- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Mariner Books; None edition (Sep 28 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0618074678
- ISBN-13: 978-0618074679
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 13.7 x 2.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #386,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
The world may be getting smaller, but that doesn't mean it's any less varied, surprising, or exotic--as is made evident by the 25 essays collected in the inaugural edition of the Best American Travel Writing series. In search of America's sharpest, most original, and often, most curious travel writers, editor Bill Bryson and series editor Jason Wilson sifted through hundreds of stories. What the resulting collection demonstrates is that, as Wilson writes, travel stories matter:
Having a travel writer report on particular things, small things, the specific ways in which people act and interact, is perhaps our best way of getting beyond the clichés that we tell each other about different places and cultures, and about ourselves.And, as Bryson notes, many of the freshest voices are being drawn to foreign subjects far beyond the trampled paths of tourism. Within these pages, they chart the world from Nantucket to Zanzibar, the Atlas Mountains of Morocco to Australia's Cape York Peninsula with originality and keen observation. Some even go where none would follow: drawn by the allure of danger zones, Patrick Symmes rides a dirt bike to "perhaps the most forbidden city in the world" in search of the Khmer Rouge. Tim Cahill describes his own personal journey in hell--11 long days on a barge on the Ubangi River with 3,000 people packed so close together it's impossible to move without apologizing. (Fortunately, he's befriended by a man named God who is always in the know.)
Distance is not a prerequisite for travel writing, though humor is invaluable, as Bill Buford shows in his attempt to do what you just don't do--spend the night in Central Park. When Dave Eggers discovers hitchhiking is what makes Cuba move, it becomes the point of his trip to "pick up and move people, from here to there." Tongue in cheek, he declares, "So easy to change the quality, the very direction, of Cubans' lives!" Then again, sometimes humor is just not appropriate, particularly if you've been kidnapped by Ugandan rebels (as was Mark Ross) or you're trying to help the Dalai Lama choose the next Panchen Lama without jeopardizing lives (as did Isabel Hilton). In any case, it's all happening here--golf in Greenland, cheese smuggling from France, even a ride with the Toughest Truck Driver in the World. This collection proves that travel writing is a genre whose time has come. --Lesley Reed --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
HThe travelers Bryson (In a Sunburned Country) and Wilson (a travel writer) have collected here aren't the high-adrenaline survivor sort so popular these days. What these writers all share is a love of a place, a moment, a people (okay, David Halberstam bemoans the influx of nouveau riches to his precious Nantucket). Culled from the expected travel magazines, plus a couple of more unlikely sources (Coffee Journal), these highly personal accounts represent the best of the best (an appendix lists the many runners-up). From Bill Buford's plan to sleep overnight in Central Park to Dave Eggers's memories of picking up hitchhikers in Cuba; from Tom Clynes's ride through the Outback with "The Toughest Trucker in the World" to Mark Ross's harrowing tale of being kidnapped by rebels in Uganda, every one of these short pieces spins everyday details into memorable life. On the lighter side, Clive Irving rhapsodizes about "The First Drink of the Day" and David Lansing offers the educational "Confessions of a Cheese Smuggler." As Wilson points out in his entertaining foreword, we've all written about "What I Did on My Summer Vacation." These writers have raised that to an art; all of these tales remind us of how amazing the world truly is. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Travels well,
This review is from: The Best American Travel Writing 2000 (Audio CD)
My wife and I came across this CD in preparation for a very long drive to northern Michigan over the July 4th weekend and I am thoroughly pleased with this most-random selection. Aside from David Halberstam's self-absorbed "Nantucket" which barely passes as travel writing let alone good, let alone fresh (it may have helped if he read this piece) the selections were excellent and varied. Bryson's reading of "Winter Rules" nearly had us off the road southbound on US 127 near Midland, and Adamson's reading of the the thoroughly politically/socially incorrect (and excellent) "Weird Karma" nearly put us into a barrier near Ann Arbor on US 23. Thank you Mr. Bryson et al for that travel moment.Best yet, the table was so wonderfully set by Bryon himself with his reading of "From the people who brought you the killing fields" by Patrick Symmes. I can only express my appreciation of this selection in the memories it brought back to my days in the 1980s and the wonderfully in-poor-taste song by the Dead Kennedys "A Holiday in Cambodia." Wonderful writing does that to you. We look forward to reading and hearing the 2001, 2002, and 2003 editions.
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Outsanding Collection of Stories,
By
This review is from: The Best American Travel Writing 2000 (Paperback)
"Best American Travel Writing 2000" is the first edition in yet another outstanding entry in the "Best American" series. It is structured like other "Best American" books, with a series editor and a yearly guest editor putting their heads together and selecting two dozen or so of the best articles to be published in the field during the previous year. Bill Bryson was a very canny choice to be the first guest editor for the travel series, given his recent stature as one of the best selling travel writers around.The best articeles in the debut 2000 edition include Tom Clynes's account of a truck driver in the Australian Outback, a lament by David Halberstam on the yuppie-fication of Nantucket Island, P.J. O'Rourke's amusing piece about driving in India, and Mark Ross's harrowing first person account of the slaying of eco-tourists in Uganda by Interhamwe rebels. Some of the articles are amusing, some are scary, others are full of wonder, but they are all well written and informative. Anyone who enjoys good travel writing, or who simply likes good storytelling, ought to pick up a copy.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Funny how an editor chooses stories written in his style,
By
This review is from: The Best American Travel Writing 2000 (Paperback)
If you like Bill Bryson's writing (and I do), you'll enjoy this book. The stories are, for the most part, light, entertaining and enjoyable. My favorite was the one about hitchhiking through Cuba! It wasn't until I moved on to the 2001 Best American Travel Writing edited by Paul Thoreau that I realized how much the stories reflect Bill Bryson's writing. As I worked my way through the book, the writing seemed to be uneven, but I did enjoy the book on the whole and do recommend it to anyone who's into travel literature.
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