Author Francis Barry talks about traveling across the U.S. on the Lincoln Highway during a presentation Monday at the Amos Memorial Public Library. The Sidney Daily News sponsored the talk.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
SIDNEY — A Bloomberg columnist who wrote a book about his travels along the Lincoln Highway during the 2020 presidential election made a stop in Sidney on Monday evening to discuss his work.
Frank Barry talked about his new book “Back Roads and Better Angels,” at Amos Library. The book is the story of Barry and his wife, Laurel, traveling the first transcontinental highway during the pandemic, in an RV.
The goal of this trip was to use Abraham Lincoln as a guide across the nation as he sought out the answer to “What binds this country together?”
The trip began on 9/11 in Manhattan, at the start of the Lincoln Highway, and the trip ended on Election Day in San Francisco. Making stops to speak to politicians, public servants, citizens and anyone he could speak to in small towns along the way, Barry wanted to get the full range of opinions and feelings of the American people during a divisive time in the country.
One of subjects featured in the book was Shelby County resident Chris Gibbs. Barry was struck by the sentiments shared by Gibbs on his experience of announcing a political party shift from Republican to Independent, and eventually to Democrat. Gibbs recounted the reaction from lifelong friends who turned their back on Gibbs because of this decision. A picture of “politics over relationship” that has caused such a divide in this country.
This was not a singular experience; Barry would come to find out.
Writing about the conversations he had on this journey, Barry works to show that citizens of this country have more that link them than divide them.
On invitation from Gibbs and the Sidney Daily News, Barry made a stop in Sidney on second trip across the Lincoln Highway, following the same path he took four years ago.
Barry spoke about a few standout moments from his book and tied them to the main ideas of “Back Roads and Better Angels.”
After his presentation, the floor was opened to the attendees to ask questions.
Bryant Billing, the editor of the Sidney Daily News, asked the first question.
“How much do you think social media has played in the divisiveness of American politics?” Billing asked.
“A lot, a lot… You’re divorcing yourself from any human connection with the person and just shouting at each other, shouting at each other where it’s easy to walk away and it’s important to put ourselves in spots where it’s hard to walk away because of the relationships,” Barry said.
Another attendee asked about an interaction that might have stuck out more than others.
“…I met up with an old friend who’s a Capitol police officer, and I met him on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and he’s a conservative Republican,” Barry said. “He was on duty on Jan. 6, and described what his day was like, and hearing that story and I’ve watched all the coverage. It’s not like I didn’t know what the story was, but hearing a first-person account of that was really crazy. So, I tried to do justice to that in the book, mostly by letting him tell the story.”
Gibbs asked about Barry’s experience being the speech writer for Mayor Mike Bloomberg during his presidential campaign.
“I worked at City Hall for many years under Mayor Bloomberg, and then when he ran for president, I was working on his campaign as a speechwriter. It was a very short campaign because he got in very late.” Barry said.
“It didn’t go our way, but I still work for Bloomberg, and I’ve told him that his spirit of attempting to bring people together, which is what I thought was so important about that campaign, even though we didn’t win, is part of the spirit of this book.” Barry said.
His final statement of his presentation encapsulated the sentiment of his intentions through this book.
“You’re having to think about things a little bit differently. Does that happen overnight? No, but this is change takes place. It takes place through those relationships and those conversations.”
Barry’s next stop is his alma mater, Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, as he continues to travel the Lincoln Highway.
Reach Sidney Daily News reporter Anna Edmiston at 937-538-4825.
