I Read a Lot of Books

I have some go-to non fiction writers that I rely on to provide a variety of real life events or stories that I know will educate, enlighten, entertain, and always be great. Erik Larson, Sarah Vowell, Nathaniel Philbrick, Amy Stewart. And Hampton Sides. It was a happy day when I discovered this man. One thing I LOVE about Sides is that his books are so varied, and still so interesting. There is no better example than Americana.

A little history on my man Hampton (because we are tight like that). He currently edits Outside magazine and has contributed to various magazines like National Geographic, the New Yorker, and Esquire among others. He is a journalist first and foremost and that critical analysis of information shows in the type of work he produces. While working on different projects and for a wide range of publications Sides kept notes and observations about the world around him, specifically searching for a common thread and the question, “What does America mean?” In the introduction Sides writes, “The United States of America is such a glorious mess of contradiction, such a crazy quilt of competing themes, such a fecund mishmash of people and ideas, that defining us is pretty much pointless.” Sides doesn’t come out guns a’blazing trying to define America, but his work does offer glimmers of that ‘glorious mess’ that is the land of my birth. His essays aren’t chronological but grouped into various themes. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t work as well and seems a bit of a stretch, and my general rule is, not all essays are created equal.

One of the most compelling (and more lengthy) essays is called Points of Impact and is about September 11th and the aftermath on various survivors. I found this portion of the book both beautiful and challenging. My own September 11th experience is odd as I was in Brazil serving as a missionary at the time. I had been there for 9 months and would be there for nearly another year. I didn’t have access to tv but that particular day I went to the city center to meet with the leaders in my mission. I knew something was wrong the moment I entered the office as one of the American missionaries I’d worked with was curled on the couch in tears. He would return home in a matter of weeks and return to the US Air Force training that he’d put on hold when he decided to go to Brazil for two years. Perhaps he knew better than most what the world would look like post 9/11. One of the Brazilians told me quickly that America was under attack and he ushered me to a television so I could see footage of the carnage. And folks, Brazilian news is NOT US news. They don’t pretty it up and pixilate bodies and gore. My stomach lurched, and I felt the uncertainty of what and why and who. But I was in Brazil, and while it was a tragedy, I had work to do, and back to work it was. When I returned home the following July and people spoke about 9/11 and the days that had followed, I really had no concept of what that could have been like. I only knew that I had returned to a country that was vastly different than the one I had left. Reading the accounts and the impact that those few hours had on so many, I am not going to lie, I cried MANY times. I felt that I finally understood what my friends and family were talking about when they spoke with reverence about that day.

One of my least favorite essays was Let Us Now Praise Famous Fish about bass fisherman. I wasn’t excited about it, and Sides didn’t get me excited about it but that was a rare exception in and otherwise really great collection. Another criticism I have is that occasionally there isn’t time to delve into a topic, it is more of a snapshot and so we might see the event from a superficial perspective without context. This is a dilemma in short essays, but again, for the most part Sides works hard to ensure the reader is given the most complete picture possible in the space allowed. Another great book by Hampton Sides. I’m excited to see what he writes next.