Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780061470905
ISBN: 0061470902
Label: Ecco
Manufacturer: Ecco
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 608
Publication Date: September 01, 2008
Publisher: Ecco
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Studio: Ecco

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:

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






Rating: - Weak and patrionizing view of the 50 states
Having read a number of the WPA guides when I was younger, I had to say I had much higher hopes when reading this book and have to say that I found it to be all in all terrible. By and large it is a patronizing and sometimes overly sentimental viewpoint of the various states that offers no great insights into what makes them special or what maybe interesting about them. The WPA guides were written by experts in their topic states and gave us insightful and intelligently written essays about what ... Read More

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Rating: - A MIxed Bag
I had high hopes for this collection of essays after reading the first one, Alabama. The problem is that many of the others are not very interesting or well written, in fact some are just plain boring. There is a collection of tables in the back of the book that are fun to go through. Although I am a big fan of short fiction I can't recommend this book.

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Rating: - Contemporary Writing
"State by State, a Panoramic Portrait of America," edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey -
Surely this is no great book but it has a fascination. Fifty contemporary writers piece together essays on each of the 50 states. The concept is attention-catching. The editors no doubt are themselves disappointed by some of the results - some of the writers miss their mark widely. If the essays were not in this collection, some would not be recognized as portraits of a state. Kansas is incidental ... Read More

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Rating: - State by state statement
Although some of these essays are much better than others, overall this is a fascinating view of the 50 states from unique perspectives.

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Rating: - worth reading and keeping on the shelf for reference
The thick book of essays by 50 writers describing 50 states is an interesting anthology. The essays are very different in style, form and length. I believe there are ones to suit anybody's literary taste, from long, descriptive, guide-like narratives (e.g. California by William T. Vollman, which I enjoyed very much) through short postcards (e.g. Maryland by Myla Goldberg, I think a bit too laconic), satirical pieces (Massachusetts by John Hodgman, in my opinion a little overdone and smug) to inventive, ... Read More

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