From the bestselling editors of The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup comes an American road trip in book form: original writing on all 50 states by 50 of our finest novelists, journalists, and essayists
Inspired by the example of the legendary WPA American Guide series of the 1930s and '40s, now 50 of our foremost writers have produced original pieces of reportage and memoir that capture the 50 states in our time, creating a fresh portrait of America as it lives and breathes today.
At turns poignant and funny, and always insightful, these 50 writers tell us something lasting and revealing about each state through personal memory or contemporary reporting that captures the essential qualities that make each state its own. With an array of revealing facts and figures comparing the 50 states in a range of surprising measures (toothlessness, military enlistment, suicide), State by State is more than an anthology: It is a classic American road movie in book form.
Featuring original writing on all fifty states
Alabama by George Packer Alaska by Paul Greenberg Arizona by Lydia Millet Arkansas by Kevin Brockmeier California by William T. Vollmann Colorado by Benjamin Kunkel Connecticut by Rick Moody Delaware by Craig Taylor Florida by Joshua Ferris Georgia by Ha Jin Hawaii by Tara Bray Smith Idaho by Anthony Doerr Illinois by Dave Eggers Indiana by Susan Choi Iowa by Dagoberto Gilb Kansas by Jim Lewis Kentucky by John Jeremiah Sullivan Louisiana by Joshua Clark Maine by Heidi Julavits Maryland by Myla Goldberg Massachusetts by John Hodgman Michigan by Mohammed Naseehu Ali Minnesota by Philip Connors Mississippi by Barry Hannah Missouri by Jacki Lyden Montana by Sarah Vowell Nebraska by Alexander Payne Nevada by Charles Bock New Hampshire by Will Blythe New Jersey by Anthony Bourdain New Mexico by Ellery Washington New York by Jonathan Franzen North Carolina by Randall Kenan North Dakota by Louise Erdrich Ohio by Susan Orlean Oklahoma by S.E. Hinton Oregon by Joe Sacco Pennsylvania by Andrea Lee Rhode Island by Jhumpa Lahiri South Carolina by Jack Hitt South Dakota by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh Tennessee by Ann Patchett Texas by Cristina Henríquez Utah by David Rakoff Vermont by Alison Bechdel Virginia by Tony Horwitz Washington by Carrie Brownstein West Virginia by Jayne Anne Phillips Wisconsin by Daphne Beal Wyoming by Alexandra Fuller
and an afterword on Washington, D.C.: A Conversation with Edward P. Jones
What Others Say
State by State: A Panaromic Portrait of America
Not the content anticipated. Did not enjoy at all, in fact did not read over 50%.
State by State
My "Landscape and Literature" professor from college would love State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America. A project such as "State by State" - 50 separate essays by 50 disparate writers - is bound to leave some people out in the cold. Nobody can possibly cover every possible area of a state in a book like this, nor should they have to. I liked the approach taken as the writers wrote about the personal, the political and made it into something unique.
Some essays are very thorough: Jon "I'm a PC" Hodgman's essay on Massachusetts acknowledges that there is a region west of Worcester and east of the Berkshires. Some essays are very brief: SE Hinton's well-written look at Oklahoma only made me wnat more from her. And some essays are exactly what the author does ... Read More
State by State
I'm enjoying State by State. I'm not reading the stories in order, but rather dipping into the states that I'm most interested in. It's a collection of essays, so you probably won't agree with some of them. This is a great way to catch up on some old favorite authors and discover new ones, both who to read and who to avoid. I lent it to another librarian, who didn't think she would like it, but she raved about it. I'm keeping this volume in the car and find it great for reading when I have to wait somewhere. I enjoyed the demographic tables in the back. It is called "State by State" so it is fair, I guess, that it doesn't include U.S. Territories like Puerto Rico and American Samoa, but I think it is weaker for it.
Some good descriptions of states, some not so good.....
This is a book of short (mostly) essays by 51 writers covering 50 states + DC. I was hoping in ordering this that it would be something like Charles Kuralt's "On the Road" series and include writing that really gave the sense of history, tradition, and ways of life in the different states. The problem with the book is its inconsistency, in which the writing about a state really varies in terms of what sort of things are covered, the style of the writing, the extent to which a state's history/traditions are covered, etc., etc. This is not a bad book at all, just an uneven book -- It might have been better if authors had been given more guidance as to what to cover and the book been edited to make the "voice" of the writing more consistent ( I ... Read More
By turns frustrating and brilliant
"State By State" editors Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey have a neat idea here. Inspired by the state guides produced by the Federal Writer's Project in the 1930's, Weiland and Wilsey set out to mimic that behemoth venture on a much smaller scale, giving 50 different writers the opportunity to describe their personal experiences of a particular state.
The first thing that you need to know is that this isn't a travelogue in any real sense. Most of the authors here are striving to describe a sense of place, to give context to what each state means to them on a personal level. There are descriptions of geography to be found, of course, but the real landscape traveled here is of the mind and psyche, as the authors mine impressions and memories ... Read More
