Armchair Traveler

A photo illustration of mountain hikers climbing on open books.

The Best Nonfiction Adventures You Need to Read Right Now

Not to knock bestsellers—Jon Krakauer deserves to be famous—but some of the best adventure stories have suffered undeserved neglect. Here’s a fix for that.

Grace Ly

ARMCHAIR TRAVELER

How a Very English Englishman Became Smitten With America

The celebrated English author G.K. Chesterton traveled around the U.S. on a lecture tour in 1921. The farther he traveled, the more he saw to like, despite Prohibition.

Allen Barra

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ARMCHAIR TRAVELER

The Book That Has Made All These Walks Feel Highbrow

Walking used to be something you did once you traveled somewhere. Now, it opens up the world outside my front door.

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ARMCHAIR TRAVELER

California Dreaming With Joan Didion

Trapped in my apartment I pulled Joan’s books off the shelf. I wanted to learn again from her meticulous observation of detail, character and setting, and her great sense of irony.

Christopher Dickey

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ARMCHAIR TRAVELER

The Book ‘All the Wrong Places’ Gets It All Just Right

Most travel writers gloss over their misfortune while traveling, but the best parts of Fenton’s iconic book are often when he tells us how things went wrong.

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Armchair Traveler

W.A. Poucher Helps You Climb Every Mountain From Your Couch

When Tim Teeman was growing up, W.A. Poucher’s “The Welsh Peaks” was the ideal guide to the mountains of Snowdonia, Wales. Practical and evocative, Poucher made every walk magical.

Tim Teeman

Armchair Traveler

The Best Nonfiction Adventures You Need to Read Right Now

How a Very English Englishman Became Smitten With America

The Book That Has Made All These Walks Feel Highbrow

California Dreaming With Joan Didion

The Book ‘All the Wrong Places’ Gets It All Just Right

W.A. Poucher Helps You Climb Every Mountain From Your Couch

Travel Like a Snob with ‘A Brave New World’ Author