Notable travel writers and travel literature

Note: listed by year of birth

8th century BC

• Homer (fl. 8th century BC)

  Odyssey — epic poem accounting the travels of the Greek hero, Odysseus, on his voyage home from Troy.

5th century BC

• Xenophon (431–355 BC)

  Anabasis - about the expedition of Cyrus the Younger, a Persian prince, against his brother, King Artaxerxes II

2nd century AD

• Lucian of Samosata (c. 125 – after c. 180)

  True History — documents a fantastic voyage that parodies many mythical travels recounted by other authors, such as Homer; considered to be among the first works of science fiction.

• Pausanias (fl. 2nd century)

  Description of Greece

4th century

• Decimus Magnus Ausonius (c. 310 – 395)

  Mosella (The Moselle, c. 370) — describes the poet's trip to the banks of the river Moselle, then in Gaul.

• Faxian (c. 337 – c. 422), Chinese traveler to India and Ceylon

  A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fâ-Hien of His Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline

  5th century

• Rutilius Claudius Namatianus (fl. 5th century)

  De reditu suo (Concerning His Return, c. 416) — the poet describes his voyage along the Mediterranean seacoast from Rome to Gaul.

  7th century

• Xuanzang (602 – 664)

  Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (646) — narrative of the Buddhist monk's journey from China to India.

8th century

• Ennin (c. 793 or 794 – 864), Japanese Buddhist monk who chronicled his travels in Tang China

  The Record of a Pilgrimage to China in Search of the Law (838-847)

10th century

• Ahmad ibn Fadlan (fl. 10th century)

  Kitāb ilā Mulk al-Saqāliba (كتاب إلى ملك الصقالبة) (A letter to the king al-Saqāliba, Ibn Faḍlān's account of the caliphal embassy from Baghdad to the King of the Volga Bulghārs, c. 921)

11th century

• Nasir Khusraw (1004 – 1088), Persian traveler in the Middle East

  Safarnama (c. 1046)

12th century

• Abu ad-Din al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Jubayr (1145 – 1217)

  The Travels of Ibn Jubayr (c. 1185)

• Gerald of Wales (1146 – 1223)

  Itinerarium Cambriae (Journey Through Wales, 1191)

13th century

• Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229)

  Mu'jam Al-Buldan (Dictionary of Countries)

• Marco Polo (1254 – 1324 or 1325), Venetian traveller to China and the Mongol Empire

  Il Milione (1298)

  14th century

• Ibn Battuta (1304 – 1368 or 1369), Moroccan world traveler

  Rihla (1355) — literally entitled: "A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling".

15th century

• Afanasy Nikitin (? – 1474), Russian merchant, traveler and writer

  A Journey Beyond the Three Seas

16th century

• Ẓahīr ud-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur (1483-1531), founder of the Mughal Empire

  Baburnama, memoirs, including his descriptions of the places he lived and/or conquered.

• Duarte Barbosa (?–1521), Portuguese writer and explorer who died in Magellan's circumnavigation

  The book of Duarte Barbosa: an account of the countries bordering the Indian Ocean and their inhabitants (1516, originally known through the testimony of Italian Giovanni Battista Ramusio)

• Fernão Mendes Pinto (1509–1583), Portuguese explorer and writer

  Peregrinação (meaning "Pilgrimage", published posthumously in 1614) — memoir of his travels in the Middle and Far East, Ethiopia, Arabian Sea, India and Japan, as one of the first Europeans to reach it in 1542.

• Richard Hakluyt (c. 1552–1616)

  The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589) — a foundational text of the travel literature genre.

17th century

• Evliya Çelebi, (1610–1683)

  Seyahatname

• Johann Sigmund Wurffbain (1613–1661)

  Reise Nach Den Molukken Und Vorder-Indien, 1632-1646 (Travel to the Moluccas and the Middle East Indies, 1632-1646) (1646)

• François de La Boullaye-Le Gouz (1623–1668)

  Les voyages et observations du sieur de La Boullaye Le gouz (1653 & 1657) — one of the very first true travel books.

• Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)

  Kashima Kikō (A Visit to Kashima Shrine) (1687)

  Oi no Kobumi, or Utatsu Kikō (Record of a Travel-Worn Satchel) (1688)

  Sarashina Kikō (A Visit to Sarashina Village) (1688)

  The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (trans. 1967)

• Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762) — known for the letters she wrote during several trips abroad, which were important for later female travel writers. These letters include:

  Turkish Embassy Letters — letters describing her life as an ambassador's wife in Turkey, important as one of the earliest discussions of the Muslim world by a woman

  18th century

• Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

  Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735, a satiric parody of the genre)

• Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

  A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775) — the lexicographer and his friend James Boswell (1740–1795) visit Scotland in 1773.

• Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)

  A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768)

• Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

  Thomas Jefferson Travels: Selected Writings, 1784-1789 — record of Jefferson's travels in France, Holland, Germany and Italy, included in his Complete Works with selected portions in various collections of his writings.

• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1743 – 1832)

  Italienische Reise (1816–1817)

• Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)

  A Short Residence in Sweden (1796)

  Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796)

• Johann Gottfried Seume (1763–1810)

  Spaziergang nach Syrakus (1803)

• Jippensha Ikku (1765–1831)

  Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige (The Shank's Mare) — one of the most famous of the Edo period michiyuki (journey) novels.

• John Quincy Adams (1767–1848)

  Letters on Silesia: Written During a Tour Through That Country in the Years 1800, 1801 (1804)

• Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet (1788–1873)

  Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, Macedonia, &c., during the years 1812 and 1813 (1815)

• James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)

  Gleanings in Europe: Switzerland (1836)

  Gleanings in Europe: The Rhine (1836)

  Gleanings in Europe: England (1837)

• Marquis de Custine (1790–1857)

  Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia (1838)

• Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)

  Reisebilder (1826–33), Harzreise (1853)

19th century

• Karl Baedeker (1801–1859), German publisher whose company set the standard for authoritative guidebooks for tourists
• Rifa'a el-Tahtawi (1801–1873), Egyptian traveler to France

  Takhlis al-Ibriz fi Talkhis Bariz ("An Imam in Paris: Account of a Stay in France by an Egyptian Cleric (1826-1831)", 1834)

• George Borrow (1803–1881)

  The Bible in Spain (1843)

  Wild Wales (1862)

• John Lloyd Stephens (1805–1852)

  Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petræa and the Holy Land (1837)

  Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia and Poland (1838)

  Incidents of Travel in Central American, Chiapas and Yucatan (1841)

  Incidents of Travel in Yucatan (1843)

• Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)

  Journey to America (1831–1832)

• Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875)

  The Improvisatore (1835)

• Charles Darwin (1809–1882)

  The Voyage of the Beagle (1839)

• Alexander Kinglake (1809–1891)

  Eothen (1844)

• Charles Dickens (1812–1870)

  American Notes (1842)

  Pictures from Italy (1844–1845)

• Herman Melville (1819–1891)

  Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1846)

  Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas (1847) — chronicles of Melville's experiences as a sailor in Polynesia.

• Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) — left travel notes and letters, including:

  Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour (publ.1972) — letters

• Fran Levstik (1831–1887)

  Popotovanje od Litije do Čateža (1858) — a journey from Litija to Čatež that includes a very influential Slovenian literary programme.

