In Lake of the Ozarks, Emmy Award-winning CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Bill Geist reflects on his coming of age in the American Heartland and traces his evolution as a man and a writer. He shares laugh-out-loud anecdotes and tongue-in-cheek observations guaranteed to evoke a strong sense of nostalgia for "the good ol' days." Written with Geistian wit and warmth, Lake of the Ozarks takes readers back to a bygone era, and demonstrates how you can find inspiration in the most unexpected places.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538729823
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	07/14/2020
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	1,061,059
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Bill Geist is the New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including City Slickers, Little League Confidential, The Big Five-Oh, Fore! Play!, and Way Off the Road. Geist has won numerous Emmys and in 2011 was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the hundreds of "singular, informative, entertaining" pieces he has done since joining CBS in 1987. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service as a combat photographer in Vietnam in 1969. In 2018 he retired from CBS having battled Parkinson's disease for twenty-five years. Geist lives in Riverside, Connecticut, with his wife, Jody. They have two children, Willie and Libby, and four grandchildren.

Editorial Reviews

…Bill Geist has traveled the same cornball, goofy and sometimes unimaginably wistful back roads of America as long as I have…Writers are often not generous, especially to people who cover the same turf, but I'm stepping aside, flourishing my hat in a princely bow and declaring Bill Geist the reigning Zeit-Geist of the baby boomer generation. In his charming new book, he has perfectly captured what middle-class life was like in the midcentury American Midwest…This is a memoir that could have slithered off the road with colorful characters flattened to "Hee Haw" hillbilly stereotypes. Geist avoids that, while also nimbly sidestepping the kind of groan-inducing lecture given to teenagers by people his age…If you're looking for a book with crazy plot twists and a supersonic narrative arc, this one may not be for you. It's a slow meditation on a time gone by. Like a photograph whose Kodachrome has started to turn sepia, it may not be modern or high-tech but it's a meaningful and accurate rendering of times past.

The New York Times Book Review - Jane Stern

PRAISE FOR LAKE OF THE OZARKS:

"Readers of Geist's vintage will enjoy sauntering through his formative summers and perhaps recall some of their own on the way."——Booklist

"A tenderhearted remembrance...Geist's entertaining account of life in a resort town in the 1960s will certainly resonate with folks of his generation, and will offer younger readers a glimpse into a bygone era."——Publishers Weekly

"Geist's writing is consistently nostalgic as he shows how those carefree summers helped mold him into the man he became. The book is a quick, pleasant read that effectively reflects how his time at the lodge showed him that 'life is more difficult and rewarding and fun when you manage to do things your way.' Old-fashioned, wistful stories that will appeal to fans of Geist's previous books."——Kirkus

"It is a sure sign that a book is worthwhile if you can sense the author is having fun writing it. [Geist] just sits down to chat a while. More books should celebrate unbridled nostalgia like this one does."



——The Florida Times Union

"Funny, poignant, and memorable, Bill Geist's memoir of his summers in the distant Ozarks — distant in space and now in time — is an entertaining and illuminating journey into the past of a fascinating man and an always-intriguing country. It's too bad we can't all get a rubber tomahawk and a Lake of the Ozarks ashtray with each purchase of the book, but life's taught us that you can't have everything."——Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Soul of America

"Lake of the Ozarks is the hilarious account by Bill Geist of his bizarre coming-of-age in a 'different' place and time. The lunacy is infectious. Prepare to laugh, a lot."——Jane Pauley, host, CBS Sunday Morning

"This book is not affiliated in any way with the show Ozark, streaming now on Netflix...except for the parts you might like. Those we'll take credit for."——Jason Bateman, Ozark

"Geist has written an amusing, charming tribute . . . an accomplished storyteller has filled this book with vignettes that make this time in American culture come back to life."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"In his charming new book, [Geist] has perfectly captured what middle-class life was like in the midcentury American Midwest . . . a meaningful and accurate rendering of times past."—New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

This laugh-out-loud audiobook is Bill Geist’s recollection of his 1960s summers at his Uncle Ed’s hotel, Arrowhead Lodge, in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Geist introduces his memoir with his Midwestern twang; then narrator Allan Robertson transforms Geist’s words into one of the funniest performances ever. He effectively delivers the pregnant pauses in the description of cesspool cleaning in mud boots and will evoke helpless laughter from listeners with his descriptions of the waitstaff—and Geist himself—cooking evening meals for lodge customers when the hungover chef was indisposed. Robertson’s timing and rhythm are superb. The production is so rich in detail and hidden gems that listeners may want to hear this again and again. It’s a showstopper. E.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2019 - AudioFile

This laugh-out-loud audiobook is Bill Geist’s recollection of his 1960s summers at his Uncle Ed’s hotel, Arrowhead Lodge, in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Geist introduces his memoir with his Midwestern twang; then narrator Allan Robertson transforms Geist’s words into one of the funniest performances ever. He effectively delivers the pregnant pauses in the description of cesspool cleaning in mud boots and will evoke helpless laughter from listeners with his descriptions of the waitstaff—and Geist himself—cooking evening meals for lodge customers when the hungover chef was indisposed. Robertson’s timing and rhythm are superb. The production is so rich in detail and hidden gems that listeners may want to hear this again and again. It’s a showstopper. E.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2019 - AudioFile

2019-02-14

The Emmy Award-winning correspondent of CBS Sunday Morning reminisces about the wonderful days of his youth.

During the 1960s, Geist (Way off the Road: Discovering the Peculiar Charms of Small Town America, 2007, etc.) spent his summers working at a resort—the Arrowhead Lodge—owned by his aunt and uncle. In the middle of nowhere, down a winding road, the lodge provided the author with a place to work and make friends, drink beer, and meet girls. In this memoir, Geist takes readers back to those bygone days, sharing his escapades of what life was like for a young man with few experiences under his belt. The author often uses folksy humor to contrast those times with today. "A gas station attendant was a guy who filled your gas tank, checked your oil, coolant and battery fluids, and tire pressure," he writes. "But those old gas stations did not sell hats and T-shirts, sixty-two different candy bars, fifty-seven kinds of refrigerated beverages, including twenty brands of bottle water. There were no ‘brands' of water, only God's. It was free. I know. Sounds crazy." Threaded throughout this lightweight narrative are amusing, harmless memories of working in the kitchen during rush hour, cleaning out the open-air septic system, and fraternizing with the girls who moved in and out of Geist's orbit. His portrayals of his fellow co-workers and his family are well-rounded, showing the good and bad in each individual. Geist's writing is consistently nostalgic as he shows how those carefree summers helped mold him into the man he became. The book is a quick, pleasant read that effectively reflects how his time at the lodge showed him that "life is more difficult and rewarding and fun when you manage to do things your way."

Old-fashioned, wistful stories that will appeal to fans of Geist's previous books.

Kirkus Reviews