The most enduring version of the hobo that has come down from the
so-called 'Golden Age of Tramping' (1890s to 1940s) is an American
cultural icon, signifying freedom from restraint and rebellion to the
established order while reinforcing conservative messages about American
exceptionalism, individualism, race, and gender. Vagabonds, Tramps, and
Hobos shows that this 'pioneer hobo' image is a misrepresentation by
looking at works created by transient artists and thinkers, including
travel literature, fiction, memoir, early feminist writing, poetry,
sociology, political journalism, satire, and music. This book explores
the diversity of meanings that accrue around 'the hobo' and 'the tramp'.
It is the first analysis to frame transiency within a nineteenth-century
literary tradition of the vagabond, a figure who attempts to travel
without money. This book provide new ways for scholars to think about
the activity and representation of US transiency.