The Best American Travel Writing 2007 (Paperback)

by Susan Orlean (Editor), Jason Wilson (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The writing in this volume is so vibrantly good, you'll feel like you've armchair-traveled around the world." (Chicago Sun Times )

"Full of insights, humor, the exotic and distant, and the ordinary and near" (Library Journal )

"a perfect mix of exotic locale and elegant prose" (Publishers Weekly )

Product Description

“Travel is not about finding something. It’s about getting lost -- that is, it is about losing yourself in a place and a moment. The little things that tether you to what’s familiar are gone, and you become a conduit through which the sensation of the place is felt.” -- from the introduction by Susan Orlean

The twenty pieces in this year’s collection showcase the best travel writing from 2006. George Saunders travels to India to witness firsthand a fifteen-year-old boy who has been meditating motionless under a tree for months without food or water, and who many followers believe is the reincarnation of the Buddha. Matthew Power reveals trickle-down economics at work in a Philippine garbage dump. Jason Anthony describes the challenges of everyday life in Vostok, the coldest place on earth, where temperatures dip as low as minus-129 degrees and where, in midsummer, minus-20 degrees is considered a heat wave.

David Halberstam, in one of his last published essays, recalls how an inauspicious Saigon restaurant changed the way he and other reporters in Vietnam saw the world. Ian Frazier analyzes why we get sick when traveling in out-of-the-way places. And Kevin Fedarko embarks on a drug-fueled journey in Djibouti, chewing psychotropic foliage in “the worst place on earth.”

Closer to home, Steve Friedman profiles a 410-pound man who set out to walk cross-country to lose weight and find happiness. Rick Bass chases the elusive concept of the West in America, and Jonathan Stern takes a hilarious Lonely Planet approach to his small Manhattan apartment.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (October 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618582185
• ISBN-13: 978-0618582181
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #268,333 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not up to previous standards, October 26, 2007

By	Bob Peck (Elkins Park, Pa,) - See all my reviews

As a fan of the series who has the previous seven editions in a prominent space on the bookshelf, I too was disappointed with this year's collection.

Only about half the entries really held my interest. Unfortunately, the least compelling were also the lengthiest, led by Elizabeth Gilbert's tedious "Lonnnnnnnnnnnng Day's Journey Into Dinner". Most telling about the lack of depth (perhaps there wasn't a lot to choose from this year?) is that the most captivating piece is Nando Parrado's harrowing blow-by-blow account of his personal ordeal in the Andes --- an event that took place 35 years ago and was immortalized in the 1993 movie "Alive". Perhaps Nando was understandably only now able to come to terms and write this essay about the events, but its inclusion in this "current" volume seemed curiously timed.

Kevin Fedarko's "High in Hell" was troubling. He describes Djibouti as a hellhole filled with men constantly having affairs behind their wives' backs..."in a country whose infant mortality rate is 10.4 percent, where half the population is unemployed and 70 percent of children are malnourished." Somehow, this all becomes just backdrop for what redeems the place: getting stoned on khat with a rag-tag group of men who've surrendered their ability to address their responsibilities.

He spends days getting high with this group of idlers, and amazingly begins to see them as charitable do-gooders. His bizarre conclusions:
"...in the process of hating Djibuti so much, I had somehow managed to fall in love with the place." He concludes by summarizing the addict's day-long sessions as the "most triumphantly African of achievements. They have trumped the devil himself. In the center of creation's hellhole, they have managed to chisel out a sliver of paradise."

Jonathan Stern's 4-page spoof of Lonely Planet guides tries to be clever, but never rises above the level of one of those repititious filler pieces found in National Lampoon or Mad Magazine 25 years ago.

A few other pieces do provide real insight on the world today (notably, Andrew Solomon's report on Libya). On its own merit, the mixed bag in this book might earn 3 stars, but compared to the standard set by its predecessors, this disappointing volume gets only a "2" from me.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Compared to earlier editions - disappointment, October 25, 2007

By	Terri PhD - See all my reviews

I've been a big fan of this series since 2003 and was looking forward to the 2007 edition, especially Susan Orlean is the editor. Sorry to say I am disappointed. While some of selected stories have the superb writing and imagery that makes this series on travel writing so good, unfortunately there are also stories included that were too long and unengaging. Is it worth buying? If you haven't read the earlier editions, choose one of those first.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars pathetic, December 1, 2007

By	Theresa Twain "Terry" (Maine) - See all my reviews

This has to be the worst "Best American Travel Writing" edition I've seen so far. As a big taveler and a big fan of travel writing, I buy this book every year. There's usually four or five great essays in it, which makes it worth the money for me. But this issue of 2007 is so off the mark. I found almost nothing in it of real interest. I don't know what the editor was thinking. As far as I can tell, Susan Orlean is not known a a traveller. Why she was chosen to put together this year's editon of this book is beyond me. I think it takes one to know one.