The Best American Travel Writing 2019

by Jason Wilson (Series Editor), Alexandra Fuller (Editor)

An eclectic compendium of the best travel writing essays published in 2018, collected by Alexandra Fuller. BEST AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITING gathers together a satisfyingly varied medley of perspectives, all exploring what it means to travel somewhere new. For the past two decades, readers have come to recognize this annual volume as the gold standard for excellence in travel writing.

Overlooking Guantanamo / Benz, Stephen --
The Great Divide / Crowell, Maddy --
Uncomfortable Silences: a walk in Myanmar / Fettling, David --
Finished / Gregory, Alice --
How the Chile Pepper took over the world / Gross, Matt --
I walked from Selma to Montgomery / Haile, Rahawa --
Morsi the Cat / Hessler, Peter --
A visit to Chernobyl:Travel in the Postapocalypse / Hewitt, Cameron --
Paper Tiger / Jarvis, Brooke --
Keepers of the Jungle / Knafo, Saki --
Mother Tongue / Loredo, Lucas --
Is this the most crowded island in the world? (and why that question matters) / MacGregor, Alex --
Taming the Lionfish / MacGregor, Jeff --
If these walls could talk / Markham, Lauren --
The floating world / Mauk, Ben --
Irmageddon / O'Neil, Devon --
Water and the wall / Paumgarten, Nick --
How Nashville became one big bachelorette party / Petersen, Anne Helen --
These Brazilians traveled 18 hours on a riverboat to vote. I went with them / Sims, Shannon --
Cursed fields / Sneider, Noah --
The end of the line / Vollmann, William T. --
"The Greatest" / Wilson, Jason --
Tributary / Yen, Jessica --
Tourist Trap / Zha, Jianying

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Essays, Short Stories, Travelogue, China, Anthologies

400 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

JASON WILSON is the author of Godforsaken Grape: A Slightly Tipsy Journey through the World of Strange, Obscure, and Underappreciated Wine, to be published in April by Abrams Books.
Wilson is also the author of Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits, and the series editor of The Best American Travel Writing since its inception in 2000.
A regular contributor to the Washington Post, Wilson wrote an award-winning drinks column for years. Wilson has also been beer columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, dining critic for the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Magazine, and has written for the New York Times, NewYorker.com, AFAR, National Geographic Traveler, and many other magazines and newspapers.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume was supposed to inspire me to travel but it only really inspired me to vote and recycle. Which are both good things... but I already do those things. I was hoping for more exceptional travel writing but only one or two articles fulfilled this. Hopefully, the next one won’t be so political even though it’s tough to not discuss politics these days.

[Alex Lair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the essays were amazing and captivating. A handful were underwhelming, but definitely worth checking out

[Cassie Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how this collection was clearly edited with political messages/themes. Some may really dislike that, but I felt it emphasized how travel can affect our worldview.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great series. I learned a lot about things I didn't even know I wanted to know about!

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fairly uneven selection, with a few really memorable pieces and a few that I'm surprised even made consideration for any "best of" series. Fittingly, a number of pieces remind us how the Trump administration turned the clock back on so many positive things, as these pieces were in many cases reported on in 2017 and published in 2018. They are reminders of the evil of that regime and how its stupidity, racism, and utter stupidity damaged everything from precious nature reserves to international cooperation to civil rights. You realize all this when you're living in the US, but you are reminded of the scope of it when you read travel pieces that, by their very nature, are about more long-term matters.

The book opens strongly with a piece on Guantanamo that reveals a lot of surprises about the site and reminds us that Americans were basically banned from going to Cuba by Trump, after things were finally opened up. There's another piece about Cuba as well, a more touristy one, that is charming.

The second piece is one of the hardest-hitting, an angry Black woman's walking journey from Selma, AL to Montgomery, AL, to retrace one of the iconic walks of the Civil Rights Movement. I've driven the route and visited sites in both of the cities, and she's spot-on in writing about both the growing pride among some people over what was accomplished and the ongoing attempt by private citizens to hide or downplay it. I really like this piece as well because it's something that a typical American can do, rather than the pieces that are about traveling to some exotic corner of China or Russia. Those latter trips are expensive and extremely time-consuming, beyond the means of most of us.

