All the Wrong Places: Adrift in the Politics of the Pacific Rim (Traveler)
by James Fenton
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James Fenton is the right man in the wrong place in dangerous times. This journalist, poet, and critic is almost always at the center of a revolution. Fenton was one of the last journalists in Saigon, and his reporting from the abandoned American embassy, "where the looting had just begun," is unlike any Vietnam coverage you've ever read. "Some people gave me suspicious looks; I was after all the only one there with a white face--so I began to do a little lootingmyself . . . .Two things I show more could not take were reproduction of an 1873 map of Hanoi and a framed quotation by Lawrence of Arabia, which read 'Better to let them do it imperfectly than do it perfectly yourself, for it is their country, their way, and your time is short.'" Reporting from war-ravaged Cambodia, Fenton lived for a while in a monastery, where the monks, certain he was a CIA agent, were fixated with his bout of constipation. In "The Snap Revolution," Fenton chronicles Corazon Aquino's assumption of power in the Philippines, from a vantage point so close "I could even tell you what perfume Imelda Marcos was wearing." Fenton's most recent posting is Korea, where he reports, in his inimitable fashion, on the recent riots and election in that complex country on the brink of civil convulsion. All the Wrong Places is a visceral and unforgettable view from the Pacific Rim. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
I fell in love with Fenton's voice and attention to detail way back when I was in high school and stumbled across a volume of his poetry (which is, incidentally, still one of my favorite poetry collections of all time), so this has been on my reading list for quite some time--I'm glad I finally got around to it.
Each of the essays here details Fenton's wanderings and adventures through revolutions, giving detailed pictures into rarely seen moments along the Pacific Rim--back and forth across enemy lines in Korea, Saigon just after its official fall, etc. Some of the moments are heartbreaking, and more of them than you'd expect are humorous, but Fenton's wry care with people and with expectations makes each piece a striking commentary on show more not just unfolding events, but humanity, politics, and journalism.
I'd absolutely recommend this to anyone interested in world events or history, or in revolution or journalism. Although it's true that the pieces are located in specific times and moments, it's terrifying how relevant some of them are to just this moment in time, and sort of wonderful to read about them in a way that is not just carefully observant and honest, as if one were reading Fenton's journal rather than essays, but also told with both intelligence and a tempered optimism that, one way or another, things keep going on, and people survive.
Absolutely recommended. show less
Each of the essays here details Fenton's wanderings and adventures through revolutions, giving detailed pictures into rarely seen moments along the Pacific Rim--back and forth across enemy lines in Korea, Saigon just after its official fall, etc. Some of the moments are heartbreaking, and more of them than you'd expect are humorous, but Fenton's wry care with people and with expectations makes each piece a striking commentary on show more not just unfolding events, but humanity, politics, and journalism.
I'd absolutely recommend this to anyone interested in world events or history, or in revolution or journalism. Although it's true that the pieces are located in specific times and moments, it's terrifying how relevant some of them are to just this moment in time, and sort of wonderful to read about them in a way that is not just carefully observant and honest, as if one were reading Fenton's journal rather than essays, but also told with both intelligence and a tempered optimism that, one way or another, things keep going on, and people survive.
Absolutely recommended. show less
Invents a new school of journalism, the Crepuscular School, based on the observation that people tell you more after dark. When I was stalking the revolutions of Southeast Asia, I certainly found that to be true. Revealing without being self-important.
3.5 stars.
Pacific/Travel
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Author Information
27+ Works 1,128 Members
James Fenton has been a foreign correspondent & a theater critic & has written about the history of gardens. His book of poems, "Out of Danger", was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. He won the 2015 PEN/Pinter Prize for poetry. The award, established by English PEN in memory of Nobel-Laureate playwright Harold Pinter, is presented annually for show more outstanding literary merit by a British writer or writer resident in Britain. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1988
- Important places
- Vietnam; Cambodia; Korea; The Philippines
- Dedication
- To Bill Buford
- First words
- In the summer of 1973 I had a dream in which, to my great distress, I died.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)We sat Christmas out, in the deserted resort, then went back to Seoul before the New Year influx.
- Blurbers
- Howard, Philip; Behr, Edward
Classifications
- Genres
- Travel, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, Politics and Government
- DDC/MDS
- 915.90453 — History & geography Geography & travel Geography of and travel in Asia Southeast Asia; Indochina; Mekong River
- LCC
- DS522.5 .F46 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania Asia History of Asia Southeast Asia
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 124
- Popularity
- 263,715
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, Spanish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 6
