Find yourself in the midst of a heated battle over a sitcom laugh track. Learn to get away with spectacular crimes. Get lost with the reindeer people in the mountains of Mongolia. In
Lost in Mongolia
a collection of Tad Friend's most original, witty, and wide-ranging articles and essays from
The New Yorker, Esquire,
and
Outside
we are taken on a cultural tour of global proportions. Friend reports from the entertainment mecca of Hollywood on topics that range from the life and death of River Phoenix to the widespread plagiarism of movie ideas, to why celebrity profiles are always dreadful. He critiques the larger American culture with articles such as
White Trash Nation
,
In Praise of Middlebrow,
and a brief rumination on what it means when your girlfriend steals and wears your favorite shirt. Readers will also journey to foreign lands and American outposts, as Friend goes on the trail of the Marcos dynasty in the Philippines, is harassed in Morocco, and digs up buried treasure in Sun Valley.
is a one-of-a-kind collection from a refreshingly candid and well-traveled journalist.