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State By State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey, hardcover, 574 pages, 9.25 x 6.25 x 1.3 inches, 2 pounds, Ecco, list price: $29.95
At a chunky 574 pages, this is a slender book only by comparison to the Complete Front Pages. But State By State — a compilation of 50 thoughtful, entertaining and surprising essays by an all-star cast of hipster contemporary scribes — shares Front Pages' ambition, journalistic mission and sparkling execution. Need a rowdy sophisticate to rhapsodize about Joisey? Get Anthony Bourdain. Who could make sense of expansive Montana? Why not the squeaky-voiced Sarah Vowell. Among others doing their patriot duty: Dave Eggers (IL), Jonathan Franzen (NY), Jhumpa Lahiri (RI). Says Ha Jin about his life in Georgia: It "made me turn to the Bible."
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