The Best American Travel Writing 2014
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Tony Perrottet was born in Australia and was a denizen of the East Village of Manhattan for many years. He is a contributing writer at Smithsonian magazine and a regular at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, and other publications. He is the author of five books, most recently Napoleon’s Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped and The Sinner’s Grand Tour: A Journey Through the Historical Underbelly of Europe. He is currently working on a book about travel in ancient China.
Matthew Power was a contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine and wrote for GQ, the New York Times, Outside, and Men’s Journal. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Travel Writing, The Best American Spiritual Writing, The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He was a three-time finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in international reporting. Power was the recipient of the 2005 Society of American Travel Writers Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Gold Award for Best Land Travel Article and the 2008 Bronze Award for Best Adventure Travel Article, and he was a 2004 nonfiction scholar at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. He died in March, while on assignment in Uganda.
Steven Rinella is the author of The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine and American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon. His writing has appeared in many publications, including Outside, Field & Stream, Men’s Journal, the New York Times, Glamour, and Bowhunter.
David Sedaris is the author of the books Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Holidays on Ice, Naked, and Barrel Fever. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and BBC Radio 4. He lives in England.
Peter Selgin’s Drowning Lessons won the 2008 Flannery O’Connor Award. He has also written a novel and two books on fiction craft. His memoir, Confessions of a Left-Handed Man, was shortlisted for the William Saroyan Prize. He teaches at Antioch University and is assistant professor of creative writing at Georgia College & State University.
Bob Shacochis is the National Book Award–winning author of seven books and countless magazine pieces. His most recent novel, The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2014.
Alex Shoumatoff has 10 published books and since 2001 has been the editor of a website, Dispatches from the Vanishing World. He was a staff writer for The New Yorker from 1978 to 1987 and a founding contributing editor of Outside and Condé Nast Traveler. He is a senior contributing editor to Vanity Fair.
Gary Shteyngart was born in Leningrad in 1972 and came to the United States seven years later. His debut novel, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. His second novel, Absurdistan, was named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by the New York Times Book Review, as well as a best book of the year by Time, the Washington Post’s “Book World” section, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, and many other publications. He has been selected for Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists list. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, and Travel + Leisure, and his books have been translated into more than 20 languages. He lives in New York City. His most recent work is the memoir Little Failure.
Thomas Swick is the author of a travel memoir, Unquiet Days: At Home in Poland, and a collection of travel stories, A Way to See the World: From Texas to Transylvania with a Maverick Traveler. He has written for the Missouri Review, American Scholar, North American Review, Oxford American, Wilson Quarterly, Ploughshares, Boulevard, Smithsonian, and Afar. This is his sixth appearance in The Best American Travel Writing.
Patrick Symmes is a journalist who has published more than 30 articles in Outside magazine. He is the author of Chasing Che and The Boys from Dolores, both of which treat the revolutionary history of Latin America.
Jeffrey Tayler is a contributing editor at The Atlantic and has also written for National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian, Foreign Policy, American Scholar, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications. He is the author of many critically acclaimed books, including Facing the Congo and River of No Reprieve. His seventh book, Topless Jihadis: Inside Femen, the World’s Most Provocative Activist Group, is out now as an e-book. “In the Abode of the Gods” is his fifth story selected for inclusion in The Best American Travel Writing. Since 1993, he has lived in Moscow.
Colson Whitehead was born in New York City in 1969. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York magazine, Harper’s Magazine, and Salon. He is the author of several books: The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, The Colossus of New York, Apex Hides the Hurt, and Sag Harbor. His most recent novel, Zone One, was published in 2011. His newest book is a work of nonfiction, The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death, published in 2014. Whitehead was a 2002 MacArthur Fellow.
Sean Wilsey is the author of the memoir Oh the Glory of It All and coeditor, with Matt Weiland, of State by State: A Panoramic View of America. He currently serves as editor-at-large for McSweeney’s.
Notable Travel Writing of 2013
SELECTED BY JASON WILSON
ANDREW BEAHRS
Three-Stone Fire. Virginia Quarterly Review, Fall.
KIMBERLY BEEKMAN
Riding the Waves. Skiing, December.
MOLLY BEER
Fire Ants. Vela, November 18.
FRANK BURES
The Fallout. Washington Post Magazine, March 24.
TOM CHIARELLA
1,000 Miles of Men. Esquire, June/July.
NATHAN DEUEL
Once Upon a Time in the Middle East. Morning News, October 2.
CARA DORRIS
My Fake Levantine Romance. New York Times Magazine, October 13.
JOSH EELLS
Night Club Royale. The New Yorker, September 30.
EVE FAIRBANKS
Pardon’d. Witness, Spring.
DAVID FARLEY
A Sort of Happy Ending. World Hum, June 8.
MIKE FINKEL
First Australians. National Geographic, June.
Stranded on the Roof of the World. National Geographic, February.
SALLY FRANSON
The Tour Guide. Witness, Spring.
STEVE FRIEDMAN
Nirvana Now! Backpacker, June.
ELIZABETH GILBERT
Don’t Mess with Perfect. Outside, April.
A. A. GILL
Goodward Vibrations. Vanity Fair, September.
ROWAN JACOBSEN
The Homeless Herd. Harper’s Magazine, August.
JAMIE JAMES
That Old Bali Magic. National Geographic Traveler, June/July.
MARK JENKINS
America’s Cathedrals. National Geographic Traveler, October.
Get Up and Go. Outside, October.
Maxed Out on Everest. National Geographic, June.
On the Trail with the First Skiers. National Geographic, June.
RACHEL PIEH JONES
“Bring a Big Knife to School” Day. Smart Set, July 31.
ARIEL LEVY
Thanksgiving in Mongolia. The New Yorker, November 18.
PETER JON LINDBERG
The Books They Carried. Travel + Leisure, August.
SANDRA TSING LOH
Remembrance of Things Past in Egypt. More, May.
DOUG MACK
Go Your Own Way. Morning News, July 24.
JUSTIN NOBLE
The Search for Granny-dump Mountain. Tin House, October 22.
MICHAEL PATERNITI
The Luckiest Village in the World. GQ, May.
TONY PERROTTET
Rich Tourist, Poor Tourist. New York Times, May 26.
EDWARD READICKER-HENDERSON
Heaven Scent. Afar, August/September.
PAUL SALOPEK
Out of Eden. National Geographic, December.
A Stroll Around the World. New York Times, November 24.
DAVID SEDARIS
&n
bsp; Long Way Home. The New Yorker, April 1.
NOAH GALLAGHER SHANNON
To Land Unknown. New York Times Magazine, May 19.
JESSE SMITH
Florida’s Promise. Smart Set, March 26.
THOMAS SWICK
Warsaw, Liberated. National Geographic Traveler, August/September.
THOMAS CHATTERTON WILLIAMS
How Hipsters Ruined Paris. New York Times, November 10.
ALEX WILSON
At the Crossroads. Surfer, July.
Visit www.hmhco.com to find all of the books in The Best American Series®.
About the Editors
PAUL THEROUX, guest editor, is the author of many renowned travel books, including The Last Train to Zona Verde, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Dark Star Safari, and The Great Railway Bazaar. His acclaimed novels include The Mosquito Coast, Hotel Honolulu, and The Lower River.
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.
Footnotes
1. Names of some explorers have been changed.
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