The Best American Travel Writing 2001 (Paperback)

~ Jason Wilson (Editor), Paul Theroux (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This second volume in the series presents more exemplars of armchair reading (in this case, armchair listening), taking people away from daily routine to exotic, often remote settings. Theroux introduces the 11 selections, which are written by some of the most renowned travel writers, including Russell Banks, Susan Orlean and Pico Iyer. The locales span the globe, from the Caribbean to the Arctic; the essays' common thread is their authors' enthusiasm for their chosen destinations. Though overall this a charming package, Theroux's introduction is a bit long and doesn't provide a strong thematic connection to the selections that follow, and listeners will be disappointed when they learn Salman Rushdie does not to read his own piece. However, the selections are all well narrated. Several "The Endless Hunt" by Gretel Ehrlich, "Daughter of the Wind" by Lawrence Millman and "Into the Heart of the Middle Kingdom" by Kathleen Lee are superb. These narrations are so strong and evocative that listeners will feel almost as if they have accompanied the authors on their travels. Though not as stunning as last year's collection, this is nonetheless ideal for car listeners who wish they were en route to the Andes instead of Detroit. Simultaneous release with the Houghton Mifflin hardcover.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Description

Already a best-selling addition to the series, this year"s Best American Travel Writing is a far-flung collection chosen by travel writer extraordinaire Paul Theroux, who has selected pieces about "the spell in the wilderness, the letter home from foreign parts, the dangerous adventure, the sentimental journey, the exposé, the shocking revelation, the eyewitness report, the ordeal, the quest . . . Travel is an attitude, a state of mind." Theroux"s most recent novel is Hotel Honolulu.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (October 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618118780
• ISBN-13: 978-0618118786
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #671,056 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not romantic, but rivetting, December 30, 2001

By	Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Anyone who's read Paul Theroux's travel books - "The Old Patagonian Express," "The Happy Isles of Oceania" - knows he's not in it for the fun. His selections for the best travel pieces of 2000 (for this 2001 edition), reflect his seriousness of purpose, his sense of place and his eye for quality writing. "It is not about vacations," he states in his introduction, and explains, "travel writing at its best relates a journey of discovery that is frequently risky and sometimes grim and often pure horror, with a happy ending: to hell and back."

This book is not about places you want to go to. It's about the world, much of it remote, in its workaday, sometimes hostile, raiment. Taken from a wide variety of magazines and newspapers, presented in alphabetical order (with contributor notes in the back), these essays consider the reflective traveler's relation to unfamiliar places, people, and events.

There are contemplative journeys: Russell Banks' strange encounter at the top of the Andes; Scott Anderson's brotherly competition for dangerous destinations; Lawrence Millman's lighthearted sojourn on the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria; Janet Malcolm's search for Chekhov in the places he wrote about; Edward Said's grim "Paradise Lost," recalling his idyllic childhood in the Lebanese hills, now buried in rubble.

There are anthropological adventures like Gretel Ehrlich's long dog-sled hunt with the Inuit in Greenland and there are adventures touched with politics and history, like Philip Caputo's travels among the man-eating lions of Kenya, Tim Cahill's trip to Ecuador's erupting volcanoes (and their villages) and David Quammen's winter search for the wolves in post-communist Romania.

Journalistic pieces tell us the things we don't know, the things we should know. Michael Finkel's "Desperate Passage" places him among a leaky boatload of desperate Haitians hoping for America, and Susan Minot relates a tangled, ugly history as she introduces us to children kidnapped by rebels in Uganda. Andrew Cockburn visits the "new" Iran, Patrick Symmes searches out the guerrillas in Columbia. There are portraits of places, politics and loneliness like Peter Hessler's story of the inept burglar on the China/Korea border and Susan Orlean's portrait of Khao San Road in Bangkok.

In a category all its own is Salman Rushdie's eloquent, emotionally nuanced "A Dream of Glorious Return," the story of his first trip back to India since the publication of "The Satanic Verses" twelve years before. His 20-year-old son, Zafar (who has never read his father's books) accompanies him and Rushdie, ebullient with homecoming rapture, attempts to see the country through Zafar's fresh (often appalled) perspective as well as his own. It's a piece full of joy and sadness and political tension, beautifully told.

There is humor in many of these pieces but hilarity is not Theroux's first interest. These essays will appeal to those looking for an armchair view of the world's niches, many of them ugly. Without exception the writing is clear and vivid, and the writer's eye intelligent and unpretentious.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling but a bit dour, October 26, 2001

By	Awed Listener (New Haven, CT USA) - See all my reviews

Last year's "Best American Travel Writing" was a very, very satisfying collection; I have read it twice, have placed it on my "permanent" bookshelf, and constantly recommend it to friends who are ardent nonfiction readers and/or travelers. This 2001 volume is enjoyable but not as well balanced. The 2000 edition had its share of serious and sometimes even searing and terrifying articles, but those entries were leavened by a few sidesplittingly funny ones. Since my favorite travel experiences have been guffaw-worthy (usually at my expense), I appreciated the inclusion of the humor. I'm a HUGE fan of Paul Theroux's fiction (especially "My Secret History" and "My Other Life," and some of his short stories and novellas), but not his travel books; while I would love to sit down with Paul and talk for hours about books, the idea of traveling with him is about as appealing as spending a week on the road with my aged and increasingly whiney Aunt Sally. So perhaps that explains my respect for but RELATIVE lack of enthusiasm for this collection. Taken separately, each article is compelling; but put together, this is a somewhat somber collection. Having said that, I must urge you to buy this book--each entry is worthy of a careful reading and will expand your knowledge of the world.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you like Paul Theroux's books, you'll like this book, April 4, 2003

By	H. Quinn - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I like travel literature, and I've enjoyed Paul Theroux's books, so I thought I'd try this book. I read the 2000 version of Best American Travel literature, which really reflects Bill Bryson's writing style. And true to my expectations, this version reflects Paul Theroux's style. The articles are more political, more edgy, more depressing, just like Theroux. It's superb writing though, while not always light, so you should expect to take on some of the more 'heady' travel topics in this volume. Theroux really has stuck to his own style in choosing the stories that make up this book. A really good set of stories though.