On the subject of Russia, the piece about visiting Chernobyl is pretty cool. In a pre-COVID world, that would seem to be an incredibly dangerous idea: go to a place full of radiation. Now we know that just getting there would probably make you sick.

Unfortunately, about midway through the book, the selections are pedestrian and rather obvious. The one about water trips down the Rio Grande has been done a lot, as even the author of the article acknowledges by citing books and articles by prior explorers. The fact that his trip is only about 5 days on a small section of the river (trips have taken about 90 days of canoeing and portage) adds to my wonder about why this story is included. But given Trump's hatred of Mexico and intentions to create a barrier wall, I guess there needed to be something about the topic in a book published at that time. There's another Trumpy story in which a reporter visited about a half-dozen of his prestige properties and found them to be rather mundane. They were pretty much all empty as well, except for a Vancouver hotel that had a lot of wealthy Chinese tourists (and I would imagine the Chinese soured on Trump by the end of his regime). That's sort of a fun article, though the author incorrectly states more than once his prediction that the Trump administration will end with a whimper, not a bang (or an insurrection and criminal trials). Let's just say I'm not looking at that reporter for this year's Super Bowl prediction!

A few stories were disappointments, especially one about bachelorette parties in Nashville. As a parent of a daughter who's in bachelorette season, I was expecting a fun sendup of the whole thing. Instead, it's a repetitive complaint that the parties have expanded beyond Nashville's Music Row and into neighborhoods where the women rent Air BnBs. This is sort of an interesting point -- that the search for authenticity as tourists is ruining the authentic areas for its residents (a point made in a thousand articles about Paris, Amsterdam, etc.) -- but it's stated about six times. Also restated at least four times is that there's a mural of wings at which every bride-to-be wants to be photographed, and that people will wait up to 90 minutes to get their perfect Instagram photo. It only needed to be said once.

I hated a story about lionfish and the people who hunt them off the Florida coast. I don't hate lionfish nor people who kill them because their invasive predators. I hated the style of the article, which was a macho, staccato retread of "Rolling Stone" journalism of 50 years ago. The article was published in "Smithsonian," and maybe that's a fresh style for a stodgy magazine, but the editor of this volume should have known better. Another clunker was about chili peppers, which was so dull that I didn't even finish it.

Of course, in any compilation volume people have their favorites and stuff they dislike. If you're interested in US travel, there isn't much here that's good. The Alabama the Trump resort pieces are quite good. If you are interested in China or Russia, there's good stuff on both, with the China pieces focused on people (searching for the family's home village, how China takes dissidents on tours during politically sensitive times) and the Russia ones on the environment (death of reindeer in the tundra, Chernobyl). And the Caribbean gets its due, including a piece on hurricanes that is particularly eerie as we seem to be getting more and more severe hurricane seasons. The best pieces are ominous, not a lot of fun and light to be found in this edition, and maybe that's what tourism has become --- a window into the scary parts of our future.

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depressing AF. Who knew even hippopotami in Namibia succumb to anthrax. Only ray of hope is humans' voracious appetite may keep lionfish in check.

[Clifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many very fine essays in this anthology, but also many of them don't seem to me to be "travel writing," so I'm not sure they belong in this collection.

[Sadaf Trimarchi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the last week of August, 2020 - the quarantine shut down is still in effect, here in New Jersey and it’s a week before the kids head back to distance learning for the start of the new school year. I am also on the first vacation I’ve had since July 2019, when the world and the concept of traveling meant something very different. My vacation destination was fairly humble - down the shore to Ortley Beach for a few days, hoping to enjoy the sunshine and stay socially distanced from other beach goers, while I read books, dipped my toes into the Atlantic, and ate take out meals from the local restaurants.

As I packed my beach reading, I came across this digital copy of travel tales, and thought how remarkable it would be to envision what traveling used to look like, just a year ago... when the idea of going anywhere in the world was still a possibility. It sounded so nostalgic and so endearing at the same time.

