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Books | Best Sellers

Travel - january 15, 2017.

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ATLAS OBSCURA

by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras and Ella Morton

A richly documented ultimate explorer's guide to more than 700 hidden marvels, events and curiosities around the world.

• Apple Books
• Barnes and Noble
• Books-A-Million
• Bookshop.org

HUMANS OF NEW YORK: STORIES

by Brandon Stanton

St. Martin's

More photographs, this time accompanied by interviews, from the creator of the blog and the book “Humans of New York.”

THE ROAD TO LITTLE DRIBBLING

by Bill Bryson

An American expatriate travels around his adopted country, Britain.

HUMANS OF NEW YORK

Four hundred color photos of New Yorkers, with brief commentary. Originally published in 2013.

by Chesley B. Sullenberger III with Jeffrey Zaslow

Morrow/HarperCollins

A memoir by the pilot who made an emergency landing on the Hudson River in 2009. Originally published as “Highest Duty” in 2009. The basis for the 2016 movie.

DESTINATIONS OF A LIFETIME

by the staff of National Geographic

National Geographic Society

A photographic tour of 225 global destinations.

SPEAKING AMERICAN

by Josh Katz

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The creator of the New York Times dialect quiz provides a guide to how words are pronounced in different parts of the country.

by Cheryl Strayed

An account of the life-changing 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995. Originally published in 2012 and a 2014 movie.

by Saroo Brierley

The author was lost on a train in India at age 5, then adopted by a couple in Australia; he searched for and found his birth family as an adult. Originally published in 2014 as “A Long Way Home” and the basis for the 2016 movie.

NONSTOP METROPOLIS

by Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro

University of California

Essays and 26 imaginative maps celebrate New York City.

The New York Times Book Review

Read your way through buenos aires.

Buenos Aires is a literary city: Its residents like to boast about its many bookstores and independent publishers. Samanta Schweblin suggests which books and authors to start with.

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US Travel Books

The statesider reading list.

The Statesider’s reviews of US travel books all in one handy place. What counts as a US travel book? Well, lots of things, we find. American cultures, regional foods, music scenes, cities and landscapes, flora and fauna, nonfiction and fiction, even the occasional cookbook. America encompasses many things and many perspectives — so does this list.

Want to recommend great US travel books or something else that just seems right in The Statesider’s wheelhouse? We’d love to know! Drop us a line .

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2021 US Travel Books

Chinatown Pretty: Fashion and Wisdom from Chinatown’s Most Stylish Seniors , by Andria Lo & Valeri Luu. Visiting Chinatowns across the US and Canada, including San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and Vancouver, Lo and Luu have been taking portraits of Chinatown’s most fashionable grandmas and grandpas since 2014. This joyous book isn’t just about the fanciful fashion, questions about colorful and clashing clothing often seem to lead to insightful answers about living well through times good and bad. Order now and support your local independent bookseller

The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America’s Forgotten Capital of Vice , by David Hill. Author David Hill grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas, but he takes us back to a very different Hot Springs, which morphed from a spa town into a proto-Vegas center of gambling and sin for the leisure class. Hill tells the tale through a cast of colorful characters, including family members, and you’d be forgiven for forgetting at times that this isn’t a hard-boiled crime novel but a true depiction of a slice of Arkansas that is long gone.  Order now and support local independent booksellers .

2020 US Travel Books

The Best American Travel Writing 2020 , edited by Robert Macfarlane and Jason Wilson. We look forward to this edition every year, and it’s an especially interesting and eclectic list of stories this year. If you were paying close attention to the Statesider this year, you’ll spot a few stories that we shared, and we’re especially happy that   two  Statesider original stories earned a spot on the Notables list Following the Albatross Home , by Kim Rogers, and Welcome to the Land , by Adam Karlin. Buy Now and Support Your Local Independent Bookseller

The Same River Twice: A Memoir of Dirtbag Backpackers, Bomb Shelters, and Bad Travel , by Pam Mandel. Forgive us, very little of this story takes place in the US, but it’s written by our very own Pam Mandel, and it you like what we do, you’ll love this book. And if you’ve read Pam’s writing before, you’ll know that this won’t be your typical travel memoir. Buy Now and Support Your Local Independent Bookseller

Ghosts of Gold Mountain , by Gordon H. Chang. If I retained anything at all from American History in high school, it was that Chinese immigrants helped build the Transcontinental Railroad over the Sierra Nevada. It’s an essential fact in California history, but it always seemed to be the end of the story. Chang shows that it’s just the beginning of a complex American saga, as he follows the journey of the Railroad Chinese from Sacramento across the Sierra Nevada, racing to meet up with the westbound track in Promontory, Utah. This book is a lively read, and the parallels with today’s political landscape — complete with reliance on foreign labor mixed with xenophobic scapegoating — are hard to miss.  Buy Now and Support Your Local Independent Bookseller

Sharks in the Time of Saviors , by Kawai Strong Washburn. Holy shit, what a book. Okay, that’s not an informative review, let me try again. I’ve not read anything that brings Hawaii to life in a more real, and at the same time more magical, way than this book. Washburn’s characters communicate the complexities of living as a modern Hawaiian in the islands and on the mainland. And even while members of this family take the bus or deliver packages or navigate relationships and live the every day ,  they hold deep ties to the ancient gods and Hawaii’s nature. What a book, so full of feeling and absolute heartbreak and poetry and love. Damn. What. A. Book. The audio version is top notch and I might have cried on the freeway at the end. (Pam)  Order Now and Support Your Local Bookseller

Stay and Fight , by Madeleine Ffitch. Helen bugs out from Seattle with her boyfriend to a piece of land in Appalachian Ohio with some fairly clichéd ideas about living on the land. When the boyfriend bails, Helen becomes increasingly reliant on a redneck tree surgeon with a fondness for classic literature and a down-on-their-luck lesbian couple. To say things don’t go well would be an understatement, but the resilience this unlikely alliance find in each other is complicated and moving. It’s a good story, but it’s the physicality of the characters and their clear, strong voices that make this such a compelling read. ffitch comes out swinging on page one with a brutal description of an injury repaired with duct tape and… I couldn’t put it down.  Order Now and Support Your Local Bookseller

Good Talk , by Mira Jacob. This graphic memoir about what it means to live at the intersection of multiple cultures in America is funny and sad and candid and full of so much feeling. Jacob is the daughter of Indian immigrants, her husband is Jewish. Her son is intensely curious about his own brown skin and what it means for his identity in America. Jacob tries, with endless patience and kindness, to guide him. While a lot of the book is funny, parts of it are infuriating and so tragic. I was particularly affected by the section about 9/11 and the angry, tender retelling of how she navigated finding out her in-laws endorsed Trump.  Order Now and Support Your Local Bookseller

The Columbus Anthology , edited by Amanda Page. “I have called myself a Columbus native without considering what it means,” says Maggie Smith in an introductory verse to The Columbus Anthology, and this collection of 50 essays and poems (and one cartoon) about the Ohio capital takes those words as a challenge. An American anywhere, a city whose identity is its anonymity, Columbus makes a rich backdrop for a literary exploration — even more so in a time when statues of the city’s namesake are being toppled and destroyed and a petition is gathering thousands of signatures  to rename Columbus “Flavortown.”  Where Columbus goes from here is anyone’s guess, but we’ll meet you at Buckeye Donuts to suss it out.  Order Now and Support Local Indie Bookstores

