Horwitz does a wonderful job of depicting ordinary life in Australia. However, his sense of humour adds a brilliant quality to the essay which makes an ordinary account of his travels something far from mundane. I recommend this book for anyone interested in travel essays or a good laugh.

There are constraints to Australian road travel - the chief one being that the cities, hence, the roads, hug the coasts. There are dangers, desolation, loneliness, above all, heat. And flies. It takes some courage to face these conditions alone, even in modern times. Tony Horwitz faced them alone and on foot - some of the time. The result was a fantastic voyage and a superb account.

Horwitz is an unlikely prospect for an Australian adventurer. A transplanted Yank [Washington, DC to Sydney], urban [New York City to, again, Sydney] and Jewish [rather anomalous in the Outback]. These conditions might fatally impair the less adventurous, but Horwitz can "boldly go" [as he did in a later book] and so he does. With singular dedication, he even starts his trek heading West from Sydney past Dubbo to the Alice. With no direct Sydney to Alice route, the journey is circuitous, a fine introduction to the later expedition. Here, Horwitz encounters people and displays his talent at recording them. The limited number of roads implies limited options and few rides. It's a closed world and he becomes "the crazy Yank we heard about back in Nevertire."

Constricted view doesn't inhibit Horwitz' abilities. He has an advantage over many travel writers - he's a journalist first and a traveller after. A perceptive eye and a talented pen record his reaction to the land of Australia. And the people he encounters who become the focus of his attention. He's good with people, drawing them out - fulfilling the image of the chatty Yank, entertaining, but somehow provocative. The drivers, pub keepers and drinkers respond to his novelty. He records them with lively asides, keeping your interest with every page. 'Surely, these can't be real people,' you may think. No worries - Horwitz has captured them intimately, intruding only lightly as they respond to his queries.

A poignant chapter, describing his search for a Jewish family in Broome with whom to celebrate Passover, is the highlight of the book. Noting the town's multiracial population, he observes: "Australians . . . seem uncomfortable when the subject of Judaism is raised." He attributes the feeling purely to ignorance, not prejudice, a welcome change from attitudes toward the "Abos." Horowitz, although claiming atheism, remains drawn to the family assemblage of the seder. Alone in Broome, he discovers a new level of solitude - in this polyglot community, Jews are rarer than jewels. He pores over the telephone directory which only displays "an Anglo-Saxon litany of Browns, Harrisons and Smiths." A solution beckons in the guise of a local priest. "It is a common sort of misconception. If there's no rabbi about, well, try a priest. One religious ratbag's as good as another." The solution, however, lies elsewhere. The situation amply portrays Horwitz' humanity, absolving him of any stigma of the detached, unfeeling journalist. His roots are a significant element in his life, one that gently, but insistently, haunts him. This book can haunt you, as it does me.

Horwitz has captured the Outback and its weird bunch of denizens down to it's last blowfly and tortured vowel. His descriptions of unlikely places such as (the mostly underground) Coober Pedy and(unfortunately mostly above-ground) Mt. Isa are uncannily accurate and appropriately scathing. For all those about to travel the Outback; those who have been lucky enough to do so; or those who merely wish they were among the aformentioned. (Should be read along with the Lonely Planet Guide to Outback Australia.)

A highly informative and enjoyable book on one of the most volatile regions of the world. The author successfully describes Mid-East culture, not by quoting long dead historians or re-hashing other people research, but by visiting the region first hand. When the author visits a country he does not simply reserve a room at the local Sheraton and report from the hotel bar, like so many foreign correspondents. Instead, he moves out into the street, befriends locals, and stays in their hotels and eats where they eat. The author does not claim to be an academic expert on Arab culture, but I believe this frees him to make observations that are not weighed down by academic requirements. The author's sense of humor is an added bonus. While the book was written over 10 years ago, it still holds up well. This book is more than a travel book, it is a first rate description of Arab culture from the gritty streets of the Middle East.

