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The Best American Travel Writing 2016
A collection of the best travel writing by American authors written in 2015
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 4, 2016
353 people are currently reading
750 people want to read
About the author
Bill Bryson
101 books22.2k followersBill Bryson is a bestselling American-British author known for his witty and accessible nonfiction books spanning travel, science, and language. He rose to prominence with Notes from a Small Island (1995), an affectionate portrait of Britain, and solidified his global reputation with A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), a popular science book that won the Aventis and Descartes Prizes. Raised in Iowa, Bryson lived most of his adult life in the UK, working as a journalist before turning to writing full-time. His other notable works include A Walk in the Woods, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and The Mother Tongue. Bryson served as Chancellor of Durham University (2005–2011) and received numerous honorary degrees and awards, including an honorary OBE and election as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society. Though he announced his retirement from writing in 2020, he remains one of the most beloved voices in contemporary nonfiction, with over 16 million books sold worldwide.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
September 14, 2017
I always enjoy these collections in the series. They compromise much of my lighter reading in a year. This set of travel writing, despite having some very noted authors such as Chabon, Eggers, and Vollmann, was not as good as some of the earlier Travel collections but certainly was worthwhile. I think. Y rating system is harsher for these, perhaps than need be, as they are simply not the same type of writing. I struggle with rating a good collection the same as a an equally rated piece of literary fiction.
The collection begins with a small piece from Michael Chabon about traveling in Morocco with his family. " White Guy in a Djellba " was featured in Bon Appetit' as he writes about a meal he had in a shanty on a deserted road in the middle of the desert that he rates highly.
From The New York Times Magazine, Sara Corbett writes " How Can We Find More People Like You " which looks at Airbnb's attempts to expand in Japan, an effort that has been complicates by the nature of their society and, in comparison to other targets, less likely nature to invite strangers into their homes.
In a piece I had read earlier Dave Eggers wrote for The New Yorker a very strong piece called " The Actual Hollister. " In this he examines the distinctly unhip city of Hollister, California and compares its history to the " admittedly falsified " history of the town as told by the famous clothing company. At the same time we learn of his own personal ancestral ties to the area and read about the companies concerning trademark disputes with the city.
" Rotten Ice " from Harper's by Gretel Ehrlich is a fine piece that appeared in another of this year's Best American collections, thus already reviewed by me. While this version is a bit longer it seems like, with all the great works to choose from, the series could not repeat articles in multiple books. This seems unnecessary. Still the article itself, about the effects of warmer temperatures on the Greenland ice sheet, and those that live on it, is an important read.
In The New Yorker William Finnegan published " Off Diamond Head " an excerpt of his very well reviewed memoir titled Barbarian Days. In the book and in this article Finnegan recalls moving as an almost teenager to Hawaii and the importance of the surfing culture in allowing him to, if not prosper, at least survive.
Andrew Jones wrote an interesting piece titled " The Marlboro Men of Chernivtsi which tells of the ( Pre Ukraine- Russia crisis ) smuggling epidemic centered around Ukrainian cigarettes. From there the whole issue of the taxation of cigarettes around the world has made it the most smuggled legal item by far.
Another duplicate article is " What's Left Behind " by Kea Krause. About the devastation of Butte, Montana's ecology by copper mining and the choices made between economy and the environment.
Helen MacDonald writes in The New York Times Magazine a short piece called " Hiding From the Animals " which explores just that. In England there are many hides set up in nature areas to enable observation, study, and photography of animals. Macdonald writes about the benefits and disadvantages of this mode of study while also examine the etiquette of the hides when multiple people are in the same one at the same time.
From The New Yorker, Patricia Marx writes " About Face " which examines the plastic surgery industry in South Korea where, she writes, it is becoming almost a right of passage for teenage girls. The county leads the world in per capita rates of cosmetic surgery.
Also from The New Yorker, D.T. Max writes " A Cave With a View " about the city of Matera, Italy. Placed on the instep of the boot we learn the fascinating history of this ancient city built in and around cave structures in a city formed at the end of the Appian Way. Simply amazing to see the rise, fall, and rise of the area.
Freda Moon writes " Born to Travel " in which she, while very pregnant, travels to Panama in honor or in memory of her own Mother who traveled to the same place when the author was a young child. Her Mother, a single Mother, provides inspiration to her as she considers raising her own child alone. The trip serves another purpose, however. She will be meeting her Father who is sailing around the lower Pacific. In preparing for this she revisits her relationship with him, praising him for his involvement at a time when less was expected of Fathers in his situation.
Odd. Weird. Very weird. These all would describe the fascination of the late Kim Jong Il with movies. From GQ, Mitch Moxley writes " The Reddest Carpet " about his visit to the North Korean Movie Festival, a festival one can be sure, that reviewers are not clamoring to attend. This is a unique perspective on the country that never seems to be far from the news.
