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7+ Works 3,864 Members 106 Reviews 14 Favorited

About the Author

Peter Hessler is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he served as the Beijing correspondent from 2000 to 2007, and is also a contributing writer for National Geographic. He is the author of River Town, which won the Kiriyama Prize; Oracle Bones, which was a finalist for the National Book Award; show more and, most recently, Country Driving. He won the 2008 National Magazine Award for excellence in reporting, and he was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2011. He lives in Cairo. show less

Includes the name: Peter Hessler

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Works by Peter Hessler

Associated Works

Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink (2007) — Contributor — 527 copies
The Best American Travel Writing 2001 (2001) — Contributor — 236 copies
The Best American Essays 2012 (2012) — Contributor — 224 copies
The Best American Travel Writing 2005 (2005) — Contributor — 212 copies
The Best American Travel Writing 2008 (2008) — Contributor — 210 copies
The Best American Travel Writing 2004 (2004) — Contributor — 182 copies
The Best American Travel Writing 2007 (2007) — Contributor — 158 copies
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2013 (2013) — Contributor — 151 copies
The Best American Travel Writing 2010 (2010) — Contributor — 99 copies
The Best American Magazine Writing 2008 (2008) — Contributor — 46 copies
Chinese sentiment (2011) — Introduction — 6 copies

Tagged

anthology (153) archaeology (18) Asia (60) Best American Series (57) China (774) Chinese history (26) cooking (22) culture (23) ebook (23) Egypt (20) essays (220) fiction (39) food (84) food writing (29) Fuling (20) goodreads (17) history (136) journalism (52) Kindle (32) literature (17) memoir (198) New Yorker (20) non-fiction (542) own (19) owned (18) Peace Corps (50) politics (16) read (44) RPCV (55) short stories (42) teaching (18) to-read (307) travel (634) travel narrative (17) travel writing (42) travelogue (17) unread (27) wishlist (18) writing (17) Yangtze River (28)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1968-06-14
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Places of residence
Columbia, Missouri, USA
Fuling, China
Cairo, Egypt
Education
Princeton University
University of Oxford (Mansfield College)
Hickman High School
Occupations
journalist
travel writer
Relationships
Chang, Leslie T (wife)
Organizations
The New Yorker
Peace Corps
Awards and honors
Rhodes Scholarship
Short biography
Peter Hessler joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 2000. He is the magazine’s correspondent in the People’s Republic of China, where he has lived since 1996. His Letter from China articles have included features on the basketball player Yao Ming, a Shenzhen factory worker, and a rural family in the grip of a medical crisis. He has also written about being robbed on the border between China and North Korea, the Mongolian Presidential elections, and the Three Gorges Dam.

Members

Reviews

Man, I am on a run of good books! This is basically a travelogue and Hessler does a great job of teasing out the meeting points between different cultures, not always harmonious. Put me in mind of my own travels to SE Asia at nineteen years old. I was such a jackass and lacked a lot of the skills that would have made for more fulfilling travel.
 
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BBrookes | 51 other reviews | Nov 16, 2023 |
This is a nonfiction account of a Peace Corps volunteer's time in China. I did not feel particularly engaged in his experience. As much as I love the Orient, this book did not make me want to visit there.
 
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BookConcierge | 51 other reviews | Jul 19, 2023 |
I’ve never been to China. After reading the first book in Peter Hessler’s trilogy that chronicles his experiences as an American living in China on the cusp of the 21st century, I now understand that China is so massive geographically that there is no one China. A common history binds the culture, but the social conventions and language can differ depending on where you are.

River Town is about the two years Hessler taught English in Fuling, a remote city in Sichuan in the mountainous center of the nation. As part of the earliest cadre of Peace Corps volunteers to enter China in the 1990s, Hessler was assigned to a small teacher’s college. Most of his students were peasants’ children, and the opportunity to teach school was an honorable advancement for them.

The students were diligent and well-behaved, but Hessler and his fellow volunteer, Adam, made plenty of missteps inside and outside the classroom. The pair learn the local Chinese dialect, make friends in town, and feel like they belong there. But unfolding events prove their confidence and comfort are premature.

I enjoyed this peek into Chinese society in the 1990s. With the newly opened economy, the country only recently allowed outside influences in, and the clash between the cultures was very real. But so was the humanity both sides displayed.

Hessler covers too much ground to examine in a short review. He was there while the nation built the Three Gorges Dam and lamented the imminent loss of the area’s beautiful landscapes. But he celebrates the kindnesses and honesty of the residents while denigrating the government propaganda that kept them under control. River Town is a wonderful book for anyone who genuinely enjoys a “slice of life” look at a particular place and time.
… (more)
 
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Library_Lin | 51 other reviews | Jul 5, 2023 |
 
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pollycallahan | 19 other reviews | Jul 1, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
7
Also by
13
Members
3,864
Popularity
#6,559
Rating
4.1
Reviews
106
ISBNs
48
Languages
5
Favorited
14
Touchstones
95

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