Horwitz, in Baghdad Without a Map, very clearly describes the world of the middle east - from the apparent perspective of an outsider highly disenchanted with Arabia. His observations and commentary probably closely resemble what most Americans would feel attempting to live in any of the middle eastern countries, but lack the appreciation and the love of another culture and place that marks great travel literature. However, he does provide the occasional clear insight into the middle eastern world, and his descriptions of the cities and countries he visited are vivid and sometimes fascinating.

He provides a great deal of political information, an unusal element in travel writing. Depending on the reader's point of view, this can either be gripping or mind-numbing. He may have chosen to introduce this material because the remainder of the book is so often narrowly focused.

His journalistic technique can be roughly described as "find a resident and talk to him." His portrayal of these people is interesting indeed, but the microscopic focus of his chapters can be wearying. I, at least, found myself wondering just how accurate a chapter could be if the author had interviewed only four people for it. I doubt that's an acceptable cross-section of the population.

However, the single largest problem with this book is its unrelentingly negative viewpoint. Horwitz seemed to hate the middle east. Each chapter talks about corruption, stagnation, decay, and desolation, with no balancing positives whatsoever. I found it hard to believe that so many disparate countries contained nothing but variegated miseries. And the author's petty or narrow-minded complaints about some of the places undermined the effects of his justified remarks about the worst of them.

Overall, though, an interesting book. It is a nice, light read, and it covers many different Arabic cultures. Horwitz writes well, with a good ear for dialect and a deft touch with his subjects. In short, this is a fascinating tour of the worst points of the middle east.

This is perhaps the funniest travelogue since S.J. Perelman was writing. Perelman, however, populated his travel pieces with fictitious characters and situations, whereas Horwitz needs not invent a thing. From his perspective, the variety of people, climates, and pressures in the middle-east are themselves a rich vein of humor and fascination. Despite the laughter, this is also a serious recording of Horwitz's experience travelling across arabia: he views bodies in the Iraq-Iran war and explores Orwellian Baghdad; he crosses from Jordan to Israel; he attends what passes as a press conference with Qaddafi in Libya; he visits a weapons merchant in Yemen and haggles; and he spends time in the astonishing Khartoum, though while he's there what he thinks about mainly is how to get out of there. (His visit to the Khartoum zoo is one of the funniest episodes in the book.)

This is highly recommended for its entertainment value and cultural interest. It is not a history or an analysis of the middle-east.

Actor Michael Beck performs Confederates in the Attic - he doesn't just read it! Imitating the voices of Tony Horwitz's unforgettable characters, Beck makes the book come alive on tape.

Horwitz went on a search for the American Civil War, and his adventures are enjoyable and thought-provoking.

The first part of the story takes us along on a reenactment where accuracy is more important than comfort. This part is funny, but the second part of the story is more disturbing, for Horwitz decides to investigate a racially-motivated tragedy and runs into some frightening characters who live in fear and hatred. I was glad when he left that episode, even though his journalism is enlightening.

Humor returns as he joins a reenactor for a Civil Wargasm, a whirlwind tour of battlefields and other historic sites - or what is left of them. Development has destroyed much of the past, and Horwitz explores the contrasting attitudes of whether we should celebrate the past or try to forget it. A woman who keeps a small museum open explains that she wants young people to learn how terrible war can be.

Recommended for history buffs, travelers, and anyone who is interested in the American South, Confederates in the Attic is a 6-hour audio book that goes by very quickly.

Tony Horwitz ventures to follow all leads to seek the answer to why Americans remain obsessed with our Civil War. His path follows that of the war itself, which means he spends virtually all of his time in the American South - though this does not mean that his view is only of Southerners. Using a critical gaze gained from years spent as a foreign correspondent, and taking full advantage of a gift for allowing others to reveal themselves, Horwitz has produced a book I will want to read more than once. His journey is personal, yet his view is larger. The predominance of Southerners in our current political culture, the population shift to the South, and the sharply increased visibility of "Southern values" - self-defined as religion, country and family - makes this book all the more valuable in understanding what moves America at the end of the millennium.