Justin Nobel attends an elders gathering of the Inuit in Northern Canada. In an article titled " Growing Old With the Inuit " he explores the history of the population and the current living conditions of these people. Hint, it's not good and the outlook is bleak.
Tony Perrottet writes " Darwin's Forgotten World " about his visit to Australia to visit the great, great, grandson of Charles Darwin. His 50 year old descendant is a good remnant of the legacy, living in Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains region. Most people are not aware of Darwin's trip to this area when he was just 26 and beginning his explorations, but he himself never forgot it and, in fact, often times remarked that he would like to retire to the area. Very interesting look at a forgotten chapter in the great man's life.
Steven Rinella, who hosts a television show called " Meateaters" wrote for Outside an interesting story titled " Little Things That Kill You." In this we follow some of the illness and calamities he has endured as he explores the world in search of unique meat eating adventures. We see his battle with trichinosis from undercooked bear meat, to a form of gardia from bad drinking water to the monstrous effects of Lyme disease. Along the way he expresses admiration for these bacteria that so simply can disable us and provides a warning to all of us at the same time.
Jeffrey Tayler wrote a small piece titled Fyodor's Guide about visiting the sites and sounds of The St. Petersburg written about by Dostoyevsky. Anything about the great writer is worth your time.
One of our greatest travel writers, Paul Theroux, visited Monroeville, Alabama when news broke that a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird would be published. Visiting the birthplace and still, at that time she was still alive, sometime home of Harper Lee, he explores the town today. We also learn some of the history of the place, including the actual trial that took place in the thirties that served as the model for Lee's book. It is interesting and disturbing and one walks away feeling slightly uneasy about the unreserved universal admiration of Harper Lee's creation.
Do you know what a dosimeter is? Before reading William T Vollman's " Invisible and Insidious " I certainly could not. Now, I don't think I'll ever forget. The author visits Japan, specifically the environs around the Fukushima nuclear accident. Reading him describe the meter he carries everywhere clicking wildly in areas determined to be safe for human habitation makes one very concerned. The attitude of the Japanese citizens in the affected areas is one of calm, a calm mostly born of a feeling of powerlessness, but still one more calm that one could imagine ever occurring in the United States. But, then again, think of Flint, Michigan, perhaps we have all learned too easily how to stay calm in the wake of disasters that should never have happened in the first place.
The collection ends with a piece by Thomas Chatterton Williams who examines the place Paris has held, at least since the end of World War One, in the minds of black Americans. Feeling a freedom there never felt at home a wide ranging community of ex pats made there lives there. We know the names. The author's Father himself raised him with a knowledge of the wonder of Paris, a place he himself had never been. The author himself lives in Paris now and is part of a community of artistic black men who continue the tradition. He examines the incongruity of the still welcoming nature of Parisians to African Americans while a political chill settles on the dark skinned refugees from the Mediterranean and Africa. A very interesting piece.
I should note that I have not reviewed three or four articles that I either did not read for lack of interest, or read and felt no inspiration to comment on.
The collection begins with a small piece from Michael Chabon about traveling in Morocco with his family. " White Guy in a Djellba " was featured in Bon Appetit' as he writes about a meal he had in a shanty on a deserted road in the middle of the desert that he rates highly.
From The New York Times Magazine, Sara Corbett writes " How Can We Find More People Like You " which looks at Airbnb's attempts to expand in Japan, an effort that has been complicates by the nature of their society and, in comparison to other targets, less likely nature to invite strangers into their homes.
In a piece I had read earlier Dave Eggers wrote for The New Yorker a very strong piece called " The Actual Hollister. " In this he examines the distinctly unhip city of Hollister, California and compares its history to the " admittedly falsified " history of the town as told by the famous clothing company. At the same time we learn of his own personal ancestral ties to the area and read about the companies concerning trademark disputes with the city.
" Rotten Ice " from Harper's by Gretel Ehrlich is a fine piece that appeared in another of this year's Best American collections, thus already reviewed by me. While this version is a bit longer it seems like, with all the great works to choose from, the series could not repeat articles in multiple books. This seems unnecessary. Still the article itself, about the effects of warmer temperatures on the Greenland ice sheet, and those that live on it, is an important read.
In The New Yorker William Finnegan published " Off Diamond Head " an excerpt of his very well reviewed memoir titled Barbarian Days. In the book and in this article Finnegan recalls moving as an almost teenager to Hawaii and the importance of the surfing culture in allowing him to, if not prosper, at least survive.
Andrew Jones wrote an interesting piece titled " The Marlboro Men of Chernivtsi which tells of the ( Pre Ukraine- Russia crisis ) smuggling epidemic centered around Ukrainian cigarettes. From there the whole issue of the taxation of cigarettes around the world has made it the most smuggled legal item by far.