• William Morris (1834–1896)

  Icelandic Journals (1911)

• Mark Twain (1835–1910)

  The Innocents Abroad (1869)

  Roughing It (1872)

  A Tramp Abroad (1880)

  Following the Equator (1897)

• John Burroughs (1837–1921)

  Fresh Fields (1884)

• William Dean Howells (1837–1920)

  Certain Delightful English Towns (1906)

• Henry James (1843–1916)

  A Little Tour in France (1884)

  English Hours (1905)

  The American Scene (1907)

  Italian Hours (1909)

• Joshua Slocum (1844–1909)

  Sailing Alone Around the World (1899)

• Octave Mirbeau (1848–1917)

  La 628-E8 (1908)

• Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)

  An Inland Voyage (1878)

  Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879)

  The Silverado Squatters (1883)

• Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)

  Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail (1888)

  Through the Brazilian Wilderness (1914)

• Jelena Dimitrijević (1862–1945)

  Letters from Niš Regarding Harems (1897)

  Letters from Salonica on Young Turk Revolution (1918)

  Letters from India (1928)

  Letters from Egypt (1929)

  The New World, alias: In America for a Year (1934)

• Prince Bojidar Karageorgevitch (1862–1908)

  Enchanted India (1898)

• Mary Kingsley (1862–1900)

  Travels in West Africa (1897)

• J. Smeaton Chase (1864–1923)

  Yosemite Trails (1911)

  California Coast Trails (1913)

  California Desert Trails (1919)

• Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867–1951)

  Across Asia from West to East in 1906-1908 (English trans. 1940) — explorations by Czarist spy who would later become President of Finland.

• Norman Douglas (1868–1962)

  Old Calabria (1915)

• André Gide (1869–1951)

  Voyage au Congo (1927)

  Le retour de Tchad (1928)

  Retour de l'U. R. S. S. (1936)

  Retouches â mon retour de l'U. R. S. S (1937)

• Ernest Peixotto (1869–1940)

  Our Hispanic Southwest (1916) — contains the first usage of the ethnic slur "spic"

• Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953)

  The Path To Rome (1902) — a ramble by foot from central France to Rome in 1901.

• W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)

  On a Chinese Screen (1922) — vignettes of China in the '30s from the master of the short story.

• Yone Noguchi (1875–1947)

  The American Diary of a Japanese Girl (1903)

• Isidora Sekulić (1877–1958)

  Pisma iz Norveške / Letters from Norway (1914)

• D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930)

  Sea and Sardinia (1921)

• Henry Vollam Morton (1892–1979)

  The Heart of London (1925)

  In Search of England (1927)

• Rebecca West (1892–1983)

  Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941) — an 1,181-page look at Yugoslavia before the tragedies of World War II and the 1990s wars.

• Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan (1893–1963)

  Volga Se Ganga ("A Journey From Volga to Ganga", 1944)

• Thomas Raucat (1894–1976)

  L'honorable partie de campagne ("The honorable picnic", 1924)

  De Shang-Haï à Canton ("From Shanghai to Canton", 1927)

• J. Slauerhoff (1898–1936)

  Alleen de havens zijn ons trouw ("Only the Ports Are Loyal to Us", 1992 [1927–1932])

• Peter Aufschnaiter (1899–1973)

  Eight Years in Tibet (1983)

• Emily Kimbrough (1899–1989) — writer of travel humor

  And a Right Good Crew (1958)

• Gordon Sinclair (1900–1984)

  Khyber Caravan: Through Kashmir, Waziristan, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Northern India (1936) — a somewhat curmudgeonly account of 1934 travels in British India by a later famous Canadian journalist and television personality.

• Richard Halliburton (1900–1939), one of the most famous explorers and adventure writers of his generation

  The Royal Road to Romance (1925)

  The Glorious Adventure (1927)

  New Worlds to Conquer (1929)

  The Flying Carpet (1932)

  Seven League Boots (1935)

20th century

• John Steinbeck (1902–1968)

  A Russian Journal (1948) — A trip through Russia, Ukraine and Georgia in the Soviet Union shortly after World War II with the friend and renowned war photographer Robert Capa.

  Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962) — an American road book describing Steinbeck's journeys with his poodle, Charley.

• Chiang Yee (1903–1977)

  The Silent Traveller series — 11 books about his travels in Britain, the USA and Japan

• Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)

  Waugh Abroad: Collected Travel Writing — an account of the English novelist's restless wanderings around the world in the 1930s and later.