The bloody battles of the civil war ended in April of 1865... but the Civil War still "rages on" in various forms all over the south to this very day. Find that hard to believe..? Well, you won't after you read this incredible book. The author takes us on a journey into the world of the Civil War aficionado.

From the description of the grease stained wool uniform he puts on so that he can sleep in an open field in freezing weather with other Civil War reinactors.. to the strange, but real life characters he encounters along the way as he travels throughout the many towns and battlefields of the South... this book kept me turning the pages and laughing out loud at one misadventure after another. The author goes in search of what little --might-- be left of the confederacy in the modern era and finds out it is alive and well in many interesting... disturbing, but mostly harmless forms. This is a instant classic for Civil War buffs and regular folk as well.

For Americans, no matter what side your ancestors were fighting on... read this book! You'll learn a few things and probably be surprised a few times as well.

After reading all Hortwitz' books, I can say that his first is far from his best. Frankly, the Australian outback doesn't offer him enough to go on. It's a whole lotta nothing, although he does his best with what he has. The book would be helped by an amusing sidekick, or at least a more interesting part of the world to visit. That said, it's still a pretty good -- and short -- travelogue of Australia and its people.

The best kind of book - a non-fiction page turner. Horwitz writes about his slow grinding hitchhiking tour through the expanse and heat of the Australian outback. He does so with constant wit and determined irreverance. It is just plain fun to be along for the ride.

But I don't think his only purpose is entertain us. I think he also wants to show us the character of the Australian people. He succeeds. We discover a tough, independent, hard drinking, hard fighting, and hard laughing people. He tells his stories so well that we are left changed. We are left with a fresh new look at the what Australia is about.

Read this book. You'll look forward to every new page and when you are done, you are left a little changed. What more could you want in a book?

Tony Horwitz is fast becoming my one of my favorite authors. I loved "Confederates in the Attic" and "Baghdad Without a Map" and looked forward to reading "One for the Road", his very first book which describes his adventures hitchhiking across the Australian outback in 1987 at the age of 27.

With only a backpack and a sense of adventure, he shares his journey with the reader, skillfully describing the mostly desolate terrain and the people he meets along the way. His sense of humor and instinctive quest for the quirky detail made me smile often and I tried to read this small 206-page book as slowly as possible because I just wanted it to last.

I'm a mature city-dwelling grandmother and it's unlikely I'll ever stand by the side of the road with a cardboard sign and an outstretched thumb (or index finger as they do in Australia) waiting for a stranger to open a car door and share a little piece of his or her life with me. But for the moments that I was engaged in the book, Tony Horwitz brought me right there.

He made me feel the 100-degree-plus heat, the flies so dense he had to squint his eyes. My head swirled with the countless bottles of beer he described drinking as he tried to ignore the fact that most of the drivers who picked him up were drunk. He slept in his clothes by the side of the road, met aboriginals and opal diggers and got seasick working as a deck hand on a fishing boat.

And I also experienced the wonder of it all, the freedom of waking up in the morning and not knowing what the day will bring, the time to relish each moment, and the writer's eye to make the trip real for the many people destined to read his book. Occasionally, the book got a bit slow, but that is not a criticism, but rather just part of the reality of the experience.

I really loved this book. And wish there were more books out there by this author. Hopefully, he'll write another book soon. And I know I'll be one of the first in line to order it.

Admittedly, I'm a big fan of travel writing which incorporates a good dose of humor ala Bill Bryson. Horwitz has accomplished exactly that. Tracing the route of the intrepid 18th century explorer James Cook, Horwitz travels from Australia to Alaska and many points in between seeking to connect personally with one of Britain's most famous mariners. In tow is a friend named Roger whose quiver of well timed one-liners are often quite humorous.