American Tacos: A History and Guide , by José R. Ralat. You might think that opening a book on tacos right now would be recipe for frustration, its pages loaded with delicious tacos that are just out of reach. You would be, in part, correct — this book will make you salivate like one of Pavlov’s dogs in a bell factory. But it’s also a satisfying meal by itself, and inspiration for future exploration both in the outside world and your own kitchen. Ralat, Taco Editor for Texas Monthly, rejects the “Abuelita Principle” that measures a taco’s authenticity by how closely it adheres to the “real” version made by grandma, and embraces the diversity of taco forms found in the wild and whatever its future evolution will bring.  Order Now and Support Local Bookstores

An American Sunrise, by Joy Harjo . Pardon us while we take a brief break from travel to read some poetry from this new collection from the US’s first Native American Poet Laureate. These are poems that ask to be read aloud: spare, rhythmic, it seems wrong to leave them trapped in the four square walls of the page. If there was ever a time to read poetry aloud to yourself — or to those with you — this is it. And Harjo’s poems, while often looking back into the country’s past, evoke current events in ways that make them seem penned for the moment. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Overground Railroad: The Green Book & Roots of Black Travel in America , by Candacy Taylor. In this new history of The Green Book , the most popular guidebook for Black travelers in America during the Jim Crow era, Taylor not only recounts the chronology of the guide through its publishing run from 1936-1967, she hits the highway herself and tracks down what remains today of the Black-owned and Black-friendly businesses listed in the guides. Fewer than 5% are still in operation. The book details the many threats and challenges faced on the road, as well as by air and rail, and the community that developed in the network of businesses that welcomed Black travelers. All of this history is beautifully brought to life in the design of the book (by Anderson Newton Design ), with both historic and present-day photos by Taylor on her trip, as well as covers from all of the Green Book editions. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation , by Michael Powell. This may be a book about basketball, but you don’t need to know a jump shot from a finger roll to enjoy this richly painted portrait of a season of “rez ball” in Najavo Nation. A hard book to categorize, Canyon Dreams isn’t just “Hoosiers” in northern Arizona; it’s as much a book about the landscape, the internal and external pressures on Navajo culture, and the dreams of the young players as it is about a run for the championship.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

El Norte: The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America , by Carrie Gibson. If the 1619 Project got you thinking about other ways the origin story of America can be told, add El Norte to your reading list. In this detailed and engagingly-written history of the Spanish influence in North America from Ponce de León to today, Gibson attempts to correct the long-held Mayflower-centric telling of America’s roots with stories that have for too long been pushed to margins or ignored completely. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

2019 US Travel Books

Volcanoes, Palm Trees, and Privilege: Essays on Hawaii , by Liz Prato. This wry, introspective book feels a bit like a “real Hawaii for beginners” guide. It teaches us why tourists experience Hawaii the way we do — and, in doing so, shows us how to be better guests.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

This America: The Case for the Nation , by Jill Lepore. Lepore’s snappy read on the history of American history (yep), the difference between patriotism and nationalism, and what defines America feels essential in our era. This little book is rich with meaningful insights. And while it doesn’t pull punches, it engenders a surprising optimism, calling on our better natures to fulfill the dream of an inclusive, vibrant, patriotic nation. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Best American Travel Writing 2019 , edited by Alexandra Fuller & Jason Wilson. In the new 2019 edition of Best American, roughly a third of the stories take place in the US, and it’s a powerful set of choices. Don’t expect a vacation from the tumult of American politics: these stories dive head-on into issues of the day, including immigration, climate change, social justice, invasive species, American identity, and rampaging bachelorette parties. Rahawa Haile’s powerful, layered story “I Walked from Selma to Montgomery” is a standout, as is…actually, they’re all wonderful (even the ones that go farther afield — we’ll allow it).  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke , by Andrew Lawler. What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? Lawler is hardly the first to venture into the murky mystery of the total disappearance of over 100 colonists that has captivated historians for centuries. Lawler’s book goes considerably deeper than others — perhaps as deep as will ever be possible — blending historical research with modern-day archaeology and travel to layout the case, dead end by dead end. The evidence suggests a quintessentially American solution to the mystery.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

The American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 , by Shing Yin Khor. Anyone who has been on a long road trip will recognize the joys and angsts of this playful graphic memoir that recounts the story of a 2016 Route 66 journey of a Malaysian-American artist and her doggie pal, Bug. It’s not all Christmas-style breakfast burritos, friendly strangers and kitschy roadside art: she confronts the cliché of trying to “find yourself” on the road, chafes against casual racism, discovers the art of pooping in a hole, and tries to come to grips with what she’s really looking for in the crumbling towns of the American West. Teens and grown-ups alike will enjoy this one.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places , by Colin Dickey. The Salem witch trials, the Winchester Mystery House, the whole seance medium thing… Dickey’s book retells these stories (and a whole lot more). But the book isn’t just a collection of spooky woo, Dickey provides detailed historical context for plantation ghosts and hidden staircases. You’d think a historical debunking would suck the meaning out of these stories, but quite the reverse is true. Dickey seems to suggest that our ghost stories, our hauntings, are what we use to put off reckoning with the truth.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South , by Michael W. Twitty. When we talk about Southern food, what are we really talking about — and what parts of the story are we overlooking? In this remarkable James Beard Award-winning book (it won both the James Beard Award for Writing, and Book of the Year in 2018), culinary historian Michael W. Twitty explores his own past and the hidden history of Southern cuisines, including their roots in African and Native American traditions. Read the full interview with the author and order now from your local bookseller .

Some people don’t want to acknowledge the connection because it makes them realize how much they are beholden to a multicultural America, and things wouldn’t be the same without this country’s contributions from all its residents.

Mariam Sharma Hits the Road , by Sheba Karim. When gorgeous Ghaz “shames” her conservative family by appearing on a billboard for underwear, best friends Mariam and Umar spring her and the three go on a classic road trip. There’s junk food and divey hotels and what Ghaz calls “the road trip effect.” But there’s also a deeper exploration of what it means to be Pakistani and/or Indian and/or Muslim and/or Hindu in America. Ghaz’s overbearing family is just the beginning; Umar is a devout Muslim and gay, and Mariam was abandoned by her father as a child. The book is layered, sometimes a rollicking good time, sometimes dark, always lively. It’s going to make a really fun movie.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State , Lawrence Wright. There’s a famous Faulkner quote: “To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.” In God Save Texas, Wright seems to be saying, “To understand American, you must first understand a place like Texas.” Wright so clearly loves his home state, even while he stares right at what makes Texas so completely messed up in so many different ways. Wright looks at Texas as a proving ground for GOP strategy, at the state’s obsession with guns, at the immigration battle on the Texas border, at Texas as a stand-in for the soul of America, and he doesn’t come across as particularly optimistic. But somehow, this book still makes a person itch to drive the backroads looking for dinosaur bones, or live music, or the weirdness that makes Texas what it is.  Order Now Through Your Local Book Store

Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s new Melting-Pot Cuisine , by Edward Lee. Edward Lee is the son of Korean immigrants, a master of Southern cooking, an advocate for US road trips…and, oh yes, someone you might know from Top Chef, Mind of a Chef, Fermented, Smoke and Pickles, 610 Magnolia, or his James Beard Award-winning book, Buttermilk Graffiti. We talked with him about American diversity, fried chicken, and, of course, cake vs. pie. Read the full interview and order a copy from your local bookstore .