I’m not a fan of short stories. I’ve always had trouble embracing the genre, but I keep trying because I know there’s a perfect time and place for writing that can be easily embraced and digested in short sound bites. Vacation short travel tales worked well for me. As I sat there on the beach today, looking on the waves that caught the sunlight and thinking about some of the stories I read in this edition, I appreciated how vastly different the concept of “travel” can be for each of us. Reading “about” traveling, while traveling myself felt so supremely indulgent.. I almost had to congratulate myself for my self-care.

But, “travel writing,” isn’t necessarily about penning a guidebook of a place and time. Rather, as some of these stories did - you see a glimpse of a particular scene.. (Nashville reimagined as a Bachelorette destination) or a particular lifestyle... (a Swiss boarding school) or phenomenon.. perhaps some historical significance to it.. (Jammu and Kashmir and the divided identity) or visuals that come alive with their descriptions that appeal to your taste-buds or your deep-memory remembrances of flavor ( the global embrace of the humble chili pepper.. or the wild adventures of Lion fish killers - I loved this one so much I had to follow one of the diver’s Instagram accounts because she sounded like such a badass).

Overall - great read, can happily skim through what looks really good or not. Some political commentary that seems quite apropos as we gear into the final months before the US Presidential election.

[Darth Jader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book about the best travel writing of 2018. The book gets a four star rating mainly because there were only about two to three articles that I would classify as five star articles. Those articles were: How the Chile Pepper Took Over the World (a very fun article looking at the spread of Chile peppers across three unique countries and how that influx has affected the culture and cuisine of said country), A Visit to Chernobyl: Travel in the Postapocalypse (basically an article about traveling to Chernobyl years after the nuclear meltdown and how the site looks now versus back in the day), Paper Tiger (about hunting for a mythological (or is it) tiger in Tasmania), and Taming the Lionfish (about multiple groups (including one of all women (badass!) that are hunting invasive lionfish species off the coast of Florida and trying to convince retailers and the American public that the fish is safe to eat ((even though it has a very poisonous and painful sting from its external spines)).

I did like the rest of the articles, I just didn't find them as engaging or entertaining as the articles mentioned above. Therefore, the book gets a four star review because a majority of the articles, while informative, took a while to develop an interesting plot or were a kind of slog to read through.

I did see a lot of reviews complaining that this book was very political. I don't agree with that as there were only a couple of articles that were specifically political, but they still revolved around travel, conservation, or contemplating the meaning of building a boarder wall (the article is not related to the US boarder wall, but one erected between Norway and Russia). I still give this book a chance as there are a few really good and interesting articles that I really enjoyed reading and (even though some articles were very slow in developing or slightly over informative) I didn't struggle to finish or skip any article as I still enjoyed learning about the topic being covered.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a previous year in the best American travel writing series (think it was 2000), and absolutely loved it (5 star rating). This year (2019) however, it sadly became nothing more than a collection of political rants. Yes, the left ruins everything it touches, and in this case, they completely ruined travel writing for me. It is becoming very apparent that editors/publishers exert an extreme amount of control over the thoughts/content of any budding writer. Either follow the partly line, or your work will never see the light of day (freedom of speech truly is dying). Who needs book burning when you have the thought police filtering content up front, sigh. Judging by the SJW intellectual scowl of the guest editor pic on the back cover, I initially guessed that they were responsible for the focus on politics rather than travel, but then I noticed that the series editor conveniently had one of their works published here (can you say suck-up), and it was the worst (well, most mediocre) political hit piece of the lot. Yes, we understand that you are mad at America for who they elected, but we didn't buy this book to get scolded by some wannabe intellectual elitist. We really were hoping for a temporary reprieve from politics. Next time please focus on travel, or you will completely destroy this series. Side note: I gave it 2 stars rather than 1 because the lone non-political piece about the chili pepper tour was awesome! :-)

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars (arguably 4), as this collection was a lot more enjoyably readable for me than previous editions, even if there aren't too many articles that will stick with me long term.

The 2019 edition seemed to swing back more toward interesting (to me) travel narratives than previous years, which were a lot more, idk, political or interesting topic with a side of travel. There was certainly a lot of politics, reflecting, as writing does, on the current state of affairs in the world (with at least a couple pieces focusing on walls and nations or cultures divided, and one very Trump-focused) but not in a heavy handed way.

