Synopses & Reviews
The Best American Series®
First, Best, and Best-Selling
The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected — and most popular — of its kind.
The Best American Travel Writing 2012 includes
Bryan Curtis, Lynn Freed, J. Malcolm Garcia, Peter Gwin,
Pico Iyer, Mark Jenkins, Dimiter Kenarov, Robin Kirk,
Kimberly Meyer, Paul Theroux, and others
Review
"
Bold and questing writer and world traveler Vollmann is at the helm of the thirteenth edition of this superb travel annual, which has always been distinguished by its stellar guest editors. Guided by his unceasing curiosity about complex places and authentic voices, Vollmann has chosen 19
electrifying essays...
Vollmanns 'best' assemblage profoundly extends the reach of the ever-vital and enlightening art of travel writing."
-Booklist (starred)
"The latest intriguing batch of travel writing from the venerable series. [T]hese stories...undoubtedly bring a taste of adventure to readers...they open a window onto the strange, seedy and beautiful in the world, offering readers glimpses into places that many will never see or experience except through the eyes and words of these writers. Mostly engaging, diverse tales of offbeat travel adventures."
-Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Will gratify both armchair travelers and the most seasoned and fearless thrill-seekers...refreshingly original stories, alternately humorous, nostalgic, exhilarating and horrifying...A thrilling, surprising collection—one of the best in the series." --Kirkus
Review
Elizabeth Gilbert (
Eat, Pray, Love, 2006), guest editor of the latest volume in this always rich yearly anthology, boldly avers that she chose travel stories that “were told the most marvelously in 2012.” All the pieces included here are treasures of excellent writing, regardless of genre. -
Booklist The latest installment of the travel-writing series upholds the tradition of world-expanding excellence.The wonder continues in the fact that, regardless of subject, each story takes its place in the collection proudly and deservedly. - Kirkus
Review
"The Best American Travel Writing has been the gold standard for short-form travel writing from newspapers, magazines and the Internet since its inception 15 years ago. This year’s guest editor – a different one is chosen for each volume – is none other than the godfather of contemporary American travel writing, Paul Theroux. A generation of travel writers owes a debt to Theroux’s immersive, first-person narratives, captured with unflinching, sometimes merciless candor...In essay after essay, a theme runs through this volume – people journey, sometimes great distances, often enduring great hardship, only to be redeemed by human connection." --
The New York Times Book Review "Will gratify both armchair travelers and the most seasoned and fearless thrill-seekers...refreshingly original stories, alternately humorous, nostalgic, exhilarating and horrifying...A thrilling, surprising collection—one of the best in the series." --Kirkus
Synopsis
The Best Travel Writing 2011 is the eighth volume in the annual Travelers' Tales series launched in 2004 to celebrate the world's best travel writing from Nobel Prize winners to emerging new writers. The points of view and perspectives are global, and themes encompass high adventure, spiritual growth, romance, hilarity and misadventure, service to humanity, and encounters with exotic cuisine. Sweat, suffer, and fall in love in Guyana, meet a traveler who conducts his own detente in Russian baths, and encounter the light of a stranger in Burma. Further tales include methods on comprehending the nuances of bargaining in Senegal and an archaeologist who digs up her own past in Greece.
Synopsis
A collection of the best travel writing pieces published in American periodicals during 2013.
Synopsis
“Travel connoisseurs divide the world into those places theyve been dying to visit or revisit and places theyd never set foot in but are glad someone else did. This years volume of travel writing . . . focuses mostly on the latter with derring-do dispatches.” — USA Today A far-ranging collection of the best travel writing pieces published in 2013, collected by guest editor Paul Theroux. The Best American Travel Writing consistently includes a wide variety of pieces, illuminating the wonder, humor, fear, and exhilaration that greets all of us when we embark on a journey to a new place. Readers know that there is simply no other option when they want great travel writing.
Synopsis
Number-one New York Times best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love and Committed: A Love Story, Elizabeth Gilbert transports readers to far-flung locales with this collection of the years lushest and most inspiring travel writing.
About the Author
JASON WILSON, series editor, is the author of Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits and the digital wine series Planet of the Grapes. He has written for the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Daily News, and many other publications. He is the founding editor of The Smart Set and Table Matters.
PAUL THEROUX is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include The Lower River and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. He lives in Hawaii and Cape Cod.