Things New & Strange: A Southerner’s Journey Through the Smithsonian Collections   by G. Wayne Clough. There have been 13 Secretaries of the Smithsonian, but only one — the author of this singular, joyous book — was born in the South. After retiring from the post, Clough went on a peculiar scavenger hunt, combing the Smithsonian’s vast natural history collection to see what stories actual specimens could tell about his childhood home of South Georgia. Each turn of the page reveals surprises, jumping from giant sloths to longleaf pines, personal history to regional biogeography, early Native American archaeology to Little Richard, all weaving together to tell a rich story of one small slice of America. If only every region was lucky enough to get such a loving, nuanced biography.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

The Hour of Land   by Terry Tempest Williams. Part personal memoir, part history, Williams travels the lesser known back stories of twelve national parks. The writing is beautifully lyrical and packed with emotion and the stories she unearths as the book unfolds are genuinely enlightening. It’s an education into the politics of our parks, revealing ways in which the creation and management of these places we tend to take for granted has not always been easy or universally supported. Plus, apparently it is crazy hard to become a guide at Gettysburg National Military Park.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Andy’s Summer Read Pick: Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter , by Ben Goldfarb. “Trying to mitigate floods or improve water quality? There’s a beaver for that. Hoping to capture more water for agriculture in the face of climate change? Add a beaver.” Travel along with writer Ben Goldfarb in this hugely entertaining journey into the world of one of America’s most notorious, industrious, and misunderstood residents. Winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, and one of my favorite environmental reads from the past year, this charming science meets travel meets lots and lots of beavers tale will make you reassess everything you think you know about our dam-building friends.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Doug’s Summer Read Pick: Mississippi Solo , by Eddy Harris. I live a few blocks from the Mississippi River, and sometimes forget that it’s not just a banal local landmark. Eddy Harris has no such illusions. The river, he writes, “is laden with the burdens of a nation.” This poetic travelogue about his canoe trip down the waterway’s two-thousand-mile length captures the spirit of each paddle-stroke and stopover, with added poignancy coming from Harris’s status as a young black man traveling alone. People stare in Minnesota; there are racists with shotguns in Arkansas — and, throughout the book, there are plenty of unexpected welcomes. It’s all a hell of a personal journey but also, quietly, a striking portrait of a nation.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Pam’s Summer Read Pick:   Sourdough  by Robin Sloan. A friend recently read this book and found it delightful but so odd that it’s not for everyone. “You might like it,” she told me. Here’s how right she was: I’d read it already and yeah, it’s odd. It’s part Silicon Valley, part immigrant story, part weird punk farmer’s market, and one of the main characters is a batch of sourdough starter. The other main character, Lois Clary, is a robotics engineer who teaches a robot she’s working on to knead bread. The book is about food and finding your tribe and oh, just read it, it’s a delight. Also, I now tend to my own starter, in no small part because of this book. I’m not nearly as good to mine as Lois is to hers — she plays music for it — but my bread isn’t bad.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World by Suzy Hansen . There many narratives about travelers heading into the world to discover themselves, not nearly as many about those who have left US borders to discover America. Hansen digs deep — so deep it hurts — into the impact America global policy has had on the world and on our identity. Ya got yer CIA, yer Marshall Plan, yer covert Central American ops, and if you consider yourself a self-aware American, you might nod your head with a wry “ouch.” But there are also Turkish highways, the Iowa Writers Workshop, Time Magazine, Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire, and so much more. It’s a tough read, but not because of the writing. It’s the harsh light of self examination that makes this difficult … and essential.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Zoo Nebraska by Carson Vaughan. The escaped chimps were the last straw, the end of a dream. The Statesider’s Pam Mandel talks with author Carson Vaughan about his new book,  Zoo Nebraska , the story of a small town that never lived up to its big ambitions.  Read the Statesider interview with Carson Vaughan and order now from your local bookstore .

Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery  by Heather Andrea Williams. Pieced together from newspaper ads, oral history accounts, and historical documents, this book tells the stories of families built and broken during and after the end of American slavery. The clear-eyed journalistic presentation of the facts doesn’t take away from the horror of the era at all; it underscores how dehumanized, how much of commodity, the stolen people were.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Owning Memory: How a Caribbean Community Lost Its Archives and Found Its History by Jeannette Allis Bastian. Who is the gatekeeper of history? Whose stories get held up as the most important? We’re  constantly grappling with these questions , but they’re especially complex in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The territory was a Danish colony before 1917, and many of its historical documents are held in Copenhagen. This academic but accessible book offers a fascinating look at the politics of storytelling in a land of colonialism.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

All the Tony Horwitz books : American history, in all its complexity, was one of the late author’s primary muses. Horwitz was a master at combining deep research with romping-fun travelogue, and connecting past to present in ways both intriguing and, at times, unsettling. It’s hard to pick a favorite of his USA- focused books; really, you should just read them all.

• Confederates in the Attic , about the Civil War and the ways the Lost Cause persists today.
• A Voyage Long and Strange , about the Europeans who settled in the USA before the Pilgrims.
• The Devil May Care , featuring profiles of fifty lesser-known American adventurers.
• Midnight Rising , a deep dive into the history of John Brown’s Raid.
• Spying on the South , Horwitz’s brand-new travelogue, about Frederick Law Olmstead’s tour of the American South in the 1850s.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This story about a young woman who leaves Nigeria for the United States — and then decides to go home again after many years in the U.S. — is full of insight about what it means to be American, both from the idealized point of view of an outsider and from the changing perspective of an immigrant who becomes an insider. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Great American Outpost  by Maya Rao. What would it look like if the Gold Rush happened today—the crazed race for wealth, the environmental destruction, the utter disregard for law and order—but most of the country didn’t even notice? It would look exactly like the Bakken oilfields of western North Dakota (see the mysterious patch of light in the map above). Rao immerses herself in the culture and characters of the Bakken at the peak of the oil boom, in a piece of nonfiction that reads like a gripping Western.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Unbecoming: A Memoir of Disobedience  by Anuradha Bhagwati. The daughter of Indian immigrants (and academics), Bhagwati chooses to  not  to follow in her family’s footsteps and joins the Marines. A driven, ambitious recruit, she becomes a leader in a culture that—spoiler alert—is rife with toxic misogyny. As if it’s not badass enough of her to navigate the system and excel, she becomes a whistle blower and activist, working to change the entrenched values of the U.S. Military. What’s it mean to “support the troops”? Bhagwati has some thoughts.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

The Ramen King and I  by Andy Raskin. Those squiggly blocks of noodles their associated packets are an essential and underappreciated companion to broke college students and car campers alike. In “The Ramen King and I,” Andy Raskin becomes obsessed with Momofuku Ando, the inventor of Top Ramen and Cup Noodles. Along the way the Japanese businessman — who spent a year in his shed developing the iconic product — becomes both a distraction from and a solution to Raskin’s relationship problems. If you think that’s a weird idea for a book, you’d be correct. It would be easy to write Raskin off as a messed up tech bro, but he’s an increasingly sympathetic narrator as he reveals his struggles. Plus, I learned a lot of odd and tragic things about noodles and the US occupation of post WWII Japan.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