Throughout the book, Horwitz switches between the chronological tale of his travels and those of his subject, Cook. It works quite well. Indeed, it builds a delicious level of suspense as the reader alternately looks forward to each subsequent thread continuing. The narrative Cook history is well researched and Horwitz's personal travel account quite illuminating. Pacific paradise, it seems, is somewhat sporadically bestowed upon the islands he visits.

Blue Latitudes, to put it succinctly, is a fun book. Those looking for a strict, scholarly survey of Capt. James Cook should look elsewhere. However, if you like humorous travel writing which at the same time informs, Tony Horwitz has authored a gem. I consumed it in large chunks quite quickly. I'm fairly certain that many others will do the same.

Blue Latitudes, on Capt. James Cook & Crew's three voyages in the Pacific northwest and beyond, is simply the most interesting and engaging work of nonfiction (or "creative nonfiction") I have read in the past five years. The one before it was Horwitz's last book, Confederates in the Attic-and while that was riveting for me on a personal level, as I grew up in the South, Blue Latitudes is the better book, more universal and accessable, a mixture of first-person journalism with strong narrative technique (creative nonfiction) and history, which is presented so smoothly as to make you amazed you read this thing in a weekend and couldn't put it down, and then you get to the end and notice from the Selected Bibliography that this is also a major work of scholorship-the kind that makes Academics jealous because it's better than they are without being boring and stuffy. I'll bet it makes popular travel writers/participatory journalists like Paul Theroux or Geroge Plimpton envious because Horwitz can do research and they can't-and as in his earlier book he comes across as a likeable guy, not a self-important megalomaniac.

This is the kind of book that, for me at least, comes along once about every 3-5 years-if you're like me, and read widely and often, chances are you have some friends and family who do also, and you want them all to read it, you want to be the one to give it to them, holiday or no, which is what I did with Confederates in the Attic and is also what I'm doing with Blue Latitudes. Tony Horwitz already has a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism, for his early '90s work as a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal on the first Gulf War; he deserves another for this, in history.

And as I'm obviously giving this book the big Two Thumbs up and Then Some, and spending 1000 words doing it, let's just go on with this little line of thought for a moment, shall we? We shall. We were reading it at 4 am, wishing it were closer to Father's Day-and not just our father, either! One can teach it to high school students. Beautiful women can read it while laying out sipping Daquiris on the beach this summer. Grad students can use it in their dissertations, and even idiots can enjoy it. We were flipping through our phone book and didn't find a person therein who wouldn't dig it all the way to Tahiti and back in a pea-green boat, even those who care little or nothing for books on travel or history.

And I admit that before I picked it up, Captain Cook and his voyages had never been that important to me, or seen by me as having literally shaped the modern world as we know it-nor was I aware that Star Trek has been ripping off details from Cook for years. I was at one time very interested in the Franklin Expedition, and in the past few years the culture's had Shackleton Fever, but it took the writing of Tony Horwitz to really get me Cooking-and it's amazing how fascinating it all is, no matter who you are or what you normally like to read. It's as good as Six Feet Under on one of those nights where the episode lasts the full hour.

James Cook truly did chart new territories, going where no European had gone before-and he did it in his 50s, which was of course elderly in the late 1700s, in conditions that make a jail cell look like San Francisco Bay without the fog. Yep, Horwitz has a real prediliction for examining Hardcore Human Experience-and while he does so with the upmost taste and delicacy (which often gives the writing a certain ironic hilarity), you'd be hard-pressed (pun intended) to find an S & M site on the Internet where they get into stuff like the voyages of Cook's Endeavour. And it's all right here in this book-and sex, you wanted that, too, right? Well, read the chapter about when they go to Tahiti. They had more fun than Marlon Brando in the 70s. And gave the "new" world all the "old" had to offer-to the point at which the population of said island was reduced by some 95% in the next hundred years. Indeed, on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution, Cook's voyages define for Horwitz the literal beginnings of global Eurocentric hegemony and homogony-but the sex sure seemed like a good idea at the time.

