What began as a literal search for the small places on the map became a figurative examination of the small places of the heart, a quest for virtues lost amid negativity and disillusionment. From Triumph, Louisiana, a community twice ravaged by hurricanes, to Justice, West Virginia, where one-half the population descends from the Hatfields and the McCoys; from Harmony, California, a town that can be yours for the right price, to Faith, South Dakota, overrun by a hailstorm and a grasshopper plague, States of Mind brings into focus an American psyche blurred by intersecting cultures. A journey all its own, it also conjures the humor of Travels with Charley, the yearning of On the Road, and the eloquence of Blue Highways.