The Best American Travel Writing 2009 opens with an introduction by Simon Winchester, famous for his books filled with a journalist's level of detail about interesting people and places. With the story of a very bright young woman who doesn't know her geography, Winchester implicates us for a similar lack of knowledge. I don't know my geography either, but I've spent long, otherwise dull hours in the car looking at a map, wondering where the names come from, how there can be so much land on the earth, and when I'll get to see whichever place name is currently tickling my fancy. After Winchester's introduction, you're ready to travel and willing to read about any old place someone else has gone and found interesting enough to write about.
The essays in this volume are consistently excellent, though each will appeal more or less to different tastes. Jay Cowan perfectly captures the gorgeous Alpine scenery, daring stunt-skiers, and camera tricks in "Tracking Down James Bond;" I began reading Frank Bures's essay on magical penis dismemberment with muted hilarity and disbelief; Bronwen Dickey infuses Appalachia and the Chattooga River with the wildness and beauty that Deliverance overwhelmed with its portrayal of the area as a haven for violent rednecks; Chuck Klosterman, usually a chronicler of the hip and the angst-ridden heart, writes about how his German students experience the United States through its celebrities; Tony Perrottet writes the least scandalous essay I can imagine about touring locations famous for eros and perversion; in "A Dip in the Cold," Lynne Cox tours some geography almost no one else in the world will ever see, the frigid water in the Northwest Passage, where she swims surrounded by icebergs and lives to write the essay.
Those who love Disney World might be slightly put off by Seth Stevenson's "The Mecca of the Mouse," but its behind-the-scenes view of the Disney empire is fascinating, exhausting, and richly descriptive. In "Hotels Rwanda," by Jay Kirk, we tromp around in the Rwandan jungle, looking for the elusive mountain gorilla and learning a thing or two about ecotourism, the jungle, and his human companions; and another exploration of the wild, and wild animals, leads us into Caroline Alexander's "Tigerland," set in the jungle of India. It brings to mind Rudyard Kipling stories, but is set in our present, where tigers are protected from people but still manage to eat one occasionally.
As all good travel writing should do, this anthology takes us to places we'll never see (and may never have heard of). These authors are masters of bringing the world into our imaginations, inspiring journeys by cleaving faithfully to the writing teacher's admonition to show, not tell.
As all good travel writing should do, this anthology takes us to places we'll never see (and may never have heard of). These authors are masters of bringing the world into our imaginations, inspiring journeys by cleaving faithfully to the writing teacher's admonition to show, not tell.