Another duplicate article is " What's Left Behind " by Kea Krause. About the devastation of Butte, Montana's ecology by copper mining and the choices made between economy and the environment.
Helen MacDonald writes in The New York Times Magazine a short piece called " Hiding From the Animals " which explores just that. In England there are many hides set up in nature areas to enable observation, study, and photography of animals. Macdonald writes about the benefits and disadvantages of this mode of study while also examine the etiquette of the hides when multiple people are in the same one at the same time.
From The New Yorker, Patricia Marx writes " About Face " which examines the plastic surgery industry in South Korea where, she writes, it is becoming almost a right of passage for teenage girls. The county leads the world in per capita rates of cosmetic surgery.
Also from The New Yorker, D.T. Max writes " A Cave With a View " about the city of Matera, Italy. Placed on the instep of the boot we learn the fascinating history of this ancient city built in and around cave structures in a city formed at the end of the Appian Way. Simply amazing to see the rise, fall, and rise of the area.
Freda Moon writes " Born to Travel " in which she, while very pregnant, travels to Panama in honor or in memory of her own Mother who traveled to the same place when the author was a young child. Her Mother, a single Mother, provides inspiration to her as she considers raising her own child alone. The trip serves another purpose, however. She will be meeting her Father who is sailing around the lower Pacific. In preparing for this she revisits her relationship with him, praising him for his involvement at a time when less was expected of Fathers in his situation.
Odd. Weird. Very weird. These all would describe the fascination of the late Kim Jong Il with movies. From GQ, Mitch Moxley writes " The Reddest Carpet " about his visit to the North Korean Movie Festival, a festival one can be sure, that reviewers are not clamoring to attend. This is a unique perspective on the country that never seems to be far from the news.
Justin Nobel attends an elders gathering of the Inuit in Northern Canada. In an article titled " Growing Old With the Inuit " he explores the history of the population and the current living conditions of these people. Hint, it's not good and the outlook is bleak.
Tony Perrottet writes " Darwin's Forgotten World " about his visit to Australia to visit the great, great, grandson of Charles Darwin. His 50 year old descendant is a good remnant of the legacy, living in Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains region. Most people are not aware of Darwin's trip to this area when he was just 26 and beginning his explorations, but he himself never forgot it and, in fact, often times remarked that he would like to retire to the area. Very interesting look at a forgotten chapter in the great man's life.
Steven Rinella, who hosts a television show called " Meateaters" wrote for Outside an interesting story titled " Little Things That Kill You." In this we follow some of the illness and calamities he has endured as he explores the world in search of unique meat eating adventures. We see his battle with trichinosis from undercooked bear meat, to a form of gardia from bad drinking water to the monstrous effects of Lyme disease. Along the way he expresses admiration for these bacteria that so simply can disable us and provides a warning to all of us at the same time.
Jeffrey Tayler wrote a small piece titled Fyodor's Guide about visiting the sites and sounds of The St. Petersburg written about by Dostoyevsky. Anything about the great writer is worth your time.
One of our greatest travel writers, Paul Theroux, visited Monroeville, Alabama when news broke that a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird would be published. Visiting the birthplace and still, at that time she was still alive, sometime home of Harper Lee, he explores the town today. We also learn some of the history of the place, including the actual trial that took place in the thirties that served as the model for Lee's book. It is interesting and disturbing and one walks away feeling slightly uneasy about the unreserved universal admiration of Harper Lee's creation.
Do you know what a dosimeter is? Before reading William T Vollman's " Invisible and Insidious " I certainly could not. Now, I don't think I'll ever forget. The author visits Japan, specifically the environs around the Fukushima nuclear accident. Reading him describe the meter he carries everywhere clicking wildly in areas determined to be safe for human habitation makes one very concerned. The attitude of the Japanese citizens in the affected areas is one of calm, a calm mostly born of a feeling of powerlessness, but still one more calm that one could imagine ever occurring in the United States. But, then again, think of Flint, Michigan, perhaps we have all learned too easily how to stay calm in the wake of disasters that should never have happened in the first place.
The collection ends with a piece by Thomas Chatterton Williams who examines the place Paris has held, at least since the end of World War One, in the minds of black Americans. Feeling a freedom there never felt at home a wide ranging community of ex pats made there lives there. We know the names. The author's Father himself raised him with a knowledge of the wonder of Paris, a place he himself had never been. The author himself lives in Paris now and is part of a community of artistic black men who continue the tradition. He examines the incongruity of the still welcoming nature of Parisians to African Americans while a political chill settles on the dark skinned refugees from the Mediterranean and Africa. A very interesting piece.
