Described as "a principal part of a longer work in progress," the first section of Paul Herr's only published novel, Journey Not to End, appeared in the Autumn 1959 issue of Chicago Review. The full novel was originally published in 1961 by Bernard Geis Associates and released as a paperback the following year by Signet Books.

The novel relates the experiences of an unnamed protagonist, beginning with his escape from a displaced-persons camp in Europe at the end of World War II, followed by years of aimless travel on various freighters, and eventually leading to a chance encounter with a high-ranking Mexican military official who convinces him to help organize shipments of arms to Cuban revolutionaries attempting to overthrow the Batista dictatorship. As the novel progresses, the protagonist discovers his talents as a writer, and seeks to replace his existential fatalism with real purpose in life and an ever-elusive inner peace.