  Ninety-Two Days: Travels in Guiana and Brazil (1932)

• J.M. Synge (1871–1909)

  The Aran Islands with illustrations by Jack B. Yeats. (1907)

  Travels in Wicklow, West Kerry and Connemara with illustrations by Jack B. Yeats. (1911)

• Graham Greene (1904–1991)

  Journey Without Maps (1936)

• Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007)

  "America" (1986)

• Gerald Brenan (1894–1987)

  The Spanish Labyrinth (1943)

  The Face of Spain (1950)

• Robert Byron (1905–1941)

  The Road to Oxiana (1937) — travels in Persia and Afghanistan

• Laurens van der Post (1906–1996)

  The Lost World of the Kalahari (1958) — Auberon Waugh (1939–2001) described van der Post as the person in whose company he'd most like to spend an evening. This book by the South African soldier/explorer/writer suggests why.

• Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988)

  Tramp Royale (1992)

• Ian Fleming (1908–1964)

  Thrilling Cities (1963)

• Paul Bowles (1910–1999)

  Yallah (1957)

  Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue (1963)

• Wilfred Thesiger (1910–2003)

  Arabian Sands (1959)

• Gavin Young (1928–2001)

  Return to the Marshes (1977)

  Iraq: Land of Two Rivers (1980)

  Slow Boats to China (1981)

  Halfway Around the World: An Improbable Journey (1983)

  Slow Boats Home (1985)

• Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990)

  Prospero's Cell: A Guide to the Landscape and Manners of the Island of Corcyra (1945) — this text describes Durrell's time in Corfu. It should be read in tandem with his brother Gerald's My Family and Other Animals.

  Reflections on a Marine Venus (1953) — experiences in Rhodes.

  Bitter Lemons (1957) — travels in Cyprus.

• Heinrich Harrer (1912–2006)

  Seven Years in Tibet (1952)

• Gavin Maxwell (1914–1969)

  People of the Reeds (1957)

• Patrick Leigh Fermor (b. 1915)

  A Time Of Gifts (1977) — a journey by an 18 year old in 1933/4 overland from the Hook of Holland to Hungary, rewritten in old age from long lost notes.

• Roger Pilkington (1915–2003) — author of the "Small Boat" series

  Small Boat on the Thames (1966)

  Small Boat on the Moselle (1968)

• Camilo José Cela (1916–2002)

  Viaje a la Alcarria (1948)

• Eric Newby (1919–2006), popular English travel writer

  A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (1958)

• Lucjan Wolanowski (1920–2006)

  Post to Never-Never Land (Poland, 1968) — reports from Australia.

  Heat and fever (Poland, 1970) — reports from the work in World Health Organization Information department in Geneva, travels in New Delhi, Bangkok and Manila, 1967-1968.

• Jože Javoršek (1920-1990)

  Indija Koromandija (1962), a travelogue through India by one of the most important Slovenian essayists of the 20th century

• Zulfikar "Zuko" Džumhur (1921, Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1989) was a Bosnian writer, painter and caricaturist. He wrote screenplays and hosted TV show Hodoljublje, a travel documentary. He successfully produced this show for over ten years for television TV Sarajevo.

  Hodoljublja (1982, "TV Sarajevo" Bosnia and Herzegovina) (Travelogue - a travel documentary with focus on culture, traditions, art and nature of Bosnia and Herzegovina, (ex) Yugoslavia and countries he sojourned, primarily Islamic and countries of Mediterranean Basin.)

  Nekrolog jednoj čaršiji (1958) (Obituary of a čaršija (the downtown/main street Ottoman-Turkish style bazaar)) (with an introduction by Ivo Andrić)

  Pisma iz Azije (1973) (Letters from Asia)

  Pisma iz Afrike i Evrope (Letters from Africa & Europe)

  Stogodišnje priče (Centennial tales)

  Putovanje bijelom Ladom (1982) (Voyage with white "Lada" ("Lada" is a brand of Russian automobile))

  Adakale

  Zelena čoja Montenegra (Green carpet of Montenegro - co-authored with Serbian novelist Momo Kapor)

• Gerald Durrell (1925–1995)

  My Family and Other Animals (1956) — a description of an idyllic childhood on Corfu in the 1930s by the brother of Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990). This text combines natural observations, humour, storytelling, and travel.