I should note that I have not reviewed three or four articles that I either did not read for lack of interest, or read and felt no inspiration to comment on.
February 14, 2020
Got "scammed" into reading this one just because it shows up on my reader as a Bill Bryson book, which is not exactly the case, he is only the editor.
Every article by itself would've undoubtedly piqued my interest had I read it in a magazine or a paper it was originally published at. As a book it just took me to long to get through, the lack of a theme made it difficult to read multiple articles in one sitting. Still I'm glad I got through it, learned a thing or two, seen the world through the eyes of people from all walks of life and it is one if those things that make my life experiences richer.
Every article by itself would've undoubtedly piqued my interest had I read it in a magazine or a paper it was originally published at. As a book it just took me to long to get through, the lack of a theme made it difficult to read multiple articles in one sitting. Still I'm glad I got through it, learned a thing or two, seen the world through the eyes of people from all walks of life and it is one if those things that make my life experiences richer.
July 7, 2020
I did like this book just not as much as I thought I would. I guess I had come to it with high expectations for I thoroughly enjoy Bill Bryson's clever and humorous writing, and since he's the editor of this book, I think I was hoping for more writers in his style. That's not what I got. I had thought since I can't do any global traveling right now, I would take a trip to exotic places from these writers' perspective much as I loved in Elizabeth Gilbert's writing. Some of the chapters I found fascinating, others not so, just not my cup of tea. So I'll start with the ones I enjoyed. The first one is Dave Eggers- "The Actual Hollister" which explains both the history of the brand-name and the man behind the name. Now that I found interesting. The second one I really liked was William Finnegan's "Off Diamond Head," which describes in vivid detail a young teen haole growing up there. I loved the way Eggers describes the waves and breaks in surfing. But then there's so much to this story than just the surfing. My last final favorite is Alice Gregory's "Climb Every Mountain." One thing I learned is that "In the centuries before the High Alps were first explored in the mid-1700s, mountains were not generally considered beautiful." Can you imagine? Before this time, they were just considered obstacles that got in your way. I know readers may have different preferences, and they may like some of the other writers that I did not care for. So I'd urge you to check it out for yourself.
September 24, 2024
Over the years I have collected The Best American Writing series of books. I am in the process of reading them as they are a great way to entertain myself. This collection is filled with lots of travel articles that are not regular travel articles. No best restaurants, no historical spots to visit. It’s filled with articles that…”illuminate the wonder, humor, fear, and astonishment that greet us when we embark on a journey”. Because they are short magazine length they are easy to read when I’m between books or just want a quick read. The series also includes Best American Nature Writing, Science Fiction, Mysteries, Short Stories, Sports writing. Seek them out and enjoy.
March 21, 2018
Had to edit this review to say that William Finnegan's piece, Off Diamond Head, was one of the most fascinating and transporting bits of memoir I've read. What a world he lived in! Like a different planet not only in the freedom accorded to middle schoolers in that time and place--but in the levels of technical (surfing) information and ability that he was allowed to reach for and master on his own. I don't know whether it's just my social circle or a society-wide circumstance that we've lost that section in the spectrum of parents, between the abject neglect of the addicted parent on one end and the hovering of the helicopter/stage parent on the other--where are the parents who, busy with their own professional and personal lives, feel safe with their twelve year old heading out to surf before and after school, spending whole days in the big waves off a coral-laced stand of cliffs, not watched or monitored, just let loose with the expectation that he'd learn what he needed, he'd figure it out: bullies, or waves, or sharp coral. Finnegan's piece brought that world into focus and made me wonder how a child with the same interest would fare today: parents promoting his career on Instagram, parents forbidding him to head out before school, or standing on the beach with binoculars and a phone camera aimed at everything the kid did.... 1960's parenting was a good place to travel to with this writer.
Not sure I recognized some of the other chapters as being travel writing vs. writing about other places. Gretel Ehrlich's chapter was familiar to me from her Greenland book, and still one of my favorite pieces. It says something when writing that isn't a travel pitch, and is about an inhospitable place and you still find yourself wishing you were there.
Not sure I recognized some of the other chapters as being travel writing vs. writing about other places. Gretel Ehrlich's chapter was familiar to me from her Greenland book, and still one of my favorite pieces. It says something when writing that isn't a travel pitch, and is about an inhospitable place and you still find yourself wishing you were there.
July 27, 2020
I thought this collection of travel writing was a mixed bag. Certain essays, I loved, and others not so much. These are the ones I enjoyed most: "How Can We Find More People Like You?" about Airbnb in Tokyo; "The Actual Hollister" about the town of Hollister, California; "The Foreign Spell" about Bali; "The Marlboro Men of Chernivtsi" about the smuggling of cigarettes over borders; "About Face" about the pervasiveness of plastic surgery in Korea; "A Cave With a View" about Matera, Italy; "Born to Travel" about Panama; "Darwin's Forgotten World" about the Blue Mountains in Australia; "Peak Havana" about Havana, Cuba; and "Return of the Mockingbird" about Monroeville, Alabama.