How to Be a Muslim, An American Story   by Haroon Moghul. In the wake of 9/11 (moment of silence for everything we’ve lost) Moghul became an unlikely activist for Muslim-Americans and ended up Kind of a Big Deal. Growing up in New England, Moghul liked Green Day and was confused by dating and went on adventures that his parents wouldn’t have approved of and acted like any other American teenager. As an adult, he navigated depression and career angst and the challenges of marriage. Like Americans of  any  faith, he grappled with how—or if—to fit religion into his life. It should not feel revolutionary to read a book from a Muslim point of view that expresses this universal story of a young American coming of age and reaching peace with his faith, and yet. And yet.  Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Zora & Langston: A Story of Friendship and Betrayal by Yuval Taylor. In 1927, Langston Hughes bumped into Zora Neale Hurston in Mobile, Alabama. The two friends, both literary luminaries of the day, decided to set out together on a road trip through the South in Zora’s two-seater Nash coupe, nicknamed “Sassy Susie,” in search of folks songs, stories and “big old lies,” as Langston put it. The book covers much more ground than a summer road trip through the South, charting the long course of Zora and Langston’s doomed friendship, but Taylor skillfully anchors the story in time and place throughout, from the palatial Fifth Avenue Restaurant where the two first met to a visit with a backwoods “conjur-man,” all bolstered by Langston’s journals and correspondence between the two in the happier days when Zora would call Langston “the nearest person to me on earth.” Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. There’s no shortage of sm art writing about this story of a young black man trying to find his place in the 1940s, first at a black college, then in New York City as part of “The Brotherhood.” But Ellison wrote his book five years before Jack Kerouac wrote “On the Road,” and the musicality of the language, the dialog, even the psychedelic ramblings are far superior to Kerouac’s. It feels a glaring oversight not to have read “Invisible Man” much, much sooner, though it is just as valuable a read in today’s America. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

The Red Truck Bakery Cookbook by Brian Noyes and Nevin Martell. It’s impossible not to mention one particular fan of this rural Virginia bakery, some 50 miles west of the nation’s capital, who said: “I like pie. That’s not a state secret…I can confirm that Red Truck Bakery makes darn good pies.” (Now read that again in President Obama’s voice.) His favorite is said to be the sweet potato pecan, but I immediately bookmarked the pink-hued watermelon pie to come back to when summer melons arrive, and jumped on the pumpkin pie with the clever addition of homemade caramel mixed into the pumpkin custard. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore or Red Truck Bakery’s Shop

America for Beginners by Leah Franqui. After her husband dies, Pival Sengupta books herself on a tour of the United States with the First Class India USA Destination Vacation Tour Company. The trip is a cover Mrs. Sengupta’s search for her estranged son. Satya, her guide, and Rebecca, her companion, are both uniquely unqualified for the roles they’re called upon to fill, their itinerary is inscrutable — the Corning Museum of Glass? — and they eat in countless Indian restaurants. The trip seems such a weird way to see America, but the travel itself isn’t the point. I was charmed by this bittersweet and delightful book — plus, it would make a great movie. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

This Immeasurable Place: Food and Farming from the Edge of Wilderness by Blake Spalding, Jennifer Castle and Lavinia Spalding. Reading “The Cabin” (from Longreads linked above), brought to mind this book, one of the more remarkable cookbooks in recent years. Yes, there are recipes — delightful ones from The Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm, the three-time James Beard Award semifinalist in remote Boulder, Utah — but this is a cookbook you’ll want to sit down and read for its cast of characters, handmade wisdom and deep love of the wild landscapes of southern Utah. Order Now from the Hell’s Backbone Shop

Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-Class Metropolis by Sam Anderson. You might think a subtitle that long would cover the scope of the book. You might also think a book on Oklahoma City could be dry as plain white toast. Wrong on both accounts. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

“I have come to believe, after my time there, that Oklahoma City is one of the great weirdo cities of the world — as strange, in its way, as Venice or Dubai or Versailles or Pyongyang. It is worth paying attention to, on its own terms, independent of any news cycle, strictly for the improbability of what exists there, all the time, ever day.” — Sam Anderson, Boom Town

A Girl’s Guide to Missiles: Growing Up in America’s Secret Desert  by Karen Lynnea Piper. Sure, you could shelve this with the “coming of age” memoirs, but it takes place on a secure missile base where Piper’s parents both worked on weapons development (her mom was something of a math genius). The weirdness of an American era that gave us Charles Manson, the  Lemurians , and the Sidewinder missile — everything comes to life. You can practically see yourself there. What great read. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

The Food Exp lorer by Daniel Stone. Much of the American diet originated elsewhere in the world. Meet David Fairchild, the adventurous botanist who changed what’s on the stateside plate. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America  by James & Deborah Fallows. If it seems like all you ever hear about small-town America are tales of hardship and lost glory, this is a refreshing read. Change is afoot across the country – and you might want to pay attention to what’s going on in local libraries. Order Now Through Your Local Bookstore

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Southwest USA

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Lonely Planet's Southwest USA is our most comprehensive guide that extensively covers all the region has to offer, with recommendations for both popular and lesser-known experiences. Marvel at the Grand Canyon, experience unbeatable nightlife in Las Vegas and visit world-class museums in Santa Fe; all with your trusted travel companion.

Inside Lonely Planet's Southwest USA Travel Guide

Lonely Planet's Top Picks- a visually inspiring collection of the destination's best experiences and where to have them

Itineraries help you build the ultimate trip based on your personal needs and interests

Local insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - whether it's history, people, music, landscapes, wildlife, politics

Eating and drinking get the most out of your gastronomic experience as we reveal the regional dishes and drinks you have to try

Toolkit - all of the planning tools for solo travelers, LGBTQIA+ travelers, family travelers and accessible travel

Colour maps and images throughout

Language - essential phrases and language tips

Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots

Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah

ISBN: 9781787016552

Edition: 9th

Publication Date: September 2023

Writers: 

Balfour, Amy C

Balsam, Joel Benanav, Michael Bremner, Jade Jones, Jay

432 pages, 61 maps | Dimensions: 128mm width × 197mm height

Next edition due: August 2025

How to Pick the Best Travel Guide Books

Ann-Marie Cahill

Ann-Marie Cahill will read anything and everything. From novels to trading cards to the inside of CD covers (they’re still a thing, right?). A good day is when her kids bring notes home from school. A bad day is when she has to pry a book from her kids’ hands. And then realizes where they get it from. The only thing Ann-Marie loves more than reading is travelling. She has expensive hobbies.

View All posts by Ann-Marie Cahill

Travel. I love it. I live it. I breathe it . In my view, it all starts with the rush of exhilaration when I choose the magical destination for my next trip…only to come crashing down when I have to choose a damn travel guide to start my research. Because you don’t want to be lugging around every travel guide. You need to narrow it down to the best travel guide books. And I mean, really narrow it down. 

I hate that part.

We’re not talking the travel-inspiring books . We’re talking the more practical side of travel planning. And seriously, there are so many travel guides on the market, it is a nightmare of global proportions to choose only one. Add to that how q uickly the information can date, and you are left wondering if this really is such a good idea.

The thing is, each travel guide has its pros and cons. Some are perfect for the USA, some have a better understanding of the winding roads of New Zealand. There are guides perfect for your architectural adventures through Rome while others take you on a culinary tour of Paris. But unless you have nine months to read up on every travel guide, it’s really hard to know which is the best travel guide books. 

So I did the hard work for you. I narrowed it down to 11 of the best travel guide books and the reasons why (just so you know I didn’t simply accept whichever book was left on the library shelf). And how did I choose the best? Well, I read each of their editions for a city or country I am already VERY familiar with. Now, usually, we would only be reading travel guides of places we want to learn more about, right? What better way to ‘test’ a travel guide than to see if they know it as well as a local!

Before you start buying up on guidebooks, here are a few tips to help you choose your own:

The Best Travel Guide Books

Lonely planet guide.

Great for: Big picture travel across a whole country for most regions but especially Oceania, Asia, and the “Shoestring” range. New Zealand is the best ever.

Not so great : They need to update their South America collection. The most recent edition for Ecuador was lacking in detail and encouragement to try new things, especially for the Galapagos Islands. Really felt like at least two of the white male writers phoned it in from their NY base.

