The Best American Travel Writing

Brief Description: In his introduction to The Best American Travel Writing 2008, editor Anthony Bourdain writes that the pieces that "spoke the loudest and most powerfully to me were usually evocative of the darker side, those moments fearful, sublime, and absurd; the small epiphanies familiar to the full-time traveler, interspersed by a sense of dislocation--and the strange, unholy need to record the experience." With this in mind, Bourdain and series editor Jason Wilson have assembled a wide-ranging and wonderfully eclectic collection that delves headlong into those darker moments and subtle realizations, looking to absorb, provoke, and offer a moving record of what it means to travel in the twenty-first century. Here you will find Seth Stevenson's extraordinary experience of "Looking for Mammon in the Muslim World" as he makes his way through sweltering and paradoxical Dubai. Exotic tastes and larger-than-life personalities abound as Bill Buford accompanies the chocolate maker Frederick Schilling to the rain forests of Brazil. And on the other side of the world, Calvin Trillin trolls Singapore for the ultimate street food, while Kristin Ohlson delves into the harrowing challenges faced by proprietors of restaurants in Kabul, Afghanistan. The twenty-five pieces in this collection have their fair share of the absurd as well. David Sedaris explains the hilarious highs (sundaes) and woeful lows (sobbing with your seatmate) of flying Business Elite. Gary Shteyngart goes "To Russia for Love" during St. Petersburg's vodka-soaked wedding season. And Emily Maloney gets up close and personal with her fellow travelers -- and their massage devices -- in a South American hostel. Culled from an amazing variety of publications, "the writing in this volume is so vibrantly good, you'll feel like you've armchair-traveled around the world" (Chicago Sun Times). Table of Contents: Foreword / Jason Wilson -- Introduction / Anthony Bourdain -- Extreme Chocolate / Bill Buford -- Phnom Penh Now / Ian Buruma -- Chasing Ghosts / James Campbell -- The Border / Peter Chilson -- Brighton Beach Memoir / Simon Doonan -- African Promise / J. Malcolm Garcia -- Hope and Squalor at Chungking Mansion / Karl Taro Greenfeld -- Dark Passage / Peter Gwin -- Wheels of Fortune / Peter Hessler -- Georgia in the Time of Misha / Melik Kaylan -- Next Stop, Squalor / John Lancaster -- Mr. Tingler / Emily Maloney -- The River Is a Road / Bryan Mealer -- The Train to Tibet / Pankaj Mishra -- The Most Expensive Road Trip in the World / Annie Nocenti -- Kabul Nights / Kristin Ohlson -- Journey into Night / David Sedaris -- To Russia for Love / Gary Shteyngart -- Looking for Mammon in the Muslim World / Seth Stevenson -- Have Book, Will Travel / Thomas Swick -- The Woman in the Kuffiya / Jeffrey Tayler -- While the King Sleeps / Matthew Teague -- The Golden Man / Paul Theroux -- Three Chopsticks / Calvin Trillin -- Where the Roads Diverged / Catherine Watson -- Contributors' Notes -- Notable Travel Writing of 2007. Review Citations:

Publishers Weekly 08/30/2004 pg. 42 (EAN 9780618341252, Hardcover)

Library Journal 09/01/2004 pg. 174 (EAN 9780618341252, Hardcover)

Booklist 09/15/2004 pg. 200 (EAN 9780618341252, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Bourdain, Anthony Anthony Bourdain is the author of the novels Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo, in addition to the mega-bestseller Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour. He is the host of the popular television show No Reservations. Contributor Bio:  Wilson, Jason Jason Wilson has written has written for the Washington Post, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, and Salon.