Acclaimed writer Simon Winchester brings his keen literary eye to this year's volume of the finest travel writing from the past year. "Full of insights, humor, the exotic and distant, and the ordinary and near" (Library Journal) this collection finds "a perfect mix of exotic locale and elegant prose" (Publishers Weekly).
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From Publishers Weekly
Author Winchester (The Professor and the Madman) and series editor Jason Wilson collect 25 travel essays, from publications including Outside, Slate, and National Geographic, covering everything from wrestling in Bolivia to Arctic distance swimming to the ski runs of James Bond to the problem of "mysterious genital disappearance" in Nigeria. Less exotic but no less entertaining are Calvin Trillin's search for the best Texas barbeque, Matthew Power drifting down the Mississippi on a handmade raft, and Brownen Dickey visiting North Georgia for a Deliverance-haunted trek in the backcountry. Kiran Desai, Roger Cohen and even Chuck Klosterman also make appearances. Fans of travel writing will not be disappointed in this latest series entry, which fully supports Winchester's claim that "American travel writing... is better and more stimulating than anywhere else in the world."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
JASON WILSON is the drinks columnist at the Washington Post, the series editor of The Smart Set, and the author of Boozehound: On The Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated. He teaches at Drexel University.
Simon Winchester's many books include The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, Krakatoa, and A Crack in the Edge of the World. Each of these has been a New York Times bestseller and has appeared on numerous best and notable lists. Mr. Winchester was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth in 2006.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am a huge fan of the The Best American Travel Writing series, but this year (2009) is not as well edited as year 2007, which I thought was the best yet. 2009 is still a good read, but not an edition that I would keep. Still . . . I read it cover to cover and enjoyed the read.
16 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've been buying these since 2000 and it's always a highlight of my book reading year. But it seems like the last couple of years the collections haven't been as strong, which I chalk up to the guest editors. Still worth reading though.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By J. A. Ingram
Format:Paperback
I agree with the reviews above, that the 2009 edition isn't as compelling as editions from previous years. Also, Winchester's introduction, which boasts about the British sense of adventure that led to its empires, is offensive. Do people really still regard colonialism that way in the 21st century?
Format:Paperback
The editor is Simon Winchester and the identity of the person doing the selection does make a difference. It seems the five hundred years of empire supported the British writers' belief that the best travel writing is British. Good British universities have exploration clubs. Wanderlust is not the same in America Winchester has discerned. Geography isn't taught much in the schools. For writers, however, the num ber of periodicals is a feast of opportunity. Excellent articles pertaining to geography are numerous.
Patrick Symmes writes of Burma, the storm, and the generals. After the cyclone the waterways went putrid. The generals turned away aid. Rangoon is described as an Asian Havana. Burma lacks tourist infrastructure. The writer had a two week ticket and a tourist visa. The great apostle of nonviolence and Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, is known as 'the lady'. In Burma objective criticism does not exist for cultural reasons. A luxurious and conformist society surrounds the generals. In the aftermath of the storm between one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand people died.
Frank Bures explains that in Lagos, Nigeria there is a din, the clatter of seventeen million people. The writer discusses the concept of a culture-bound syndrome. Bronwen Dickey heard stories of a river in Southern Appalachia from her father, the poet. The river is called the Cahulawagee in DELIVERANCE. Andre Aciman writes of returning to Rome after a long absence. His neighborhood had street names drawn from Virgil. He sought to put away the shame of having lived for three years in a blue collar area and misleading others as to the family's address. At Via Clelia the author had read novels, creating a world for himself, D.H.... Read more ›
Patrick Symmes writes of Burma, the storm, and the generals. After the cyclone the waterways went putrid. The generals turned away aid. Rangoon is described as an Asian Havana. Burma lacks tourist infrastructure. The writer had a two week ticket and a tourist visa. The great apostle of nonviolence and Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, is known as 'the lady'. In Burma objective criticism does not exist for cultural reasons. A luxurious and conformist society surrounds the generals. In the aftermath of the storm between one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand people died.
Frank Bures explains that in Lagos, Nigeria there is a din, the clatter of seventeen million people. The writer discusses the concept of a culture-bound syndrome. Bronwen Dickey heard stories of a river in Southern Appalachia from her father, the poet. The river is called the Cahulawagee in DELIVERANCE. Andre Aciman writes of returning to Rome after a long absence. His neighborhood had street names drawn from Virgil. He sought to put away the shame of having lived for three years in a blue collar area and misleading others as to the family's address. At Via Clelia the author had read novels, creating a world for himself, D.H.... Read more ›
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