Great for: The best highlights of any city, especially in Europe (e.g.  Paris ). 

Not so great: Personal local touch, or if you plan to stay in one place for longer than a week at a time.

Recently, they have been changed their focus to a more budget-friendly approach, but I don’t think it is coming through with their local writers.

Great for: Mainstream Travel with an upmarket touch, especially Western Europe (see Frommer’s Europe ).

Not so great: “One block over” travel, stepping away from the regular, e.g. the Melbourne guide did little to entice me into exploring the city’s famous laneways of culture, coffee, and bookshops.

DK Eyewitness

Great for : visually inspiring your holidays. Beautiful for places like Rome or London. Great guide for Italy . 

Not so great: Day-to-day travel details. Once I stepped out of the Vatican Museum, it was pretty much useless.

Rick Steves

Great for: First-timers travellers visiting one of the major cities of the world, like London or  Paris

Not so great: Anyone looking for a little more depth, e.g. do not use for Venice—that’s a city you need to be lost in at least once.

Rough Guides

Great for : Historic or off-the-beaten-track adventures, like SE Asia, NZ, South America

Not so great: Big cities or glossy photos for visual cues. It was of no help in Kuala Lumpur.

Bradt Guides

Good for: Cultural highlights of countries and regions, especially Macedonia .

Not so great : Asia. The Borneo guide was lacking in details about the various cultures and land issues for the locals.

Blue Guides

Great for : Book Riot, history and literary buffs, that big cultural holiday you were taking through the Romantic History of Europe. The Blue Guide: Greece (The Mainland) is especially lovely to read!

Not so great: The rave scene in Berlin. Not really the Blue Guide style.

Footprint Travel Guides

Great for : transport. Really useful in busy, stretched out places like Bangkok and Thailand

Not so great : Budget details.

Insight Guides

Great for: Giving you an idea in your mind of where you want to go. The Insight Guides Turkey  is especially memorable

Not so great: Actual travel. Don’t rely on these books to get you around a city like Naples and the Amalfi Coast.

This is… by Miroslava Saska

As always, I’m open to suggestion and we LOVE suggestions here at Book Riot. So, if I have missed your favourite, please tell us all about it in the comments. Or if you are looking for a suggestion for your dream destination, ask us!

Bon Voyage!

[Ed.’s Note: This article originally incorrectly stated that The Insight Guides is produced by the Discovery Channel; they’re produced by APA Publications, which is not affiliated with the Discovery Channel.]

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The Best Books of 2021

This Year's Must-Reads

The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2021

With many of our wings still clipped by Covid-19 this year, we needed to travel vicariously through these adventurous reads

Jennifer Nalewicki

Travel Correspondent

To put it mildly, the year 2021 has been an interesting one in terms of travel, thanks to the pandemic. While many countries are reopening their borders and inviting visitors back with open arms, others remain completely locked down to foreigners. Many travelers have seen this as a sign to keep their vacations closer to home, favoring road trips over intercontinental flights and cruises, while others prepare for long-awaited excursions they were forced to cancel due to Covid-19. 

Fortunately, one thing that the pandemic hasn’t changed is the ability to escape and experience new places through a book. Here are ten travel book releases from 2021 that are getting us excited about getting out on the open road again. 

Winter Pasture: One Woman’s Journey with China’s Kazakh Herders , by Li Juan

After many years of running a convenience store with her mother in China’s Altai Mountains, author Li Juan decided she wanted to experience the country’s rough and rugged landscape for herself and joined a family of Kazakh herders to help them with the challenging task of moving their livestock from one grazing area to another. Faced with minus-20-degree temperatures and a herd of 30 camels, 500 sheep and more than 100 cattle, Li experiences what herding life is like firsthand and chronicles it in her memoir, Winter Pasture , translated to English for the first time. In describing the inspiration for her book, she writes in an excerpt, “At first, my ambitions were grand. I wanted to spend the winter in a destination that was at least 250 miles away, which would mean over a dozen days by horseback, so that I could get a taste of the hardest, most unforgiving aspects of nomadic life.” Li had trepidations about traveling on horseback and withstanding the harsh elements though, eventually opting to spend just three days with the herders. Slate writes, “People can figure out how to survive under the most punishing circumstances, and learning about how these people do it—how they have done it for centuries—makes Winter Pasture an unlikely but inspiring getaway read for the late pandemic.”  

Winter Pasture: One Woman's Journey with China's Kazakh Herders

Winner of the People's Literature Award, Winter Pasture has been a bestselling book in China for several years. Li Juan has been widely lauded in the international literary community for her unique contribution to the narrative non-fiction genre. Winter Pasture is her crowning achievement, shattering the boundaries between nature writing and personal memoir.

There and Back: Photographs from the Edge , by Jimmy Chin

Chances are good that you’ve seen Jimmy Chin’s work. Not only have his adventure photographs appeared in National Geographic , but his film Free Solo , which follows professional rock climber Alex Honnold’s gripping attempt to free climb Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan, won an Oscar for best documentary in 2019. Now the photographer-director-mountaineer is adding another hyphenate to his name as book author with the December 7 release of There and Back: Photographs from the Edge . Capturing some of Chin’s greatest (and most death-defying) adventures, from skiing Mount Everest to crisscrossing Tibet’s high-altitude Chang Tang region without a support crew, the book contains more than 200 striking photographs shot on all seven continents. Chin’s imagery is coupled with profiles of some of the world’s most exceptional athletes and adventurers, including Honnold and ski-mountaineer Kit DesLauriers. Fellow photographer Paul Nicklen has this to say about Chin’s work: “Jimmy’s photography takes you on a journey to places few have ever visited. No one else is capable of capturing such beauty while hanging by a thread from a towering rock face or skiing down the legendary slopes of Mount Everest. It is a pleasure to finally have all his most iconic images in one volume. I can't wait for you to get lost in the poetry he has unearthed at the most extreme corners of our planet.”  

There and Back: Photographs from the Edge

The Academy Award–winning director of Free Solo and National Geographic photographer presents the first collection of his iconic adventure photography, featuring some of the greatest moments of the most accomplished climbers and outdoor athletes in the world, and including more than 200 extraordinary photographs.

An Indian Among Los Indígenas: A Native Travel Memoir, by Ursula Pike

A member of the Karuk Tribe from Northern California, Ursula Pike joined the Peace Corps in her mid-20s in hopes of building relationships with indigenous groups far from home. As she writes in her debut book, An Indian Among Los Indígenas , it wasn't lost on her, though, that when she arrived in La Paz, Bolivia, to start her volunteer term, she “followed in the footsteps of Western colonizers and missionaries who had also claimed they were there to help.” Pike's travel memoir grapples with the lasting repercussions she witnesses of colonization across South America, providing an honest, straightforward and non-white-washed perspective. “Acutely aware of the legacy of colonialism on her own people, Pike examines her own potential complicity with frankness and wit,” writes Ms. Magazine . 

An Indian Among Los Indígenas: A Native Travel Memoir

An Indian among los Indígenas upends a canon of travel memoirs that has historically been dominated by white writers. It is a sharp, honest, and unnerving examination of the shadows that colonial history casts over even the most well-intentioned attempts at cross-cultural aid.

