Foreword by Jason Wilson

Introduction by William T. Vollmann

MONTE REEL. How to Explore Like a Real Victorian Adventurer
from The Believer

PETER GWIN. The Telltale Scribes of Timbuktu
from National Geographic

HENRY SHUKMAN. Chernobyl, My Primeval, Teeming, Irradiated Eden
from Outside

ELLIOTT D. WOODS. Garbage City
from VQR

THOMAS SWICK. My Days with the Anti-Mafia
from The Missouri Review

ROBIN KIRK. City of Walls
from The American Scholar

J. MALCOLM GARCIA. Now Ye Know Who the Bosses Are Here Now
from McSweeney’s

PAUL THEROUX. The Wicked Coast
from The Atlantic

MICHAEL GORRA. Letter from Paris
from The Hudson Review

KENAN TREBINCEVIC. The Reckoning
from The New York Times Magazine

BRYAN CURTIS. The Tijuana Sports Hall of Fame
from Grantland

KIMBERLY MEYER. Holy City of the Wichitas
from Ecotone

DIMITER KENAROV. Memento Mori
from The Believer

PICO IYER. Maximum India
from Conde Nast Traveler

LYNN FREED. Keeping Watch
from Harper’s Magazine

LUKE DITTRICH. Walking the Border
from Esquire

MARK JENKINS. Amundsen Schlepped Here
from Outside

MARK JENKINS. Conquering an Infinite Cave
from National Geographic

AARON DACYTL. Railroad Semantics
from Railroad Semantics

Contributors’ Notes

Notable Travel Writing of 2011