How One Egyptian's Bad Haircut from a Greeley, Colorado Barber in 1949 Provided Ideological Fuel for 9/11 Discussed : Sayyid Qutb's experience in Greeley, Colorado, bad haircuts, the anthropology and sociology of tourist behavior, the weirdly colonialist assumptions of post-colonialist scholars, the idea that Arabs can be just as touristically dorky as their American counterparts,...

This week, Brooklyn-based writer (and erstwhile traveler extraordinaire) Ayun Halliday debuted her fourth book, Dirty Sugar Cookies : Culinary Observations, Questionable Taste , which "takes readers into the unpredictable mind and comical experiences of a true anti-foodie, giving even the most hopeless cooks a moment of relief from self-criticism, and the least discriminating eaters a...

The following essay, written by the late critic John Malcolm Brinnin, was first presented as the keynote address to the 1991 Key West Literary Seminar . At this year's seminar in Key West , "Travel and the Sense of Wonder" was mentioned in several contexts, and Thomas Swick, who wrote about Brinnin in his blog...

The following essay, written by novelist Michael Mewshaw, was first presented as the plenary address at the 2004 South Central MLA Conference in New Orleans on October 28, 2004. It was included this year with the orientation materials for the Key West Literary Seminar , and I share it here with the intention of giving...

East Coast elites need to travel more (inland) [ Above : Hit the road, pal.] Last month, Harper's editor Lewis Lapham announced his retirement after nearly thirty years on the job. I've been an enthusiastic Harper's subscriber for over a decade, but I've always found Lapham's monthly "Notebook" column to be the most irritating part...

Cowboys and Indians, Thai-style From the grounds of Thailand's premier cowboy resort, a displaced Kansan explores the mysteries of the Far East's Wild West. By Rolf Potts S tanding in the dusty stables of Pensuk Great Western cowboy resort, the wrangler sizes me up and tells me there's a problem. "You can't ride the horses,"...