AA Gill is Away

A. A. Gill is one of the most feared writers in London, noted--according to the New York Times--for his "rapier wit." Some even consider the mere assignment of a subject to Gill a hostile act. But when the notice "AA GILL IS AWAY" runs in the Sunday Times of London, the city can rest peacefully in the knowledge that the writer is off traveling. "My editor asked me what I wanted from journalism and I said the first thing that came into my head--I'd like to interview places. To treat a place as if it were a person, to go and listen to it, ask it questions, observe it the way you would interview a politician or a pop star," Gill writes. Upon his return, readers are treated to an account of his vacations to places like famine-stricken Sudan, the pornography studios of California's San Fernando Valley, the dying Aral Sea or the seedy parts of Kaliningrad. The result is one of the most fascinating, stylish and irreverent collections of travel writing.

A. A. Gill

Foreword  How it works  South The end of the road Sudan, May 1998  Out of their element The Kalahari, January 1998  Game boy Tanzania, January 1998  I don¹t know what makes you angry... Uganda, October 2000  Selassie come home Ethiopia, December 2000 East Awayday in a manger Bethlehem, December 1999  The fatal shore The Aral Sea, July 2000  The city that Russia forgot Kaliningrad, June 2001  A short walk in the Hindu crush India, January 1999  Mad in Japan Tokyo, September 2001 West Born to be riled California, October 1999  When DD met AA U.S. Pornography, November 1999  Sex and the city Cuba, March 1999  Ride ?em chowboy Argentina, January 2001 North The thin line Milan Fashion Week, October 1995  Hunforgiven Germany, July 1999  Scumball rally Monaco, October 2001 Return of the native Scotland, May 1999 Look who¹s stalking The British Army¹s Sniping Course, Wales,January 2000  To the manure born The Royal Agricultural Show, September 2000 Roller derby Owning a Rolls-Royce, October 2001