Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Already a best-selling addition to the series, this years 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.” Therouxs most recent novel is Hotel Honolulu.
About the Author
Paul Theroux was born in Medford, Massachusetts in 1941 and published his first novel, Waldo in 1967. His subsequent novels include The Family Arsenal, Picture Palace, The Mosquito Coast, O-Zone, Millroy the Magician, My Secret History, My Other Life, and Kowloon Tong. His highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, and Fresh Air Fiend. The Mosquito Coast and Dr. Slaughter have both been made into successful films. He was the guest editor of The Best American Travel Writing (Houghton Mifflin, October 2001). Theroux is a frequent contributer to magazines including Talk and Men's Journal. He divides his time between Cape Cod and the Hawaiian Islands, where he is a professional beekeeper.Jason Wilson is a prolific travel writer, having published numerous travel essays in such publications as HEMISPHERES, THE WASHINGTON POST, TRAVEL &LEISURE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, P.O.V., NEW ENGLAND REVIEW, THE TIMES PICAYUNE, FLIGHT, CONTINENTAL, AMERICAN WAY, TRIP, THE PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER, among many other prestigious publications. His travel writing has also earned him three Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards for both "Best Magazine Article on a U.S. Destination" and "Best Magazine Article on a Foreign Destination," three Society of Professional Journalists Awards for Magazine Feature Writing, a Garden State Association of Black Journalists Award, and has been selected as "Notable Essay" in THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 1997, 1998, and 1999. Mr. Wilson was also the founder of the now-defunct, but well-loved travel journal, GRAND TOUR, which THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER called, "A travel journal with two kinds of writing: good and better," and which THE WASHINGTON POST called, "A fine new magazine...creating a new home for the best sort of travel writing...the editors have an eye for writers who can take the smallest moments of existence abroad, and exalt them." Mr. Wilson has taught magazine writing and creative writing at a number of universities, and will be teaching travel writing at the graduate level at Rosemont College in the Philadelphia area beginning in Spring 2000.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword xi
Introduction by Paul Theroux xvii
Scott Anderson. As Long As We Were Together, Nothing Bad Could Happen
to Us 1
from Men's Journal
Russell Banks. Fox and Whale, Priest and Angel 20
from Esquire
Tim Cahill. Volcano Alley Is Ticking 29
from Men's Journal
Philip Caputo. Among the Man-Eaters 47
from National Geographic Adventure
Andrew Cockburn. Iran: Are You Ready? 75
from Condé Nast Traveler
Gretel Ehrlich. The Endless Hunt 88
from National Geographic Adventure
Michael Finkel. Desperate Passage 105
from The New York Times Magazine
Ian Frazier. Desert Hideaway 125
from The Atlantic Monthly
Peter Hessler. View from the Bridge 132
from The New Yorker
Pico Iyer. Why We Travel 142
from Salon Travel
Kathleen Lee. Into the Heart of the Middle Kingdom 152
from Condé Nast Traveler
Janet Malcolm. Travels with Chekhov 164
from The New Yorker
Lawrence Millman. Daughter of the Wind 189
from Islands
Susan Minot. This We Came to Know Afterward 199
from McSweeney's
Susan Orlean. The Place to Disappear 228
from The New Yorker
David Quammen. The Post-Communist Wolf 238
from Outside
Salman Rushdie. A Dream of Glorious Return 254
from The New Yorker
Edward W. Said. Paradise Lost 276
from Travel & Leisure
Bob Shacochis. Something Wild in the Blood 286
from Men's Journal
Thomas Swick. Croatian Rock 301
from South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Patrick Symmes. Miraculous Fishing 318
from Harper's Magazine
Jeffrey Tayler. Back in the USSR? 341
from Harper's Magazine
Marcel Theroux. The Very, Very, Very Big Chill 361
from Travel & Leisure
Brad Wetzler. Is Just Like Amerika! 366
from Outside
Jason Wilson. Dining Out in Iceland 380
from The North American Review
Simon Winchester. Beyond Siberia 401
from Condé Nast Traveler
Contributors' Notes 409
Notable Travel Writing of 2000 415