The Best American Travel Writing 2001 by Paul Theroux

The Best American Travel Writing 2001 Reviews

• 
  Jolanta (knygupe)

  2.9*
• 
  Joseph

  Travel writing is probably my favorite genre of books, and the Best American Travel Writing series form Houghton Mifflin provides the best of travel writing appearing in magazines and journals during the year.
  
  There are a good number of stories that take place in cold, northern climes, particularly Russia, Belarus, and Iceland. An article about child kidnappings by guerrillas in Uganda is particularly sobering, but then there's the lighthearted story about tramps in the Czech Republic who ape American cowboys, Indians, and GIs. Volcanoes in Ecuador and a trip to Charles Manson's hideaway near Death Valley. Lots of fun stuff.
• 
  Kristina

  Marcel Theroux's and Scott Anderson's pieces are brilliant, but the rest of them are a bit heavy and (considering there are FOUR from The New Yorker, where writers are paid by the word), long-winded. Not my favorite of the series by far.
• 
  Patrick McCoy

  When I saw that Paul Theroux, one of my favorite travel writers, edited two editions of the The Best American Travel Writing, I ordered both from 2001 and 2014. Inconveniently the 2014 volume arrived first,Patrick Symmes visits Columbia to interview the guerillas so I read that volume first and it was a strong collection. The same can be said of the 2001 volume. I think this is one of the strongest collections of the The Best American ... Writing series, a lot of great writing and interesting subjects. Some of the most compelling for me were: Scott Anderson's autobiographical essay on how he and his brother became war correspondents in "As Long as We Were Together, Nothing Bad Could Happen to Us," "Michael Finkel's harrowing first person account of trying to leave Haiti by engine-less boat in "Desperate Passage, " "Susan Minot's comprehensive and heartbreaking piece on child soldiers in Joseph Kony's army in "This We Came to Know Afterward," and Bob Shachochis' story of dear friends who lived in Turk and Caico Island years before they became a tourist destination in "Something Wild in the Blood." There were many more essays that educated me on a place or opened up new worlds such as: Gretel Ehrlich's travel with Grenland Eskimos in "The Endless Hunt," Peter Hessler samples life in China on the border between it and North Korea in "View from the Bridge," Kathleen Lee describes life in Sichuan province in China in her essay, "Into the Heart of the Middle Kingdom," Janet Malcom travel's to Chekhov's Yalta in "travels with Chekhov," Lawrence Millman introduces us to the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria in "Daughter of the Wind," David Quammen explains about wolves and life in post-Ceausescu Romania in "The Post-Communist Wolf," Edward Said laments on the lost charms of the Lebanese mountains as a summer retreat in "Paradise Lost," Thomas Swick is among the early travelers in post-war Croatia in Split in "Croatian Rock," Patrick Symmes goes to Columbia to interview guerillas on the renewed American commitment to defeat in "Miraculous Fishing," Jeffrey Tayler travels to Belarus to see what life is like there post USSR breakup in "Back in the USSR?", Jason Wilson's survey of Iceland and the food they eat there (yuck!) in "Dining Out in Iceland," as well as "Beyond Siberia," where Simon Winchester falls in love with Sakhalin Island that Chekhov thought was hell on earth. Great collection of essays, I learned a lot and found a lot of inspiration.
• 
  Monica

  oh lord every book of travel writing i read makes me want to give up all my plans for life and just roam the globe.
• 
  Joe1207

  Confused why Rushdie is in this, but great regardless.
  
  Worth revisiting:
  "Why We Travel" - Pico Iyer
  "Something Wild in the Blood" - Bob Shacochis
• 
  Will Mclaughlin

  My take-aways
  
  As Long As We Were Together...- Made me realize that I've done nothing with my childhood.
  Fox And Whale...- Makes me not want to climb
  Volcano Alley...- It amazes me what people do for jobs or what they feel called to do
  Among The Man Eaters- Long story and the most interesting part was the recap of Man Eaters Of Tsavo
  Iran, Are You Ready- Great article by a wonderful writer. Iran was in this westernized state in 2001. I wonder if it has continued or if the clerics have cracked down.
  The Endless Hunt- I regretted not having photos for this one. Great insight into the day to day activities in Greenland
  Desperate Passage- Could not believe Michael Finkel was willing to put his life on the line with these other Haitians trying to float to the US. Best story in the book.
  Desert Hideaway- Interesting premise about finding Charles Manson's desert hangout, but nothing happens.
  View From The Bridge- Interesting hearing accounts of how impovershed Chinese can witness prosperity in north Korea just by looking over this bridge. Gave me a very different perspective on conditions in NK.
  Why We Travel- Good essay by Iyer on the philosophy of gaining new perspectives
  Into The Heart...- Story meandered. I appreciate her connection to China, but nothing really happens because everything happens.
  Travels With Chekov- Worst story in the book. Janet Malcom spends so much time bitching about her interpreter and waxing on Chekov, there's no real sense of place.
  Daughter Of The Wind- Interesting in as far as it was about a place I had never heard of; the Mediterranean island Pantelleria. Read it with an Internet connection nearby for pictures.
  This We Came...- Great, sad piece of journalism about the horrors of civil war in Uganda. Good job mcsweeny's for promoting this kind of journalism
  The Place To Disappear- Interesting because it awakened me to this crossroad in bangkok where all tourists meet. Not interesting when it lapses into the "behold the corrupting western influences" vein.
  Post Communist Wolf- Better at explaining post communist eastern Europe than it was at making these wolves compelling.
  Dream Of Glorious Return- Really only compelling because it's a peek into the life of Salman Rushdie
  Paradise Lost- edward said's lament about his grand childhood memories of French influenced Lebanon devolving into Daytona beach. Wish I had pictures.
  Something Wild...- Made me realize I've done little with my adulthood. "Whatever your resources, the world was yours to the exact degree to which you summoned the fortitude and faith to step away from convention and orthodoxy and invent your own life."
  Croatian Rock- This story became a lot more interesting when Swick stopped trying to give me a history lesson and started getting in bar fights.
  Miraculous Fishing- FARC rebels have a penchant for making bad music videos for their cause.
  Back In The USSR- Had no idea there was a strong movement to repatriate Belarus back to Russia. Most interesting part was when he talked to a priest whom they suspected was KGB
  Big Chill- it's very cold in Siberia and they eat weird food...thanks.
  It's Just Like Amerika- Really interesting story about Eastern European hobos who imitate American hobos of the thirties. But they think of them more as cowboys.
  Dining Out In Iceland- this gave me a great deal of sympathy for Icelanders who are not allowed to whale because of the greenpeace lobby. I began to have less sympathy for their cultural traditions when they spoke or building curves into roads to avoid destroying elf homes.
  Beyond Siberia- Great closer. Had me rushing to Google images to see photos of aboriginal Siberians.
• 
  HeavyReader