Many of the essays had too narrow a focus for my interest, but people more interested in musical instruments or the amount of radiation after the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima might enjoy some of the essays.
Overall, a well-written and interesting collection.
Many of the essays had too narrow a focus for my interest, but people more interested in musical instruments or the amount of radiation after the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima might enjoy some of the essays.
Overall, a well-written and interesting collection.
August 9, 2017
This latest entry in the Best American Travel Writing series includes more heavy, issue-based stories than its predecessors, covering topics like climate change, the status of indigenous people, and nuclear radiation. It also has some slow spots; unfortunately many of the longest stories are not the best. There are some great highlights though, including Pico Iyer's exploration of foreignness, Sara Corbett's entertaining look at Japanese culture and Michael Chabon's story of being happily lost in Morocco. Patrick Symmes' gentle condemnation of travelers who want to see Cuba "before it changes" was a revelation, and Patricia Marx's essay on plastic surgery provided fascinating insight into Korea. The short foreword by Jason Wilson and Introduction by Bill Bryson are also clever and amusing.
December 21, 2016
Better than some previous versions. You can see Bill Bryson's humor and politics in many of the picks.
March 2, 2024
I'm really surprised by the dour tone throughout this book. When you have Bill Bryson making the selections, you expect more humor, joy, and serendipitous activity. It's almost like he picked the opposite of what he writes.
I think some of the negativity comes from the cultural trends at the time these pieces were reported and written, basically 2014-2015. Even though this was before the chaos and hatred of the Trump era (paradoxically when travel was a needed respite from US insanity, even as half the population seemingly turned its back on the world), travel writers faced other headwinds. Most notably, they realized that travel was having a negative impact on many of the places that were visited. This has been going on for centuries, of course, and it's been documented and covered. But it reached mainstream consciousness more recently, and it's reflected in some of these stories. Climate change is another factor, as travel writers and responsible travelers by the 2010s at least were thinking about their footprint, even if they weren't doing anything about it. And more parochially, the generous budgets of newspapers and magazines for travel pieces had dried up by 2014. The fat years earlier in the century were a distant memory, and all these writers, regardless of how acclaimed they were, had to scramble for smaller contracts like never before. And I'm sure that last factor played into what they wrote about, and how they wrote it.
What stands out for me in this book, therefore, are the negatives. Ice melting in Greenland and ruining a thousand-year-old way of life. Desolation in Hollister, California. Environmental ruin in Butte, Montana. Maniacal surgery culture in South Korea. Cigarette culture and looking war in Ukraine (yeah, Russia's current invasion isn't the first). Radiation/Fukushima aftermath in Japan. Microbes destroying bodies. Even the stories that could be told in a totally kooky way, such as the North Korean film festival, have more about boredom than laughter at the absurdities. Pretty much the only one that has a jaunty style is a visit to Cuba, but even that has an underlying sadness because it's about how the "real" Cuba is elusive to visitors and is (was) becoming moreso as US tourists were freely allowed by the Obama administration (reversed, of course, by Trump).
It's not that the stories are bad. These writers have done excellent work to get embedded in the places they visit, and they are both sympathetic to what they see and also self-aware that they are outsiders. They are pleased with themselves for handling hardships, but also aware that they are privileged. But somehow they make everything seem like a grind. I guess real travel adventure is a grind, rather than the ease we see Instagram influencers showing us. This is travel without the edges sanded off, where you understand you've got to take multiple forms of transportation to reach a relatively pristine area, and where you might or might not see the wildlife you hope to see, and where you might get sick or forced to pay bribes. That type of travel isn't for everyone, and it's why we pay these people to tell us stories and also to forge paths so we can see perhaps half of what they got to experience, after they have carved the path and explained it to us.
If I had to rank a few stories to remember, I'd mention the ones that added places to my visiting list, based on what's realistic for me. The Matera region in Italy with its caves. The Dolomites in Italy and Austria (where I've been), but which is so magnificent I need to go again. Kerala, India, which seems to have amazing natural beauty and cultural overlap.
In short, this book is good enough, but not the best in the series.
