Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, and Professional Hedonism Review

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Do Travel Writers Go to Hell: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, and Professional Hedonism ReviewSeveral weeks ago, I was shocked to hear the news media reporting that Lonely Planet author Thomas Kohnstamm fabricated his research for LP's travel guides and had now written a tell-all book.
Moreover, I was flatly angry. I used the 2005 Lonely Planet Brazil guide which Kohnstamm contributed to for two trips to that country. I even followed his thoughtful (albeit a bit preachy) regimen for "responsible travel" while there.
And now all his contributions to the Lonely Planet Brazil guide were turning out to be a pack of lies? What a jerk!
Needless to say, I simply had to read Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? If nothing else, I felt compelled to read it in order to justify my anger, or perhaps redouble it.
The book wasn't what I had expected. As it turns out, Kohnstamm turns out to be an extremely conflicted guy. His standards are high, but he is disillusioned by the business of travel writing-- its deadlines and budgets in particular. He tries to build himself up as the cool guy who gets all of the women, yet his description of many of them is overwhelmingly sentimental (see the passages on ex-girlfriend Sydney in the introduction, if you doubt me).
So, did Kohnstamm fabricate some of his work? Did he take free meals and lodging? Yes, and yes, although not nearly to the extent that the media has reported. That's right: the press got it wrong!
This guy is no slouch (he has a Master's in Latin American studies from Stanford), but he does let himself become one at various points in the book. Kohnstamm takes us along for the ride, from Rio to Olinda, and various places in between.
You've got to admire Kohnstamm for putting himself out there like this in such a frank way. There's no trite moral story in this book-- just a travelogue which is part confession, part braggadocio and all well written (in Hunter S. Thompson style, no less).
After reading the book, I can't be angry. First of all, I've never laid myself bare like this. Further, how can I stay mad at a guy who puts pictures of his dog on his MySpace page, quotes Paul Theroux and is fascinated with D.B. Cooper?
I still think Thomas Kohnstamm is a jerk, mind you-- but one who I have come to admire greatly through the pages of this book.
It's good to know that travel writers are real people. If nothing else, Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? proves exactly that. Keep writing, Thomas.Do Travel Writers Go to Hell: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, and Professional Hedonism Overview

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