I was talking travel books with a friend last night and recommended to her the books I suggested in this blog post. So now I feel like recommending to you some more books, these with the common thread of "cultural differences." I have written before about how cultural differences make traveling so interesting. This is true. At least for me. But sometimes these differences are much deeper than you ever thought. The following books illustrate this well.
Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China, by Rachel DeWoskin.
A recent American college graduate goes to China to work for a public relations firm and becomes a star on a Chinese soap opera. She improves her Chinese language skills, immerses herself in Beijing life, and encounters cultural differences that sometimes baffle her. She also illustrates the changes China was undergoing at the time, in the early 1990s, shortly after the Tiananmen Square protests. Knowing little about China, I found her story educational, charming, funny, and inspiring. I really want to go to China now.
The next two books I list show how you do not have to leave the U.S. (or wherever you may live) to find cultures other than your own. And the stories don't necessarily have to come from immigrants.
Neither Wolf Nor Dog - On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder, by Kent Nerburn.
This book traces the lessons an American Indian teaches a white man as they travel through the reservations of the Dakotas. What Mr. Nerburn learns, and therefore what we learn, goes way beyond anything most of us have ever known about native peoples and how they view their history and world. According to the author's forward, this book has been used as a bridge between cultures and as tool for Indians themselves - a way for them to visit their past history and feel proud to be Indian.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, by Anne Fadiman.
This book was recommended to me by a language interpretation instructor I had. It is about the Hmong community in Merced, California several years ago. Many Hmong refugees fled to the U.S. and other countries because of the civil war in Laos in the 1970s. This book focuses on one such refugee community and shows how cultural differences and misunderstandings can have serious repercussions in the U.S. medical community. Western medicine and traditional Hmong culture collide in this intriguing anthropological story.
These real-life stories amazed me. In many ways. Traveling can sometimes mean "traveling with a book." You can learn about other cultures while reading in a comfortable hammock in your backyard. You can enjoy others' travel adventures and experiences without renewing your passport. And you can discover incredible and different cultures within your own borders. I love traveling to experience other cultures, but sometimes all I can afford is a book. Sometimes, that is enough.
If any of you out there can recommend any books you have read about other cultures -- books that amazed you in some way -- please share in the comments below.
