The Cambridge Companion to American Travel Writing

Travel writing has long been recognized as a separate literary genre, and continues to be so – witness the crowded travel shelves in our bookshops with its Bill Brysons, Stuart Maconies, Nicolas Cranes, et al. Traditionally, travel writing told us about people and places in (mostly) foreign countries. Maybe travel writing also tells us something about ourselves. Professors Bendixen and Hamera, editors of this Cambridge Companion, clearly think so:

Immediately I wonder whether “these specially commissioned” essays that “examine a wide range of responses to the problems posed by landscapes found both at home and abroad” represent a peculiarly “American”...