"Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve" is a richly researched travel narrative and historical exploration of early Christianity, focusing on the lives, legends, and tombs of the Twelve Apostles. Tom Bissell embarks on a multi-year pilgrimage from Jerusalem to Rome, Turkey, Greece, Spain, France, India, and Kyrgyzstan, visiting sites traditionally associated with the apostles. He combines travel writing, biblical history, and cultural observation with personal reflection, engaging with local pilgrims, scholars, and practitioners. The result is an illuminating, often humorous, and deeply human examination of how the apostles have been remembered and reinterpreted across two millennia, and how their stories reflect the diverse evolution of Christianity worldwide. The book begins with Bissell's motivation to understand the apostles both historically and personally, then proceeds chapter by chapter through the traditional resting places of figures such as Peter, Matthew, Thomas, John, and others. Each section blends on-site reporting of landscapes, relics, and communities with historical context on early Christian schisms, doctrinal developments, and textual traditions of the New Testament. Along the way, Bissell?s narrative touches on pilgrimage culture, archaeological debates, theological interpretation, and the lived experience of contemporary believers and skeptics. This synthesis of genres - travelogue, history, anthropology, and memoir - creates a multifaceted view of the enduring significance of the apostles in global Christianity. Tom Bissell (born 1974) is an American author and essayist known for his works of literary nonfiction that blend travel, history, and cultural critique. He has published several books exploring themes of religion, identity, and human experience, including The Disaster Artist and Magic Hours. Bissell's writing is marked by its narrative depth, rigorous research, and engagement with both personal and historical dimensions of his subjects. In Apostle, he extends his trademark style to the terrain of Christian history, bringing to life both the ancient figures at the heart of the faith and the modern landscapes in which their legacies continue to unfold.