Favorites include:
* Irmageddon - because St. John is also in my heart and I have family and friends there as well. I actually read this one before it was selected for BATW and was glad (but also sad) to see it included.
* How Nashville Became One Big Bachelorette Party - An interesting take on how bringing travelers to a destination can, in theory, ruin it for the locals, and what this really means (or doesn't). I remember maybe 10 years ago when Nashville was seemingly on everyone's to-visit list - and actually visited for a birthday some years ago to check out its hyped-up food scene with a side of music - and can see some of the same patterns emerging as the city seemed to be constantly building and rebuilding itself.
* Morsi the Cat - because I almost forwarded this to a friend to read, after I read it, as it's kind of about adapting to living in a new location (but also not).
* Tourist Trap - because I had no idea that China sent activists on (extremely monitored and chaperoned) holidays to keep them from political activism. Wild, and interesting.

Least favorite:
* The End of the Line - because for me it was way too history focused and not enough personal reflection or present-day narrative. It's certainly relevant, given the anniversary of the end of WWI, and the piece likewise was well reported with a deep dive on the history, but I would have liked to read more about what it means to visit the locations 100 years later.

Other thoughts: The Foreword is a bit of a pessimistic take on 2018's travel writing and a surprising slam on the NYT's new travel editor and the Times' shifting policy to use local writers for travel stories, rather than, well, actual travelers. I'm seeing a similar distaste for NYT's travel writing from various travel writing groups that I follow, which is interesting.

It's also the 20th edition of this collection, and seems to include a far less diverse spread of publications than in previous years (if you want a better chance to be included here, write for the New Yorker...) but that's also reflective of the industry in general (RIP, Pacific Standard, which is represented here but never will be again). I look forward to seeing what they might pluck from the Airbnb Magazine in the future, as one of the most memorable travel stories I've read this year so far has come out of that unlikely source. Likewise, Longreads seems to be a good source.

Bottom line: If you have interest in this series at all, this is a good one to pick up.

[Perri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally love this series. Almost all of these, with the exception of a few standouts (The Greatest, Tributary, Taming the Lionfish, The Floating world, Irmageddon, How Nashville Became One Big Bachelorette Party) were hard to get through. WAY too much about animals (reindeer, monkeys, tigers) for a book that should focus on the traveler and his/her experiences beyond the animal kingdom, and with fellow humans or wrestling with his/her own heads, in my opinion and a lot of dense, boring stuff to get through and unenlightened writing.

In general, given that this series is the best AMERICAN travel writing, I'd like see more America in here — especially small towns and our natural wonders.

On the bright side, Wilson's foreword and takedown of the NYT's travel editor is inspired and point-on, and his own Trump hotel essay is wonderfully conceived and executed. Also a great metaphor for most of this book: Just south of mediocre!

[Alex Sun · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a waste of time! Alexandra Fuller is from a racist family. All the stories she chose for this book are about third world countries’ poor living, racist wars, and shallow political views on races from the regions she might never even been to but she likes from her racist background. I used to be a fan of the annual best American travel writing books: 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 were all filled with inspiring travel stories from every corners of the world with diverse views. 2019, because of this terrible editor, Alexandra Fuller, is a complete disappointment! If you love travel stories, you may want to try the 2018 or wait for the 2020 book. DONOT waste your money on this book. What a dreadful read.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fine, if longer than strictly necessary, collection, but nothing special. My favorite piece was “I Walked From Selma to Montgomery,” which feels especially prescient right now.

Unsurprisingly, many of these pieces focus on the affects of the climate crisis on various places around the world. I suspect future iterations of this collection will increasingly incorporate these types of stories as the crisis continues to worsen.

Also, a lot of these pieces didn’t really seem like “travel” writing. Many felt more like history or political or nature writing, all of which of course often overlap with travel writing. Still, it was a bit of a frustrating reading experience from that point of view.