The Bears Ears: A Human History of America’s Most Endangered Wilderness , by David Roberts

Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah has been a hotly contested region over the last few years. In December 2017, former president Donald Trump signed legislation that decreased the monument’s size by 85 percent in an effort to put the land on the auction block for future development as a drilling and mining site—one of the largest reductions of protected land by a president in history—only for the Biden administration to restore the territory to its original form this October. Now that the environmental battle has ended, author David Roberts takes readers on a trek through this rugged 1.35-million-acre expanse, which he calls “his favorite place on earth.” In The Bears Ears , Roberts combines archival research with his own personal adventures exploring some of the monument’s more than 100,000 archeological sites , which comprise nearly 14,000 years’ worth of human history. “Most tribes feel that North America is still theirs, that it’s been stolen from them by the government, by white people,” Mark Maryboy, a retired Navajo politician and activist, told Roberts for an opinion piece he wrote for The New York Times in February. “We still worship in those lands. The Bears Ears is our church, our cathedral.”   

The Bears Ears: A Human History of America's Most Endangered Wilderness

A personal and historical exploration of the Bears Ears country and the fight to save a national monument.

Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women , by Annabel Abbs

In her new book, English author Annabel Abbs adds weight to the famous quote , “Well behaved women rarely make history”—originally uttered by Harvard professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and often misattributed to Eleanor Roosevelt. Following along the paths of notable artists, authors, musicians and scholars, she embarks on an inspirational journey with the many women throughout history who refused to conform to gender norms and instead left behind their conventional homemaking roles to enter spheres historically populated by men. Abbs, who describes her own childhood experiences of growing up carless and relying on her own two feet to get around, “walks” alongside artist Georgia O'Keeffe in the secluded desert of New Mexico, English author Daphne Du Maurier and the River Rhone, and French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir amidst the wild forests and mountains of France. Throughout Windswept , Abbs poses this simple yet thought-provoking question: “How does a woman change once she becomes windswept?”

Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women

Annabel Abbs follows in the footsteps of women who boldly reclaimed wild landscapes for themselves, including Georgia O’Keeffe in the empty plains of Texas and New Mexico, Nan Shepherd in the mountains of Scotland, Gwen John following the French River Garonne, Daphne du Maurier along the River Rhône, and Simone de Beauvoir―who walked as much as twenty-five miles a day in a dress and espadrilles―through the mountains and forests of France.

Postcards from the Baja California Border: Portraying Townscape and Place, 1900s-1950s , by Daniel D. Arreola

For many people, including Daniel D. Arreola, popping a postcard in the mail to friends and loved ones back home is a necessary part of traveling. In Postcards from the Baja California Border, the cultural and historical geographer looks at the history of some of the Mexican border’s many communities, particularly Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate and Algodones, training his focus specifically on the first half of the 20th century. The book is the final installment of a four-part series that includes postcards from the Río Bravo, Sonora and Chihuahua. “In each of these excursions the goal has been the same: to understand how a popular media form, the postcard, is a window into the historical and geographical past of Mexican border communities that were tourist destinations from the 1900s through the 1950s,” Arreola writes in the book’s introduction. Many of the postcards are from Arreola’s personal collection while others are from archives. By spotlighting dozens of colorful postcards, Arreola shows what the borderlands look like from the perspective of visitors and provides a time capsule of the many cabarets, curios shops and other popular tourist haunts that have all but disappeared over time.  

Postcards from the Baja California Border: Portraying Townscape and Place, 1900s–1950s

Postcards have a magical pull. They allow us to see the past through charming relics that allow us to travel back in time. Daniel D. Arreola’s Postcards from the Baja California Border offers a window into the historical and geographical past of storied Mexican border communities.

Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am , by Julia Cooke

Pan American World Airways, or simply Pan Am, is arguably one of the most recognizable and iconic international carriers in the world, leaving an impressionable mark on the airline industry long after it filed for bankruptcy in 1991. In her tell-all book Come Fly the World , author Julia Cooke brings the allure of traveling by air back to life, sharing the experiences of flight attendants (then called stewardesses) who worked for the airline between 1966 and 1975. Not only does Cooke highlight some of the ridiculous standards put forth by the airline for its employees, like requiring flight attendants to be between 5′3" and 5′9", 105 and 140 pounds, and under 26 years of age, but also their role during the Vietnam War, including providing assistance during Operation Babylift, which saw the mass evacuation of some 2,000 orphaned children in April 1975, during the fall of Saigon, who were later adopted by new parents throughout America. In a review of the book, author Kate Bolick ( Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own ) writes, “Viewing the untold story of jet-age stewardesses through a modern feminist lens, Cooke brings vividly to life a contradictory profession, one that, for all its limitations, offered many women a chance for true liberation.”

Come Fly The World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am

Glamour, danger, liberation: in a Mad Men –era of commercial flight, Pan Am World Airways attracted the kind of young woman who wanted out, and wanted up.

Around the World in 80 Books , by David Damrosch

As a professor of literature at Harvard University, David Damrosch knows a thing or two about books that have shaped the field of literature and also touched people’s lives. For Around the World in 80 Books , he pulls from his comprehensive knowledge of the written word and his personal library of texts to create an analysis of 80 books that offer readers a strong sense of place. From Charles Dickens ( Great Expectations ) and Eileen Chang ( Love in a Fallen City ) to Chinua Achebe ( Things Fall Apart ) and Marcel Proust ( In Search of Lost Time ), Damrosch draws together a diverse array of talented authors from all walks of life. They are both widely and lesser known, but all have one key thing in common: Their writing has the ability to transport readers to places near and far without ever needing to leave home.   

Around the World in 80 Books

A transporting and illuminating voyage around the globe, through classic and modern literary works that are in conversation with one another and with the world around them.

Islands of Abandonment , by Cal Flyn

During the early pandemic and subsequent lockdown, it became strikingly apparent how quickly nature takes over once human interference subsides. Air quality improved in cities around the world, and birds flocked to urban areas they normally would avoid. In Islands of Abandonment , investigative journalist and nature writer Cal Flyn takes things one step further by visiting places around the world abandoned by humans over time, whether it be due to war or famine, including the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that serves as a buffer between North and South Korea, and Chernobyl , the site of a deadly nuclear disaster that remains risky to human health nearly 40 years later. The book, which was a finalist for the Wainwright Prize , awarded to works that “include a celebration of nature and our natural environment or a warning of the dangers to it across the globe,” acknowledges the negative impacts humans have had on Earth, while making a strong case for humans’ collective ability to help rehabilitate the planet for future generations.  

Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape

A beautiful, lyrical exploration of the places where nature is flourishing in our absence

Freedom , by Sebastian Junger

Over the course of a year, Sebastian Junger, the New York Times bestselling author of Tribe , and three of his friends—a conflict photographer and two military veterans—challenged themselves to leave behind the creature comforts they were used to for the everyday struggles that come with life on the road. Using the railroad lines coursing up and down the East Coast as their guide, they set out on a mission to experience what life is like without the safety net provided by conventional food and shelter. They spent their weeks living in the elements, sleeping under overpasses, escaping railroad police and scrambling to cobble together each day’s meals. Freedom places the group’s experiment in independence into context with historical accounts of labor strikes, resistance movements and life on the open frontier, ultimately shedding new light on the meaning of community and freedom. “Junger contemplates the intersection of autonomy and coterie at a time when the word itself, while holding so much meaning, is so often misunderstood,” writes Sarah Sicard in a review for the Military Times .

Throughout history, humans have been driven by the quest for two cherished ideals: community and freedom. The two don’t coexist easily. We value individuality and self-reliance, yet are utterly dependent on community for our most basic needs. In this intricately crafted and thought-provoking book, Sebastian Junger examines the tension that lies at the heart of what it means to be human.

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Jennifer Nalewicki | | READ MORE

Jennifer Nalewicki is a Brooklyn-based journalist. Her articles have been published in The New York Times , Scientific American , Popular Mechanics , United Hemispheres and more. You can find more of her work at her website .

