The Best American Travel Writing 2016 - Couverture souple

Praise for Best American Travel Writing 2014 "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."—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

Praise for Best American Travel Writing 2014 "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."—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 Praise forBATW 2013:   "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." To her, each piece "contains awe in strong enough doses to render the reader enchanted, delighted, compelled, or forever unsettled." Such strong billing is not misleading, as readers will learn when they step into the pages of such delights as John Jeremiah Sullivan’s beautifully eloquent "A Prison, a Paradise" (from the New York Times Magazine), about travel to Cuba ("I’ve never stood on a piece of ground as throbbingly, even pornographically, generative"); Colleen Kinder’s "Blot Out" (from Creative Nonfiction), a punchy, even scary, account of a Western woman trying to pass as Muslim on the streets of Cairo; David Sedaris’ hilarious account of dentistry in Paris, "Dentists without Borders" (from the New Yorker); and Marie Arana’s gripping and sobering report on gold mining in Peru, "Dreaming of El Dorado" (from Virginia Quarterly Review). All the pieces included here are treasures of excellent writing, regardless of genre."—Booklist   Praise for BATW 2012:   "Bold and questioning 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 uncreasing curiosity about complex places and authentic voices, Vollmann has chosen 19 electrifying essays...Vollmann's '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...theyopen a window onto the strange, seedy and beautiful 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

Why do I travel? Why does anyone of us travel? Bill Bryson poses these questions in his introduction to The Best American Travel Writing 2016, and though he admits, “I wasn’t at all sure I knew the answer,” they are questions worthy of examination. While the various contributors to this collection all travel for different reasons, one thing is for certain—they come back with stories. Whether traversing the Arctic by dogsled, attending a surreal film festival in North Korea, or strolling the streets of a fast-changing Havana, their insights into the world and the human condition are illuminating and enthralling, providing an answer: This is why I like to travel. The Best American Travel Writing 2016 includes Michael Chabon, Alice Gregory, Paul Theroux, Dave Eggers, Helen Macdonald, Sara Corbett, Stephanie Pearson,Thomas Chatterton Williams, Pico Iyer, and others BILL BRYSON, guest editor, is the best-selling author of A Walk in the Woods;  A Short History of Nearly Everything; One Summer: America, 1927; The Road to Little Dribbling ; and numerous other books.   JASON WILSON, series editor, is the author of Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits; Spaghetti on the Wall; and the forthcoming Why Wine Matters. He has written for the Washington Post Magazine, The New Yorker, the New York Times, and many other publications, and has won awards for Best Food Column from the Association of Food Journalists four times.