Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century

Bruder is the author of Nomadland, and an occasional first-person narrator. She is an award-winning journalist specializing in reporting on the economy, labor, and sub-cultures, as well as a professor of journalism at Columbia University.

Over the course of three years, she travels from her home in Brooklyn, New York to follow her reporting subjects, particularly Linda May, with whom she cultivates an intimate friendship. In order to better understand the plight of the nomads she is writing about, she buys and renovates a van, visits Quartzsite and RTR, and even takes on the same seasonal work her subjects work.

Her perspective as someone who is entering an unknown and oft-overlooked community with a very different lifestyle is a helpful stand-in for the reader. In addition, her perspective adds levity to what can be an otherwise dark and somber text, especially as she stumbles through equipping her van and working at an Amazon FC.

Ghost Dancer is an alias for a nomad who started a prominent online Yahoo community for van dwellers. They are celebrated as a pillar of the community, similar to Bob Wells.

Silvianne is a woman in her sixties who befriends Linda while they are both CamperForce employees. She is a quirky, cheerful, eclectic person who has held many jobs over her lifetime, including as a tarot card reader. Bruder checks in with her several times over the course of the book. Her life as a nomad is one she plans to follow until the very end, as she jokes with Bruder that she plans to drive herself off a cliff rather than grow old and find a place to permanently settle down.

Patti is a CamperForce employee that Linda and Bruder meet in an RV park. Her death from cancer prompts Bruder to want to learn more about aging, illness, and dying within the van dwelling community. One of Patti’s friends posts a heartbreaking goodbye on her social media after her death, telling Patti that she is finally free of debt.

LaVonne is a friend of Linda’s, also in her sixties, whose career in broadcast and radio journalism stalled when she was still in her fifties. She is suspicious of Bruder’s intentions when she first meets her, convinced that she will portray the van dwelling community as a bunch of worthless vagabonds but eventually begins to trust her. LaVonne is a member of Linda’s “vanily,” and helps to support her during family and health crises. She also offers to help Linda build her Earthship and greenhouse.

A young millennial couple Linda befriends while working at CamperForce, Jen and Ash both struggle financially and are saddled with student load debt despite never having finished their bachelor’s degrees. Disillusioned by friends and coworkers they meet who have earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees but can’t find jobs, they decide to try van dwelling instead, opting to work seasonal jobs in lieu of pursuing formal careers.

Iris is a CamperForce employee that Bruder meets through Linda. Iris lives in her van alongside her pet birds. Linda runs into her more than once over the course of her reporting. She tells Bruder that when she dies, she merely wants to be left in the desert with rocks over her body.

Lehrer is a prominent blogger within the van dwelling community. Similar to Bob Wells and Ghost Dancer, he helped to popularize the lifestyle and shares tips, tricks, and knowledge with new nomads.

Linda May the central subject of Nomadland, and the book follows her story as she lives as a nomad workamper in her van named “The Squeeze Inn.” She is an upbeat person, with a near-relentless positive attitude and a willingness to work hard.

She is a single woman in her sixties who has worked a variety of jobs over the years but always finds herself struggling financially despite her experience and tough work ethic. Her family members are also struggling financially and cannot support her. Bruder follows her over three years as she works as a campground host, CamperForce workamper, and other low-paying jobs.

Linda, a former addict who is now sober, dreams of building an Earthship to live in as she ages and potentially leave it to her relatives. By the end of the book, Linda has achieved her dream of buying land, while also having forged her own “vanily” of friends and nomad community members who love and support her.

Vincent is a trans male van dweller in his late twenties who is learning the ropes from Swankie Wheels. Bruder sees him as a protege of Swankie’s, and like Bruder herself, relatively new to the van dwelling community. His desire is to live independently without having to rely on family.

Kat and Mike are a couple in their late forties who live in a van with their son Alex and a pet ferret. They are the only couple with a young child that Bruder profiles. They camp alongside Swankie Wheels and Vincent Mosemann. Bruder gets to know them, learning how they try to homeschool and teach their son while living on the road. Bruder later attends Alex’s birthday party alongside the other members of their “vanily.”

Wells is the founder and writer of the prominent van dwelling blog, CheapRVLiving.com. His writing is considered gospel by Linda and other nomads. The blog is based off of his own experiences living in, and renovating, a van after going through a divorce. His teaching provides both practical tutorials and a philosophical perspective which encourages readers to forego materialism and traditional housing in order to save money and free themselves from being on the grid. He has grown into a reluctant leader within the van dwelling movement, organizing both the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous and the educational events surrounding the event.

A CamperForce employee Bruder meets who lost his house in the midst of a divorce as well as his life savings during the Great Recession. Bruder learns the term “workamper” from him. He eventually moves up the ladder at the Amazon warehouse and begins to find some financial stability. Because of his full-time employment at Amazon, which prohibits employees from speaking with the media, he requests that Bruder refer to him using a pseudonym.