8 Great New Books for Fall That Might Inspire Your Next Travel Adventure

The ins and outs of bulgarian shepherding, where blackness meets shark biology, the charms of a japanese bookshop: welcome to your autumn reading journey..

• Copy Link copied

Get lost in true and fictionalized tales in locations across the globe.

Courtesy of the publishers

If you’re not spending autumn fulfilling your wanderlust, you’ll want to be transported by a good book. This roundup of new releases explores the centennial of a dramatic race you never heard of, the discovery of dinosaurs, and the singular magic of a great bookstore. Even if you’re traveling this fall, you still need a good book for your flight, ride, or cruise.

Courtesy of Mariner

Into Unknown Skies by David K. Randall

• Location: Northern Hemisphere
• Type: Nonfiction/adventure

Note the subtitle: An Unlikely Team, a Daring Race, and the First Flight Around the World . One of the big international news stories of 1924 has since disappeared like a contrail. Fortunately, Randall has rescued the tale of American underdogs competing against their European rivals to see who can circumnavigate the globe by air, and he delivers a fascinating account of the challenges of early long-distance flights and the urge to set new aviation records. You might never complain about airline service again after reading what it was like to travel in open cockpits in planes made largely of wood and canvas in uncharted territory and during horrendous weather. The race, which involves pilots from several nations, is full of near-death experiences. You will cheer for the unlikely winners.

Courtesy of Scribner

Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party by Edward Dolnick

• Location: England
• Type: Science history

No special interest in dinosaurs is necessary to enjoy this entertaining history of the prehistoric animals’ “discovery” and subsequent impact on the 19th century. The time-travel tale starts with the popular activity of fossil hunting on the Jurassic Coast of southern England and ends with a stranger-than-fiction dinner party in London with an iguanodon. Along the way, Dolnick brings to vivid life an engaging assortment of characters, most scientists, with clever descriptions. He likens Darwin’s theory of evolution to “a high-stakes game of musical chairs” while clearly conveying the scientific—and cultural—revolution that fossilized bones launched.

Courtesy of Graywolf Press

Anima: A Wild Pastoral by Kapka Kassabova

• Location: Bulgaria
• Type: Nonfiction

The people and region of Europe explored here are so off the beaten path that any tracks made are by sheep and goats. Kassabova, a native of Bulgaria now living in Scotland, gives an account of the months she spent among shepherds. Her tale is one of an almost vanished world of transhumance and the interdependence of special breeds of animals and hard-working, isolated people. Among the cast of characters: a group of rare Karakachan dogs, which guard the herds. The author is a poet, too, and it shows in her attention to words. Interspersed among details of a seldom-depicted subculture are her observations, such as “wilderness is sophisticated. . . . It has all the components of civilization.”

Courtesy of Harper Perennial

More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

• Location: Tokyo
• Type: Fiction

This slender novel is the follow-up to Days at the Morisaki Bookshop , also translated by Eric Ozawa. Both, perhaps not surprisingly, feature several of the same characters, including Satoru, the shop’s owner. And because U.S. publishers are usually slow to translate foreign language books, this “new” book was first published in Japan in 2011. More Days continues the story of Takako, who works in her uncle’s secondhand books shop, despite scant interest in the written word. Yagisawa’s fiction is like comfort food. And maybe the best aspect of these novels (ideally read in order) is their celebration of Tokyo’s Jimbocho neighborhood, a real-deal location packed with some 200 bookstores.

Courtesy of Pantheon

Sharks Don’t Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist by Jasmin Graham

• Location: Florida
• Type: Memoir

In this engaging autobiography, the protagonist aims to change dysfunctional systems in academia and marine science. As a Black woman scientist, Graham empathizes with her subjects—sharks—who happen to have a “super-bad reputation in popular media.” She makes a compelling case for the importance of diversity in both science and in ocean life with this memoir. At the narrative’s start, Graham leaves her Ph.D. program to follow her own path. When the pandemic rolls in, she launches Minorities in Shark Science (MISS) with three other women marine scientists. Alternating chapters present her education (in school and elsewhere) and the first field season of MISS and its young students. It’s a forthright journey of overcoming adversity on land and sea.

Courtesy of Princeton University Press

Literary Journeys ed. by John McMurtrie

• Location: International
• Type: Nonfiction/short essays

This handsomely illustrated compilation of essays and illustrations about travel-related novels will inform and inspire armchair travelers who like to explore beyond bestseller lists and must-see sites. More than 30 countries appear among these 75+ essays exploring the role of travel in world literature. Ranging from old to contemporary— Don Quixote, Dirt Music, Americanah —most books date from the 20th century onward. All feature actual locales, so Gulliver’s Travels isn’t included. Novels you might not connect with travel include Dracula , which gets an intriguing interpretation. Among classics like Heart of Darkness are less-familiar titles: Journey by Moonlight, Exit West, Train to Budapest. One caveat: Some of the collection’s essays recount far too much of the plot. (No) spoiler alerts!

Courtesy of Soho Press

Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime by Leonie Swan

• Location: Cornwall, England
• Type: Murder mystery

Sleuthing British elders of varying levels of competence. A classic “locked room” setting of a hotel isolated by bad weather. Toss in a savvy pet boa constrictor and red herrings galore and you have the setup of Leonie Swann’s offbeat, often funny mystery. You probably won’t guess who is responsible for killing various guests at this upscale eco-friendly hotel; you definitely won’t guess the motive. And if you enjoy this quirky set of six seniors who find their vacation turned into an investigation, also read 2023’s The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp, translated from German by Amy Bojang.

Courtesy of Godine

Ike’s Road Trip by Brian C. Black

• Location: United States
• Type: Nonfiction/history

American road-trippers take the U.S. interstate highway system for granted. Time for a little history: The system partly began in 1919. That’s when the First Transcontinental Motor Train, a convoy of 85+ U.S. Army trucks, drove cross-country on a route that was largely unpaved, partly to see if it could actually be done. Among the young officers along for the long ride was a certain Ike Eisenhower. There are numerous historical nuggets about the pioneering drive pit-stopped across this book—and plenty of competition for the country’s worst “roads” (Utah’s salt flats may take first place). How we got from dirt and gravel roads to President Eisenhower’s 1956 federal interstate plan is a plenty interesting journey all by itself.

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Passport type, passport type: book, passport type: card, passport type: book & card, change/correct passport, renew passport, processing method, processing method: standard, processing method: expedited, processing method: expedited at agency, processing method: overseas processing.

* To be eligible, you must make an appointment and provide proof of international travel.

If you have a life-or-death emergency or other need for urgent travel abroad, the passport agency or center will do everything possible to issue a U.S. passport in time for your trip.

Total Payable to Department of State

Total Payable to Department of State - Information.

• list example

Acceptance Facility Fee

Acceptance Facility Fee - Information.

We accept different forms of payment

Applying at a passport acceptance facility (post office, government office, library).

Go to our Apply In Person page to find the steps to apply.

You will need to pay both an application fee and an acceptance fee. Pay the application fee to the U.S. Department of State, and the acceptance fee to the facility which takes your application.

To pay for the application and special services such as expediting your application:

• Submit a check  (personal, certified, cashier's, traveler's) or  money order  payable to "U.S. Department of State"

To pay the separate acceptance fee:

• Personal checks and money orders
• Credit cards. The facility may add a surcharge to cover the cost of the credit card transaction.
• Cash. You must provide the exact amount.