I think some of the negativity comes from the cultural trends at the time these pieces were reported and written, basically 2014-2015. Even though this was before the chaos and hatred of the Trump era (paradoxically when travel was a needed respite from US insanity, even as half the population seemingly turned its back on the world), travel writers faced other headwinds. Most notably, they realized that travel was having a negative impact on many of the places that were visited. This has been going on for centuries, of course, and it's been documented and covered. But it reached mainstream consciousness more recently, and it's reflected in some of these stories. Climate change is another factor, as travel writers and responsible travelers by the 2010s at least were thinking about their footprint, even if they weren't doing anything about it. And more parochially, the generous budgets of newspapers and magazines for travel pieces had dried up by 2014. The fat years earlier in the century were a distant memory, and all these writers, regardless of how acclaimed they were, had to scramble for smaller contracts like never before. And I'm sure that last factor played into what they wrote about, and how they wrote it.
What stands out for me in this book, therefore, are the negatives. Ice melting in Greenland and ruining a thousand-year-old way of life. Desolation in Hollister, California. Environmental ruin in Butte, Montana. Maniacal surgery culture in South Korea. Cigarette culture and looking war in Ukraine (yeah, Russia's current invasion isn't the first). Radiation/Fukushima aftermath in Japan. Microbes destroying bodies. Even the stories that could be told in a totally kooky way, such as the North Korean film festival, have more about boredom than laughter at the absurdities. Pretty much the only one that has a jaunty style is a visit to Cuba, but even that has an underlying sadness because it's about how the "real" Cuba is elusive to visitors and is (was) becoming moreso as US tourists were freely allowed by the Obama administration (reversed, of course, by Trump).
It's not that the stories are bad. These writers have done excellent work to get embedded in the places they visit, and they are both sympathetic to what they see and also self-aware that they are outsiders. They are pleased with themselves for handling hardships, but also aware that they are privileged. But somehow they make everything seem like a grind. I guess real travel adventure is a grind, rather than the ease we see Instagram influencers showing us. This is travel without the edges sanded off, where you understand you've got to take multiple forms of transportation to reach a relatively pristine area, and where you might or might not see the wildlife you hope to see, and where you might get sick or forced to pay bribes. That type of travel isn't for everyone, and it's why we pay these people to tell us stories and also to forge paths so we can see perhaps half of what they got to experience, after they have carved the path and explained it to us.
If I had to rank a few stories to remember, I'd mention the ones that added places to my visiting list, based on what's realistic for me. The Matera region in Italy with its caves. The Dolomites in Italy and Austria (where I've been), but which is so magnificent I need to go again. Kerala, India, which seems to have amazing natural beauty and cultural overlap.
In short, this book is good enough, but not the best in the series.
November 25, 2017
Guest editor Bill Bryson, in his introduction to The Best American Travel Writing 2016, writes about learning about a mysterious lighthouse on a remote outcropping in the Scottish Hebrides, and after that immediately wanting to go there, even though it was quite difficult to do. I remember that feeling when I read about the Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson of the coast of the Florida Keys, which wasn't all that difficult to do but I understand the impetus. Finances and jobs and all that have limited my wandering for many years, but it's fun to be an armchair traveler.
This volume of the series was just okay, though. There weren't a lot of places written about that I would want to go to. There's even an article about North Korea (it may be my imagination, but it seems like there's one in every one of these collections) and a film festival there (Kim Jong-Il was a big fan). There are two articles about life above the Arctic circle, which is intriguing but I'll leave it to others to go there.
Frankly, most of the articles here are about the difficulty of traveling. Steven Rinella writes about various bacteria and parasites consumed in "Little Things That Kill You," and Michael Chabon writes humorously about getting lost in Morocco: "Nothing moves me more profoundly, I hasten to add, than discovering the extent of my own ignorance." A few of the articles are about environmental concerns, especially William Vollman's "Invisible and Insidious," about the radiation effects in Japan after the tsunami, which will convince most of us not to go there. Andrew W. Jones writes of a perilous journey from the Ukraine into Romania in "The Marlboro Men of Chernivitsi," when he and his girlfriend were persuaded to smuggle cigarettes.
The articles that had me thinking I'd like to go there were few and far between. I did like Patrick Symmes' "Peak Havana," about the Cuban city that I've always wanted to visit. I like his attitude: "But travel is best in the cracks, in the unexpected encounters between appointments, in the crucial subtleties revealed when—according to our expectations and schedules—nothing is happening."
The best written pieces aren't necessarily about places--Pico Iyer's "The Foreign Spell" expounds on the nature of being a foreigner. He notes: "the number of people living in lands they were not born to will surpass 300 million in the next generation." And Thomas Chatterton Williams writes eloquently about black Americans' experiences in Paris in "In Another Country." As usual, Patricia Marx is very funny as she looks at the plastic surgery craze in South Korea: "If you want to feel bad about your looks, spend some time in Seoul. An eerily high number of women there—and men, too—look like anime princesses."