[Ann Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some great stories, as always, in this book. I was delighted by the story about the Florida lionfish festival and fascinated by the floating villages of people of Vietnamese descent in Cambodia. And the romp through Trump properties all over the world was amusing. But so many are so depressing. If you read travel writing to escape, let me not recommend this particular collection. If present day events are not depressing enough, the one historical piece is about trench warfare in World War I. So I learned some stuff, and I didn't disagree with any of the political pieces, but it wasn't as much fun as I'd hoped.

[Amy Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorite essays: The Great Divide (Maddy Cromwell), uncomfortable Silences: A Walk in Myanmar (David Fettling), Finished (Alice Gregory), Morsi the Cat (Peter Hessler), Taming the Lionfish (Jeff MacGregor), The Floating World (Ben Mauk), How Nashville Became One Big Bachelorette Party (Anne Helen Peterson)

I couldn’t finish the last essays of this book, not because they weren’t good, but the quality of story telling and writing style varied so much as to give me whiplash. Sometimes, it’s okay to stop reading a thing. And sometimes, you’re reminded people stick to one publication for a reason.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The editor opens up these essays by saying:

" I took strange comfort in these essays not only for my own heart, but for the hearts of all humanity, precisely because they reminded me that clear minds and generous hearts are scouring the world for the fragments that might connect and heal us through this moment, through our terrible broken present."

I found that I did, indeed, take strange comfort from the essays. I am not sure I always saw how the theme of travel was playing a role, rather than investigative journalism, but I didn't mind.

[M]

I couldn’t get through the first one. I’m not sure that it was about traveling so much as it was an essay about another personal essay that took place in the same location the author was visiting. I’m going to assume it got better but I’m not really interested in what the outside of Guantanamo Bay looks like anyway so I’m just gonna move on.

I’m sure I’ll get back to trying to read this eventually but the library loan ended before I could bring myself to move onto the next essay. Too many other things I want to read.

[Alan Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love this series. Disappointed they are no longer doing them. Definitely recommend them for others to read, especially those who live in a small world, closed off from the challenges of others.

The writing in this edition is great, as always. My challenge with it is in the diversity of selections. Too many of the choices are roughly similar in topic nature. Just as an example, both of the last two stories are about China and, overall, there was a great similarity in the subject matter.

I'm also disappointed the writers were male dominated with only, roughly, a third being women.

[Booth Babcock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've always loved this series and thought some travel lit would be a good "getaway" while I'm stuck at home due to COVID19. Unfortunately, this has been my least favorite of the series, as the guest editor has selected in favor of articles that reflect her political position - which I 100% respect and agree with, but speaking personally, isn't what I am looking for in this series, so didn't land well with me. May work well for other readers.

[Dave Frye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read everyone of these books over the years and 2019 might be the best. The visit to Chernobyl, the devastation to beautiful St John, remote Brazilian River voting methods, China’s treatment of dissidents, etc all excellent. For those who enjoy excellent travel writing, give this book a try.
Interesting question for the talented editor- what will 2020 look like with massive impact of COVID?

[p · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!! This was such a great read. This is my first crack at travel writing, a stepping stone to reading more non-fiction and I really enjoyed it. Honestly, there were only one or two essays I didn't enjoy. This collection reminded me that one of the main tenets of travel is history! It was so fun to learn things through this book.

[Ron Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's sad. Journalism is dying. There used to be a long tradition of newspapers, magazines and publishers sending people around the world to show life in a different light. But now we're down to Buzzfeed and Airbnb magazine.

[Donna Luu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only a few of these were duds (too long and more about history or politics than travel). My favorite articles were Lionfish, Chile Pepper, Cursed Fields, and Tourist Trap. As always, the Arctic fascinates.

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good collection, not too political (which is a good thing, based on last year's collection), well-balanced between the interesting and the unknown. I enjoyed the personal stories, the out-of-the-way places, the issues confronting these people.

[Jason Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best collection in years

[Kaeeap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the article written about visiting the Trump properties around the world - drowning in mediocrity.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some excellent selections in this anthology.

[Lud · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Love the Lionfish article.

[Megan Pendleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was thrilled to see Alexandra Fuller’s name on the cover but came away enjoying only 60% of the short stories. Particularly enjoyed Morsi the Cat.