That's what Sir Joseph Banks, the youthful naturalist, thought, at least-he loved it, and you gentlemen will read the book and fancy yourself Sir Joseph in Tahiti circa 1770. You ladies out there, you want him, too! You won't want Cook, but you'll really get into the toughness of it-well, I take it back-a woman like Melanie Hassler would desire Cook, a man who makes Shackleton and Franklin and Bering and Amundsen put together look like an uncooked hot dog. There's violence in this adventure story, too-I mean really. It's got you hanging on every word-because just about every word is true, it's wild, all the popular genres rolled into one, with NASA parallels thrown in to boot! You'll want to buy it for your Hairdresser. Your Dentist. Your Boss. And if these are all the same person (could be), you'll start in on your kids.

Because while I could step back and really analyze how brilliant is Horwitz's own account of shadowing (in his own ways) Cook's journeys, and noting changes, etc. (and making a lot of sapient observations between the lines as suggestions, too), I think the most remarkable thing about this book is how accessable and engaging and, yes, fun it can be to read a book on history-when it's written like this, for this, as I've shown, is about a little of everything. And you'll be surprised, as I was, at how much you'll learn-major facts, geography, dates, names, events, as well as tidbits that bring to life, by microcosm, the very different worlds of the past in a past where there were, for the very last time-different worlds.

1000 words, folks, and what I've said ain't the half of it. But go buy it or check it out and go read it-you'll wish every history book read like a book by Tony Horwitz.

Or, who knows, maybe you won't. But I feel sure that you believe that I do.

Tony Horwitz spends a year and a half visiting many of the places Captain Cook visited from 1768 - 1779. The book culminates with Cook's violent death in modern day Hawaii.

The book alternates back and forth between Cook's 18th century experience and Mr. Horwitz's modern day travels. Horwitz does an excellent job of interpreting the various sources available and giving an account that the historical layperson can relate to. Key characters include the author, Cook, the colorful Joseph Banks (the Endevour's Botanist) and Horowitz's even more colorful traveling companion Roger Williamson. Horwitz paints a picture of Cook as an austere, yet fair man-seemingly driven to the edges of the earth. As driven as Cook is to explore the world, Banks is driven to explore the anatomies of females from different Polynesian cultures. Roger is mainly content to explore the bottle and make wisecracks about Horwitz's adventure. If you think Blue Latitudes sounds like a dry historical piece, you're sorely mistaken. Any potential dryness is quickly quenched by Horwitz's wit, Banks's "botanizing" and Roger's boozing.

Much to my wife's amusement I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading Blue Latitudes. Despite that, I found myself strangely moved after reading the account of Cook's death. While the consequences of Cook's voyages are complex, you cannot help but feel a great admiration for this man who started with so little yet went so far. Great book, highly recommended.

Eight good stories by Jack London, about the people and places of the south Pacific in 1908. Also a good long introduction by A. Grove Day which should (like all too many "introductions") only be read *after* reading the stories.

Most of the people in these stories are, of course, either victims or perpetrators (or both) of one of those long painful Western exploitations of a less civilized ("less civilized") part of the world. London knows that that's what's going on, and he writes with sympathy for all concerned, and without the more self-conscious bemoaning that would be expected of a XXIst century writer. To the modern reader, then, he can sometimes seem cold-blooded, but seldom disturbingly so.

The prose is fine and spare most of the time, and never gets in the way of the tale. The places and the tales are memorable. There is not a great variety of character and setting; the eight stories together could almost be a single novel. His voyage on the Snark (which inspired these stories) clearly left him with a strong and single impression of this place and these people, and he conveys that impression skillfully along to us.

Definitely worth reading.