Two pieces are about following in the footsteps of writers. Jeffrey Tayler does the Dostoevsky thing in St. Petersburg in "Fyodor's Guide," and the best article in the book is Paul Theroux's "Return of the Mockingbird." Theroux wrote a book about travels in the American south, and this part is focused on Monroeville, Alabama, the hometown of Harper Lee, who turned it into Maycomb in her book To Kill a Mockingbird. Theroux is generally regarded as the best travel writer in the business and this is evidence why. "In the Deep South, and Alabama especially, all the back roads seem to lead into the bittersweet of the distant past." He talks to many people who knew Lee, but he does not wish to disturb her (she was alive at the time of his visit).
So, I haven't made any imaginary travel plans based on this book. With Trump in office I no longer know if I can even visit Cuba legally, so Havana may have to wait. I want to have a drink at El Floridita, where Hemingway drank.
August 9, 2017
As with any books in this series, the 2016 BATW edition offers some well-reported, unusual stories suitable for armchair travel. It's best picked up in bites rather than read straight through, because otherwise all the essays sort of blend together, but as usual it's motivated me to get back into my own travel writing.
My favorite of the bunch was Justin Nobel's "Growing Old with the Inuit," which hit all the marks of interesting subject, location, storytelling and feeling. It was a bit depressing, yes, but really well told, as the writer tries to come to grips with his own, modern experience of seeing someone grow old -- long, drawn out, emotionally draining -- with that of (now bygone) Inuit traditions of quick but harsh goodbyes.
Readers looking for the kind of humor of a Bill Bryson book will likely be disappointed in his editorial picks, which are much more geared toward unusual places or travel stories, but Andrew Jones' tale of smuggling cigarettes in Ukraine, and Steven Rinella's piece for "Outside," on all the parasites he's acquired while enjoying the outdoors, probably hit that mark.
Besides those, other highlights (which, since these all came from previous publications elsewhere, can be read by themselves online -- recommended for photos alone) include Sara Corbett's story on trying to popularize Airbnb in Japan and Patricia Marx's take on plastic surgery in South Korea.
The remainder are either not too memorable, or a bit too cookie-cutter travel writing to be a "best" in my opinion, even though as a rule I <3 Dave Eggers and Michael Chabon, who both have picks in this anthology.
Overall: Solid read to check out in between books that might inspire some travel or travel writing, but still standard 3 stars for this type of collection.
My favorite of the bunch was Justin Nobel's "Growing Old with the Inuit," which hit all the marks of interesting subject, location, storytelling and feeling. It was a bit depressing, yes, but really well told, as the writer tries to come to grips with his own, modern experience of seeing someone grow old -- long, drawn out, emotionally draining -- with that of (now bygone) Inuit traditions of quick but harsh goodbyes.
Readers looking for the kind of humor of a Bill Bryson book will likely be disappointed in his editorial picks, which are much more geared toward unusual places or travel stories, but Andrew Jones' tale of smuggling cigarettes in Ukraine, and Steven Rinella's piece for "Outside," on all the parasites he's acquired while enjoying the outdoors, probably hit that mark.
Besides those, other highlights (which, since these all came from previous publications elsewhere, can be read by themselves online -- recommended for photos alone) include Sara Corbett's story on trying to popularize Airbnb in Japan and Patricia Marx's take on plastic surgery in South Korea.
The remainder are either not too memorable, or a bit too cookie-cutter travel writing to be a "best" in my opinion, even though as a rule I <3 Dave Eggers and Michael Chabon, who both have picks in this anthology.
Overall: Solid read to check out in between books that might inspire some travel or travel writing, but still standard 3 stars for this type of collection.
October 13, 2021
It never occurred to me to wonder what "travel writing" was, as a genre, beyond the glossy fillers in the magazines that don't fill up the pockets on the back seats of airplanes these days (2021). The essays in this book make it clear that this is a wide, deep, and really important genre, revolving around culture, geography, history, life, relationships .... All the important human-condition issues you could name come up here, contextualized in every form of staying situation. There are one-week investigative journalism sojourns, tourist expeditions, life-in-a-new-land experiences, all connected through being an outsider. Sometimes that condition fades into membership/ownership, more often the stay is a pass-through, and that must be what defines these works as travel writing (I'm sure Bill Bryson defines the category more elegantly in the introduction, but I don't have it to hand just now.) In any case, it's misleading to say I "finished" this book, because I will read several of the essays over and over again, just trying to see how the writers did what they did so well. Beautiful writing is just beautiful writing, and this is a full volume of it.
