The Best American Travel Writing 2016 (The Best American Series ®)

Why do I travel? Why does anyone of us travel? Bill Bryson poses these questions in his introduction to The Best American Travel Writing 2016, and though he admits, “I wasn’t at all sure I knew the answer,” they are questions worthy of examination. While the various contributors to this collection all travel for different reasons, one thing is for certain - they come back with stories. Whether traversing the Arctic by dogsled, attending a surreal film festival in North Korea, or strolling the streets of a fast-changing Havana, their insights into the world and the human condition are illuminating and enthralling, providing an answer: This is why I like to travel.Edited by travel writer Bryson, this is a smorgasbord of different voices weighing in on such varied topics as the vanishing areas of solid ice in Greenland and its effect on the Inuit hunters, the rapidly increasing popularity of plastic surgery in South Korea, a film festival in secretive North Korea, and the nuclear power plant failure at Fukushima. Each writer brings his or her passions and opinions to the subject they have travelled to study and while some pieces may appeal more than others, there is something for everyone in this compilation. The Best American Travel Writing 2016 includes Michael Chabon, Alice Gregory, Paul Theroux, Dave Eggers, Helen Macdonald, Sara Corbett, Stephanie Pearson,Thomas Chatterton Williams, Pico Iyer, and others.Bill Bryson, guest editor, is the best-selling author of A Walk in the Woods; A Short History of Nearly Everything; One Summer: America, 1927; The Road to Little Dribbling; and numerous other books.Jason Wilson, series editor, is the author of Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits and the digital wine series Planet of the Grapes. He has written for the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Daily News, and many other publications. He is the founding editor of The Smart Set and Table Matters. Why do I travel? Why does anyone of us travel? Bill Bryson poses these questions in his introduction to The Best American Travel Writing 2016 , and though he admits, "I wasn't at all sure I knew the answer," they are questions worthy of examination. While the various contributors to this collection all travel for different reasons, one thing is for certain?they come back with stories. Whether traversing the Arctic by dogsled, attending a surreal film festival in North Korea, or strolling the streets of a fast-changing Havana, their insights into the world and the human condition are illuminating and enthralling, providing an answer: This is why I like to travel . The Best American Travel Writing 2016 includes Michael Chabon, Alice Gregory, Paul Theroux, Dave Eggers, Helen Macdonald, Sara Corbett, Stephanie Pearson,Thomas Chatterton Williams, Pico Iyer, and others BILL BRYSON, guest editor, is the best-selling author of A Walk in the Woods; A Short History of Nearly Everything; One Summer: America, 1927; The Road to Little Dribbling ; and numerous other books. JASON WILSON, series editor, is the author of Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits; Spaghetti on the Wall; and the forthcoming Why Wine Matters. He has written for the Washington Post Magazine, The New Yorker , the New York Times , and many other publications, and has won awards for Best Food Column from the Association of Food Journalists four times This collection gathers the best travel essays from The New Yorker , Harpers , GQ and more—featuring Paul Theroux, Alice Gregory, Dave Eggers and others. Why do I travel? Why does anyone of us travel? Bill Bryson poses these questions in his introduction to The Best American Travel Writing 2016 , and though he admits, “I wasn’t at all sure I knew the answer,” these questions start us on the path of some fascinating explorations. While the various contributors to this collection travel for different reasons, they all come back with stories. Whether traversing the Arctic by dogsled, attending a surreal film festival in North Korea, or strolling the streets of a fast-changing Havana, some of today’s best travel writers share their experiences of the world and the human condition, offering, if not answers, than illumination and insight. The Best American Travel Writing 2016 includes Michael Chabon, William T. Vollmann, Helen Macdonald, Sara Corbett, Stephanie Pearson, Thomas Chatterton Williams, Pico Iyer, and others. White guy in a djellaba / Michael Chabon -- How can we find more people like you? / Sara Corbett -- The actual Hollister / Dave Eggers -- Rotten ice / Gretel Ehrlich -- Off Diamond Head / William Finnegan -- Climb every mountain / Alice Gregory -- The foreign spell / Pico Iyer -- The Marlboro men of Chernivtsi / Andrew W. Jones -- What's left behind / Kea Krause -- Hiding from animals / Helen MacDonald -- About face / Patricia Marx -- A cave with a view / D.T. Max -- Born to travel / Freda Moon -- The reddest carpet / Mitch Moxley -- Growing old with the Inuit / Justin Nobel -- The green heaven / Stephanie Pearson -- Darwin's forgotten world / Tony Perrottet -- Little things that kill you / Steven Rinella -- Swiss dream / David Rowell -- Peak Havana / Patrick Symmes -- Fyodor's guide / Jeffery Tayler -- Return of the mockingbird / Paul Theroux -- Invisible and insidious / William T. Vollman -- In another country / Thomas Chatterton Williams. Presents an anthology of the best travel writing published in the past year, selected from American magazines and newspapers Presents an anthology of the best travel writing published in 2016, selected from magazines, newspapers, and web sites. A collection of the best travel writing by American authors written in 2015