  Fillets of Plaice (1971)

• Jan Morris (b. 1926)

  Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere (2001) — author of many works, especially about cities; prior to the 1970s, her work was published under her previous name, "James Morris."

• Che Guevara (1928–1967)

  The Motorcycle Diaries (1952) — Traces the 8000 km trip through South America of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, then a 23-year-old medical student, and his friend Alberto Granado a 29-year-old biochemist (who also published his own diaries of the event in Travelling with Che Guevara).

• Primož Kozak (1929-1981)

  Peter Klepec in America (1971), a travelogue through the United States by one of the most important Slovenian essayists of the 20th century

• Juan Goytisolo (b. 1931)

  Campos de Nijar (1959)

• Ted Simon (b. 1931)

  Jupiter's Travels (1979)

• Ryszard Kapuściński (1932–2007)

  Another Day of Life (1976)

  The Soccer War (1978)

  The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat (1978)

  Shah of Shahs (1982)

  Imperium (1993)

  The Shadow of the Sun (2001)

• Cees Nooteboom (b. 1933), Dutch travel writer

  Berlijnse Notities (1990)

  Roads to Santiago (1992)

  Nootebooms Hotel (2002)

• Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (1934–2002)

  Italian Days (1989)

• David Lodge (b. 1935)

  Paradise News, 1991

• Rubén Caba (b. 1935)

  Por la ruta serrana del Arcipreste (1976, 1977, 1995)

• Venedict Yerofeyev (1938–1990)

  Moskva–Pеtushki (1973) — a Russian tale of alcohol, love, and a train ride; translated into English as Moscow to the End of the Line.

• William Least Heat-Moon (b. 1939)

  Blue Highways: A Journey into America (1982)

• Peter Mayle (b. 1939)

  A Year in Provence (1989)

• Colin Thubron (b. 1939)

  Mirror to Damascus (1967)

• Bruce Chatwin (1940–1989), an English stylist of the 20th century

  In Patagonia (1977)

  The Songlines (1987)

• Frances Mayes (b. 1940)

  Under the Tuscan Sun (1996) — a memoir of buying, renovating, and living in an abandoned villa in rural Tuscany in Italy.

• Paul Theroux (b. 1941)

  The Great Railway Bazaar (1975) — perhaps Theroux's most popular travel work.

• Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)

  Old Glory: An American Voyage (1981)

• Michael Crichton (1942–2008)

  Travels (1988)

21st century

• Michael Palin (b. 1943)

  Sahara (2002)

• Julian Barnes (b. 1946)

  A History of the World in 10½ Chapters (1989)

  England, England (1998)

• Tom Miller (b. 1947)

  Best Travel Writing 2005, introduction, pp. xvii-xxi, (2005)

  A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk About Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration, (2004) pp. 325–343.

  Writing on the Edge: A Borderlands Reader, (ed.) (2003)

  Travelers' Tales—Cuba, (ed.) (2001)

  Jack Ruby's Kitchen Sink: Offbeat Travels Through America's Southwest (2000)

  Trading With the Enemy: A Yankee Travels Through Castro's Cuba (1992)

  The Panama Hat Trail: A Journey From South America (1986)

  Arizona: The Land and the People, (ed.) (1986)

  On the Border: Portraits of America's Southwestern Frontier (1981)

• Mikirō Sasaki (b. 1947), Japanese poet and travel essayist

  Ajia kaidō kikō: umi wa toshi de aru (A Travel Journal of the Asian Seaboard, 2002)

• Lawrence Millman (b. 1948)

  An Evening Among Headhunters: And Other Reports from Roads Less Taken (1999)

  Last Places: A Journey in the North (2000)

  Northern Latitudes (2000)

  Lost in the Arctic: Explorations on the Edge (2002)

• Chris Stewart (b. 1950)

  Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia (1999)

  A Parrot in the Pepper Tree (2002)

  The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society (2007)

• Bill Bryson (b. 1951)

  The Palace Under the Alps (1985) — an early work that is more of a travel guide than a narrative.

  Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe (1992)

  Notes from a Small Island (1995) — travels in the United Kingdom.

  A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (1999)

  In a Sunburned Country (2001)

• Douglas Adams (1952–2001)

  Last Chance to See (1990)

• Vikram Seth (b. 1952)

  From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983)

• Predrag Miletić (b. 1952)

  By bicycle to Hilandar (2004)

• Quim Monzó (b. 1952)

  Guadalajara (1997)

  Barcelona und andere Erzählungen (2007)

• Neil Peart (b. 1952), drummer for the Canadian rock band Rush

  The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa (1996)

  Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road (2002) – a chronicle of motorcycle trips through North and Central America

  Traveling Music: The Soundtrack of My Life and Times (2004) – a contemplative road trip

• Kenn Kaufman (b. 1954)

  Kingbird Highway: The Story of a Natural Obsession That Got a Little Out of Hand (1997)

• Rory MacLean (b. 1954)

  Stalin’s Nose (1992)

  The Oatmeal Ark (1997)

  Under the Dragon (1998)

  Next Exit Magic Kingdom (2000)

  Falling for Icarus (2004)

  Magic Bus (2006)

• Dennison Berwick (b. 1956)

  Savages, The Life and Killing of the Yanomami (1992)

  Amazon (1990)

  A Walk along The Ganges (1986)

• Pico Iyer (b. 1957)

  Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-so-Far East (1988)

  Falling off the Map: Some Lonely Places of the World (1993)

  Tropical Classical: Essays from Several Directions (1997)

  Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home (2000) — three excellent collections of essays on the postmodern experience of travel.

• Tony Horwitz (b. 1958)

  One for the Road: An Outback Adventure (1987)

  Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia (1991)

  Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War (1998)

  Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before (2002)

  A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World (2008)

• Jeffrey Tayler (b. 1962)

  Siberian Dawn: A Journey Across the New Russia (1999)

  Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness (2000)

  Glory in a Camel's Eye: Trekking Through the Moroccan Sahara (2003)

  Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat, and Camel (2005)

  River of No Reprieve: Descending Siberia's Waterway of Exile, Death, and Destiny (2006)

• Karl Taro Greenfeld (b. 1964)

  Speed Tribes: Days and Nights with Japan's Next Generation (1995)

  Standard Deviations: Growing Up and Coming Down in the New Asia — an exploration of the traveler/backpacker subcultures in the Far East during the 1990s by a writer who was there.

• William Dalrymple (b.1965)

  In Xanadu: A Quest (1989)

  City of Djinns (1992)

  From the Holy Mountain (1994)

  The Age of Kali (1995)

  Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (2009)

• Tahir Shah (b. 1966)

  Beyond the Devil's Teeth (1995)

  Sorcerer's Apprentice (1998)

  Trail of Feathers (2001)

  In Search of King Solomon's Mines (2002)

  House of the Tiger King (2004)

  The Caliph's House (2006)

  In Arabian Nights (2008)

  Travels With Myself: Collected Work (2011)

  Timbuctoo (2012)

• J. Maarten Troost (b. 1969)

  The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific (2004)

  Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu (2006)

• Cleo Paskal

  Navigating Customs: New Travel Stories by 12 Writers [Less Than] 25 (2007)

• Kira Salak (b. 1971)

  Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea (2001)

  The Cruelest Journey: 600 Miles to Timbuktu (2004)

• Tom Bissell (b. 1974)

  Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia (2003)

• Bishwanath Ghosh (b. 1970)

  Chai, Chai: Travels in Places Where You Stop But Never Get Off (2009)