November 3, 2017
I bought this for four dollars online, so I don't feel terrible putting it down. I made it like three quarters through (collectively), skipping around some, and generally feeling not great about the anthology. Like, I'll give it a 5 or 6 out of 10, but right now all the 2017 books came out and those deserve my attention too. Bill Bryson wrote a cute, but frustrating, intro to this collection, and then we're write into a Michael Chabon piece that ironically needed a bit more meat for it to exist on its own. Corbett and Eggers did great stories, Ehrilch was a good, if depressing, addition, but beyond that the only ones that really struck me were the mountain climbing piece and the plastic surgery piece. Yeah, this didn't feel like necessarily the best? Or maybe 2016 just wasn't the best year for travel. However you slice it, this was fine bedtime reading, but it wasn't mindblowing, and it wasn't killer in any sense of the word.
September 29, 2018
After reading this book I actually learned that I enjoy travel writing. I would have never picked up a book like this, so thankful a friend recommended it to me. From now on I will keep my eyes peeled for travel novels because this one was fantastic. I loved how each small chapter was really accessible and could give you a personal account of a detailed dabble in some culture. This you do not get from mere reading non fiction, which is where I usually get my information on places from. I also enjoyed this more because the introduction explicitly explained that travel writing is a dying art due to the onslaught of social media, and as soon as I read that I knew I was in to something special.
August 12, 2025
I forgot how much I enjoy these "The Best American..." anthologies. I generally love travel-related nonfiction, and this collection is solid. The book is antithetical to the superficial lists found in so many travel-themed articles. The writers, both famous and lesser known, explore topics, sometimes whimsical, occasionally deeply uncomfortable, often in unlikely places, including Hollister, CA and Monroeville, AL. The Theroux and Vollmann essays are essentially excerpts from books released later, though they may have just been in the essay stage at this point. I happened upon this while searching for another book that wasn't available. However, I will make a point of catching up on more of these anthologies.
August 16, 2017
I wanted to like this more. I love travel. I love Bill Bryson. He says that the only people that have really studied the question of why people travel are those in academia and he can't understand their reports...so he edited this year's version of this book (There are several from other years as well, he didn't edit them all) . But to be honest, most of these essays were beyond my reading level...and were about such obscure places that I wasn't enticed to travel there. Which is, I thought, the point of travel writing.
February 13, 2018
It was my first time reading one of these “Best of American Travel Writing” collections but it wasn’t what I expected. In a bad way. Some chapters were beautiful and inspiring, others dull and overly political.
“Travel is like love, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.”
“Travel is like love, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.”
January 6, 2017
Very disappointing read for me. Especially as it was edited by Bryson, who I've enjoyed so much. The essays are largely about places that I wouldn't ever want to visit. And even when they are about places I would visit, the topics are odd and depressing. I love armchair traveling, but this book just makes me want to stay home and watch Rick Steves reruns.
September 12, 2018
Excellent book! A collection of travel writing by various authors. Outstanding experiences and perspectives. As usual Pico Iyer outshines them all with his writing! The Marlboro men of Chernivitsi is travel writing unlike any other. The author travels with Cigarette smugglers in a bus across countries in Eastern Europe. Things you don't usually think about while reading about travel!
June 3, 2022
Sometimes the writing gets monotonous, as with all story books, but how fantastic to have travel with history with sights and sounds and the lessons that you can learn. These are done annually and I bumped into them by chance, looking for the British ones, but I will check out the most current as well. Just perfect for going on holiday in your head and learning so much.
December 24, 2016
This is a great collection of eclectic stories by a number of wonderful writers . Not at all what I expected, i.e., brief glimpses of great places to travel. Rather it is a collection of stories about travelers to far flung places and in unusual situations. A great read about our planet.
November 30, 2017
This is one of the best books I have read this year so far. It is not a typical travel guide but exposes the best travel writing from different sources. All tell a story and most from an involved, personal perspective, not just the “Top Ten Roller Coasters in the US” type of travel writing.
January 4, 2021
Splendid glimpses into lives across the globe frequently dispelling myths and revealing the twists that make each story unique. The only prickly part was when one of the contributors misspelled Paterson, NJ as Patterson, while claiming to know the region.
March 28, 2021
Some were bit dragging and some were simply great works of travel writing. My favorite was "Rotten Ice" by Gretel Ehrlich about her greenland adventure with native hunters. I had been reading about global warming and climate change but this was really an eye opener.
May 7, 2017
Great book. If you enjoy travel literature, or are trying to write your own, this book is the one. Make sure you read "Rotten Ice" and Paul Theroux's essay.
September 13, 2017
Some stories were really nice and easy to read, but I found some of them boring
July 26, 2017
3/4 were worth the read and the others were beyond me as to why they were chosen. Most if the stories took me to places I've never been through enjoyable prose.
August 1, 2017
Great collection of a variety of essays
August 11, 2017
Fantastic essays!
August 25, 2017
The best essays were Rotten Ice (Greenland), Off Diamond Head (Hawaii), Marlboro Men of Chernivtsi (Romania), and Growing Old with the Inuit (Nunavut, Canada).
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