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The year's best travel writing, as chosen by series editor Jason Wilson and guest editor Robert Macfarlane.
Writing, reading, and dreaming about travel have surged, writes Robert MacFarlane in his introduction to the
Best American Travel Writing 2020. From an existential reckoning in avalanche school, to an act of kindness at the Mexican-American border, to a moral dilemma at a Kenyan orphanage, the journeys showcased in this collection are as spiritual as they are physical. These stories provide not just remarkable entertainment, but also, as MacFarlane says, deep comfort, "carrying hope, creating connections, transporting readers to other-worlds, and imagining alternative presents and alternative futures."
The Best American Travel 2020 includes
HEIDI JULAVITS • YIYUN LI • PAUL SALOPEK • LACY JOHNSON •
EMMANUEL IDUMA • JON MOOALLEM • EMILY RABOTEAU and others
List of contents
SAM ANDERSON: Rick Steves Wants to Set You Free
FRED BAHNSON: On the Road with Thomas Merton
MOLLY McCULLY BROWN: If You Are Permanently Lost
JACKIE BYRANT: Life, Death, and the Border Patrol
KEN BUDD: The Volunteer’s Dilemma
KYLE CHAYKA: My Own Private Iceland
MOJGAN GHAZIRAD: Revisiting My Grandfather’s Garden
EMMANUEL IDUMA: To the Follower of Cheikh Bamba Whom I Met in Dakar
LACY M. JOHNSON: How to Mourn a Glacier
CHLOÉ COOPER JONES: Such Perfection
HEIDI JULAVITS: What I Learned in Avalanche School
JAMES LASDUN: Glow
YIYUN LI: To Hold Oneself Together
JEFF MacGREGOR: The Last of the Great American Hobos
BEN MAUK: The Trillion-Dollar Nowhere
COURTNEY DESIREE MORRIS: My Father’s Land
ALEJANDRA OLIVA: At the Border, No One Can Know Your Name
STEPHANIE PEARSON: The Shape of Water
ASHLEY POWERS: Who Lives in Palermo Is Palermo
EMILY RABOTEAU: Climate Signs
PAUL SALOPEK: Walking with Migrants
BARRETT SWANSON: Lost in Summerland
SHANNA B. TIAYON: Vacation Memories Marred by the Indelible Stain of Racism
About the author
JASON WILSON, series editor, is the author of Godforsaken Grapes, Boozehound, and The Cider Revival. He is the creator of the newsletter and podcast Everyday Drinking. Wilson has been the series editor of The Best American Travel Writing since its inception in 2000. His work can be found at jasonwilson.com.
Summary
The year’s best travel writing, as chosen by series editor Jason Wilson and guest editor Robert Macfarlane.
Writing, reading, and dreaming about travel have surged, writes Robert MacFarlane in his introduction to the Best American Travel Writing 2020. From an existential reckoning in avalanche school, to an act of kindness at the Mexican-American border, to a moral dilemma at a Kenyan orphanage, the journeys showcased in this collection are as spiritual as they are physical. These stories provide not just remarkable entertainment, but also, as MacFarlane says, deep comfort, “carrying hope, creating connections, transporting readers to other-worlds, and imagining alternative presents and alternative futures.”
The Best American Travel 2020 includes
HEIDI JULAVITS • YIYUN LI • PAUL SALOPEK • LACY JOHNSON •
EMMANUEL IDUMA • JON MOOALLEM • EMILY RABOTEAU and others
Additional text
"A rewarding armchair experience of the world at large."—Publishers Weekly "As in previous collections, there's something for everyone... an other-worldly tale that fits in nicely with surrealistic aspects of life under lockdown."—Booklist
