The Cambridge Companion to American Travel Writing. Alfred Bendixen and Judith Hamera, eds. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 314 pp.

The curious itinerant knows how little exists by way of travel literature, particularly books that may be used as textbooks in a travel-writing class. Although by no means comprehensive, a feat that would be difficult to achieve, The Cambridge Companion to American Travel Writing is a major milestone. The book takes readers on an odyssey around the world by recording and analyzing journeys undertaken mainly by Americans over the centuries, using various modes of transportation and recorded in differing political, social, and cultural contexts. [Read more...]