The Man Who Walked Backward

July 16, 2018
The Great Depression’s rampant unemployment sparked countless record-breaking attempts; Amelia Earhart’s famed transatlantic flight, for example, but also desperate novelty acts that captured the public’s attention. Montgomery’s cheerful narrative focuses on the latter, specifically one perpetrated by the ever-optimistic Plennie Wingo, who, having lost his businesses after being busted for selling alcohol during Prohibition, set out in 1931 to walk backward around the world, hoping that he could cash in by shilling for businesses along his way. Wingo’s adventures through the Dust Bowl–ravaged South, Bulgarian archaeological sites, and even 1931 Berlin, which was obsessed with new politician Adolf Hitler, see him stroll backward through many of the era’s historically significant events. The small-town Texan had a knack for marketing, but it is his genuine interest in people—regardless of race, color, or religion—that shines through: he befriends a black family in Pennsylvania and serendipitously enjoys tea with Queen Maria of Yugoslavia. Montgomery corroborates Wingo’s own written account with multiple news stories from places along the 8,000-mile route, making it all the more striking when discrepancies suddenly arise between Wingo’s account of his Turkish adventure, which resulted in a mysterious source of money, and that of the U.S. government, which investigated him over the money. After a year and a half, he returned home claiming success. Writing for casual readers, Montgomery keeps the focus on the human interest narrative, resulting in a light, enjoyable, telling of Wingo’s walk backward into the record books.