  I’ve read many volumes of The Best American Travel Writing, and this is maybe the one I liked the least.
  
  Many of the stories were really, really depressing (“This We Came to Know Afterward” about abducted children of war in northern Uganda, “Desperate Passage” about the passengers on a Haitian refugee boat) and others were just boring (“Travels with Chekhov,” “Back in the USSR”).
  
  I did however, find some stories I liked. My favorite was probably “Is Just Like Amerika!” about tramping in the Czech Republic. I also enjoyed “Dining Out in Iceland” and “Beyond Siberia.” (For some reason, several stories in this collection are about cold, cold places.)
  
  “The Place to Disappear” (about Bankok’s Khao San Road) was also really good—so good in fact, I read it twice. Well, I guess I like more of this collection than I thought.
• 
  Diane

  "As Long as We Were Together, Nothing Bad Could Happen to Us" by Scott Anderson amazed me. The life those boys lived is nothing like my experience.
  I enjoyed "Post-Communist Wolf", having visited Romania, although in a car rather than trekking through the waist deep snow. The carnivore research is interesting, and just a good story.
  And Susan Orlean's "The place to disappear" about a diffent perspective of Bangkok.
  
  The two most important things about travel writing are sense of place and personal experience. This collection has that in spades.
  I picked up several books in the series and read stories randomly. This book is so far my favorite.
• 
  Jewel

  I have to confess that I only finished about half of this book, but it's been on my "currently reading" list for two years and I haven't touched in it at least half of that.
  At first I really enjoyed this; it's a bunch of short stories and many were thought provoking or filled with interesting and noteworthy things. Unfortunately, some of the stories felt like running through wet cement. Boring and exhausting to read. After a few of those, some longer than others, I gave up.
  There may have been other great stories beyond my breaking point...in fact, if you make it that far and have recommendations, feel free to let me know. :)
• 
  Mary Letterman

  It is a long road trip to Washington State University in Pullman, WA from Tacoma, WA, but I had my book on CD and that really helped. This 5 CD book is edited by Paul Theroux and includes travel writing by Russell Banks, Gretel Ehrlich, Salman Rushdie and other renowned travel writers. Mostly the pieces are read by the authors. The travel time flew as a experience the frozen north, a live volcano, traveling in a the hull of a small boat going from Haiti to Florida and more. It was an enjoyable and worthwhile use of my time.
• 
  hh

  a big fat enjoyable collection. every story in here deserves to be. the locales are far-flung and the writing is all top-notch, even when it's a subject matter that doesn't particularly speak to me. philip caputo's tale of man-eating lions, janet malcolm's chekhov travels, salman rushdie's return to india, and brad wetzler's dispatches on czech hobo culture were particularly great. is it any wonder i constantly get the travel bug?
• 
  Joanna

  A mixed bag of travel essays. Salmon Rushdie's essay about his return to India was a standout as was "Why We Travel" which was more of a philosophical piece than a travelogue. But other essays seemed overlong and less than thrilling. The quality of readers also varied somewhat. Still, an overall entertaining and engaging listen and ideal for lots of short errands rather than long commutes or drives.
• 
  Steve Hayden

  This book has some interesting stories in it but for the most part it left me waiting for the next good story. They call this a book on travel but I don't think I would be interested in any of the travels these writers wrote about. Also this is a sampler from 2001 and I read this 10 years later in 2011 and it left me wondering how things may have changed in these countries.
• 
  Jrobertus

  lot of engaging essays, esp. "desperate passage", about a writer who follows haitians being smuggled into the u.s.
• 
  Jim

  Found a tattered copy of this in the slim makeshift library at a run down army base in Kuwait. Helped pass the time, great travel stories.
• 
  Karl Seidel

  still reading it...but from the first couple of stories I can tell I will not be disappointed.
• 
  Karol

  This collection has some favorite travel stories, including Pico Iyer's "Why We Travel," Russell Banks's story about climbing the Andes, and Salman Rushdie's essay about pajama parties in Tehran.
• 
  Michelle

  The first two stories ("As Long as We Were Together, Nothing Bad Could Happen to Us" by Scott Anderson and "Fox and Whale, Priest and Angel" by Russell Banks) were especially enchanting.
• 
  Casey

  Some great stories. Some were too political for me to fully comprehend, but the stories were very satisfying.
• 
  Ginny Clapp

  I really, really love travel writing.