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The Best American Travel Writing 2000 description 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 |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | Travel Stories- A Great Genre |
| Americans generally care little for the world outside of its borders. And in the rare cases of foreign travel often Americans, "pay large sums to be transported to some distant place and then be shielded from it." This book not only tells of experiences in foreign countries, but it also tells the story of foreign people and their history. This is one of the most enjoyable books I have read this year. Below are short summaries of each writing with my "rating."
#1- Boat Camp by William Booth. (8) A man gets the urge to race a sailboat to Mexico. Very interesting and very well written. "Almost every sailor I know suffers the affliction. We dream the dream of boats on water." #2- Lions and Tigers and Bears. (8) No, not the land of Oz, much scarier...Central Park (New York City). This writer decides to stay the night in Central Park despite the danger. Why? "Anybody who dnows anything about New York knows the city's essential platitude- that you don't wander around Cenral Park at night- and in that, needless to say, was the appeal: it was the thing you don't do." Not only a suspenseful tale, but it is packed full of Central Park facts. #3- This Teeming Ark. (4) A writer travels to the African Congo and spends 12 days riding a barge down a river. Written very well and full of humor, the essay provides good insight into African culture, but I felt the author was a bit degrading toward the people. #4- The Toughest Trucker in the World. (9) The name says it all. This writer rides along with a trucker who delivers fuel to one of the most remote places on Australia. The ride is full of adventure and great insight into Aussie culture and even Aussie vocabulary. #5- Hitchhiker's Cuba. (7) "Hitchhiking is what makes Cuba move." Several men drive around Cuba giving rides to whoever wants them. It is not only hitchhikers they pick up, they pick up a lot of culture along the way. The author has a lot of interesting social and political insights. #6- Nantucket On My Mind. (5) "...many of the true pleasures of Nantucket are not easily gained and cannot be purchased on demand, that they have to be, like everything else in life, earned..." This is some interesting insight into the upper class who have swarmed Nantucket Island and the upper-middle class who resent them. #7- The Nile at Mile One. (6) Like most of the travel writings, this gives good insight into African society. The author attempts to trace Winston Churchill's journey through Africa. Anyone who has visited a third world country can relate to the following quote, "urban Africans seemed caught in a kind of purgatory, somewhere between the seductions of modernity and the habits of tradition." #8- Spies in the House of Faith. (6) The longest piece in the book, this was the story of one reporters experience with the Dalai Lama and the transitional nation of Tibet. Very interesting (and a bit sad) to see how the government of China handles the faith of the Tibetan people. #9- The First Drink of the Day. (1) I am not much of a drinker, so this was pure boredom for me. #10- Lard is Good For You. (10) This short piece had me in constant laughter. The writer, a volunteer teacher, records her experiences in Costa Rica. I especially appreciated her insight into the "two voices in (her) head," referring to the "tourist' and the "traveler." The tourist wanted her comfort and her cute cultural experiences and the traveler wanted to truly experience life with Costa Ricans. #11- The Truck. (7) Find out how one man almost dies in the Sahara desert in the country of Mauritania. "Without water you can survive in the desert for twenty-four hours; with great difficulty, for forty-eight or so." #12- Confessions of a Cheese Smuggler. (4) "The worse the cheese smells the better it tastes." It doesn't get much more exciting than that. #13- Inside the Hidden Kingdom. (7) This is a great little report on the country of Bhutan, the last independent Himalayan Buddhist kingdom. #14- Weird Karma. (7) A summary of the writer's experience in India, I especially enjoyed the section on his observations about driving in India, "India is really magical. How can they drive like this without killing people?" #15- Zoned on Zanzibar. (7) This African island is steeped in folk belief, and the author does an excellent job of showing how a somewhat modern' nation still follows its own animistic beliefs. "(The witches) walk the streets invisible. They have sacrificed their children to Satan for power... I nod, as if it's a routine warning." #16- Storming the Beach. (7) A very humorous article about the writer's crazy wish to crash the set of Leonardo DiCaprio's movie, The Beach. Set in Thailand, the writer attempts to sneak through security to get onto the set of the movie. The author is trying to make a point about tourism and the dangers it poses. He writes of the distinction between tourism and true' travel, "tourists leave home to escape the world, while travelers leave home to experience the world." #17- The Last Safari. (9) It gets serious here. An American safari guide in Africa writes of his tragic hostage-taking experience where five Western tourists died. It is written excellently and shows the horrible war-torn situation Africa finds itself it. #18- Winter Rules. (10) This was the best and funniest story in the book. A Sports Illustrated writer goes to the arctic (Greenland) to play golf. A golfer myself, I found the story very amusing, showing the folly (maybe stupidity is a better word) of the true golfer. A good philosophical thought comes at the end of the story, "Life is to often like the stomach of the reindeer, I reflected at dinner: neither delicious nor revolting, but somewhere in between." #19- From the Wonderful People Who Brought You the Killing Fields. (7) An adventurous tale of two men's journey to the mountains of Cambodia to meet with some of the officials of Khmer Rouge, a rebel group who has killed thousands in Cambodia. #20- China's Wild West. (6) This is more of an educational piece, but interesting nonetheless. The westernmost province of China seems more like the middle east with a hint of Russian. This makes for an interesting society which is actually ruled by the despised Chinese. #21- Exiled Beyond Kilometer 101. (6) Russia is a land where the rural areas hardly resemble the urban centers. This piece focuses on the contrast and the hardships that face rural Russians. #22- Two Faces of Tourism. (6) Tourism and travel are the biggest international product. Bigger than oil, bigger than electronics, people spend trillions on travel and this has had a startling impact on the places that attract these tourists. The article focuses on a relatively unknown tourist spot in Mexico that is on the verge of becoming a major tourist area. "..we visitors are woven into the fabric of the places we visit." #23- The Very Short Story of Nunavut. (2) The author here tries to repel rather than compel people to visit the new Canadian province of Nunavut. I don't really like the attitude of the author and I am glad he doesn't apply his views to America. If he was consistent with his world view, he would say that no outsiders should come to America and spoil our purity. I think this would be racist, but if he says it about a remote area in Canada he is being culturally sensitive. #24- One Man and His Donkey. (8) This is the humorous retelling of the author's experience in Morocco with a donkey in the Atlas mountains. #25- Marseille's Monument. (3) I personally found this to be uninteresting, I think I am biased against the writings that take place in Europe. About the French town of Marseille, the author shows the history of this "cool" town. |
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