If you are renewing by mail :

• Send us a check  (personal, certified, cashier's, traveler's) or  money order  payable to "U.S. Department of State"
• When renewing by mail from Canada, you must pay by check or money order payable in U.S. dollars through a U.S. bank.

If you are renewing online :

• Use a credit card or debit card

Applying or Renewing at a Passport Agency

Go to our Passport Agency and Center page  for steps on how to apply at one of our 26 locations across the country.

We prefer that you pay with:

• Credit cards : Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover
• Debit cards (or prepaid cards that are not linked to a line of credit or bank account): Visa or Mastercard
• Contactless payments such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay

We also accept checks, money orders, and cash. Make checks and money orders payable to the "U.S. Department of State."

• Checks: personal, certified, cashiers, and travelers
• Money orders: U.S. Postal, international, and currency exchanges  
• Cash: must provide the exact amount  

Requesting a Refund for Expedited Service

Service Commitment

If you paid the $60 fee for expedited service when you applied and you did not receive expedited service, you may be eligible to  request a refund  of this fee. We cannot refund any other passport fees or your travel expenses if you miss your trip.

Non-Refundable Fees

We cannot refund the passport application fee and the execution fee. By law, we collect both fees and keep them even if a passport is not issued.

Learn more about refunds on our Refund of Expedited Passport Fee page.

External Link

You are about to leave travel.state.gov for an external website that is not maintained by the U.S. Department of State.

Links to external websites are provided as a convenience and should not be construed as an endorsement by the U.S. Department of State of the views or products contained therein. If you wish to remain on travel.state.gov, click the "cancel" message.

You are about to visit:

I spent $6,000 taking my family to Disney for 2 nights. A Costco deal helped us cut costs, but we'd book differently next time.

• I went to Disneyland with my wife, son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter for about $6,000.
• We got a deal on tickets and our two-bedroom Disneyland Hotel suite through Costco Travel.
• The trip was worth every penny, but I'd add an extra day to our itinerary next time.

In December, my son, his wife, and my 2 ½-year-old granddaughter met my wife and me in California so we could all go to Disneyland .

Trips to Disney can get expensive, so we booked using a two-night, two-park deal my son found on the Costco Travel website.

I paid just more than $4,600 for a package that got us two nights in a two-room suite at the Disneyland Hotel, two-day Park Hopper tickets for four adults, and a $180 Disney gift card. Our granddaughter got into the parks for free because she was under 3.

We had a great time, but I plan to book our next Disney trip a bit differently.

Our suite was great, and we loved exploring Disneyland

Our Disneyland Hotel suite was beautiful and filled with special details.

The deep-blue carpeting had a fireworks pattern on it, and the headboards on the beds had little twinkling lights that looked like fireworks.

The hotel was also a short walk away from Disneyland, so we headed there after we checked in and dropped off our bags. Walking through the main gate of the park felt like entering a portal to another world.

Throughout the day, my granddaughter got to meet Disney characters and dance with them. We went on rides as a family and, for some, took turns waiting in line to ride with my granddaughter.

We rode a submarine to the bottom of the ocean in search of Nemo, rowed a canoe on the Rivers of America, journeyed through a Winnie the Pooh ride, and even got to meet Eeyore.

In the evening, we staked out a spot along Main Street and waited for the Christmas parade, which was included with our admission.

Related stories

We spent our second day in the parks at California Adventure exploring a range of rides and attractions and ended it by watching another parade.

We spent a lot of money, but we didn't have enough time

Our $4,600 package didn't include everything. I also paid $160 for parking because we drove to the parks in two separate vehicles ($40 a day per vehicle).

I spent an additional $700 on food, drinks, and souvenirs. We mostly had simple quick-service bites (chicken tenders, pizza, burgers, hot dogs) and snacks (churros), which helped us save some money. But our priciest meal, at Disneyland Hotel's Goofy's Kitchen buffet, cost $450, including tip.

Plus, I gave my son $400 toward his family's airfare to California. In total, I spent about $6,300 to take my family on this Disney vacation.

But my biggest issue is I felt as if we didn't have enough time. With only two nights, we lost almost half of the first day driving to the resort, parking, checking in, and taking our luggage to the room.

For our next trip, I'd do three nights instead of two. That way, on our first day, we can even spend some time swimming in the hotel pools and exploring Downtown Disney, a dining and shopping district nearby.

Then, we can get to the parks bright and early on our second day.

Still, the trip was worth every penny

This was the most expensive Disney trip I've ever taken, but seeing my family have such a great time meant everything to me.

Watching my granddaughter dance with Disney characters while twirling the shimmering skirt of her princess dress was priceless.

Months later, she still talks about Disney — she even told her mom she had a dream about going back.

Watch: While Delta's business is 'extremely robust,' the airline's marketing chief stays focused on the data

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W Punta Cana, Adult All-Inclusive

Welcome to W Punta Cana, Adult All-Inclusive

A bold and unscripted island resort.

Unveil our beachfront treasure in the Dominican Republic, a luxury All-Inclusive Adults-Only Resort fueling your lust for life. Imagine waking up to the sound of the waves drumming against our white-sand beaches, or taking a stroll along the water’s edge. From the moment you enter this tropical destination, infinite days are amplified by the perfect adult playground. Playful guestrooms with private pools and innovative cocktails and cuisine create an amplified lifestyle experience. Unwind at the pampering AWAY Spa, chill by the oceanfront infinite pool, or explore the world beneath the waves where seasonal whales roam in the breathtaking Caribbean Sea. Castaway yet connected. Natural yet designed. Secluded yet welcoming. W Punta Cana ignites an obsessive desire to soak it in, live it up, and hit repeat. Whatever/Whenever.

Rooms & Suites

Featured amenities on-site, hotel information.

Check-in: 3:00 pm

Check-out: 12:00 pm

Pets Not Allowed

OPEN AIR ASADO

TAMAN BEACH RESTAURANT

THE PLAZA DINING TERRACE

CALA CARIBBEAN RESTAURANT & BAR

THE LIVING ROOM BAR

SATSUMA ROOFTOP

SPEAKEASY BAR

The taproom, the spritz swim-up bar, humidor & rum club, sensazioni bar theatre, more ways to enjoy your stay.

A circadian rhythm of daily rebirth over the ocean. A passage of time, where our human experience with water is forever present. Passive wet zone, Active wet zone, Relaxation area, 10 Treatment Rooms, Beauty Salon & 1500 sqft Gym Studio.

GETTING HERE

Carretera Uvero Alto Higuey, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, 23000

Property Details

Accepts: Credit Cards

Property has elevators

For more information about the physical features of our accessible rooms, common areas or special services relating to a specific disability please call

Accessible Entrance to On-Site Pool

Entrance to On-Site Business Center is Accessible

Entrance to On-Site Fitness Center is Accessible

Main Entrance is Accessible

Meeting Spaces are Accessible

On-Site Restaurants are Accessible

Frequently Asked Questions

The check-in time at W Punta Cana, Adult All-Inclusive is 3:00 pm and the check-out time is 12:00 pm.

The pet policy at W Punta Cana, Adult All-Inclusive is:

The parking options at W Punta Cana, Adult All-Inclusive are:

Parking Not Available

The property amenities at W Punta Cana, Adult All-Inclusive are:

Yes, W Punta Cana, Adult All-Inclusive has free Wi-Fi available to hotel guests.

Unlock your stay with the Marriott Bonvoy™ App

W® PUNTA CANA, ALL-INCLUSIVE

Carretera Uvero Alto Higuey,

La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, 23000

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© 1996 – 2024 Marriott International, Inc. All rights reserved. Marriott Proprietary Information

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• Bahasa Indonesia

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