Lost in Mongolia: Travels in Hollywood and Other Foreign Lands

(Paperback)

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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. Lost in Mongolia is a one-of-a-kind collection from a refreshingly candid and well-traveled journalist.

Reviews

"No journalism about the entertainment business gives me more pleasure than Tad Friend's. He is unvaryingly smart, fun, funny and fearless, and a terrific reporter to boot."
--Kurt Andersen, author of Turn of the Century

"Tad Friend is the finest writer who has never done stand-up comedy working today. Reading these thoughtful, surprising essays is pure pleasure."
--Steve Martin, author of Shopgirl and Pure Drivel

Author Bio

Tad Friend, a staff writer for The New Yorker, has had his articles published in The Best American Sports Writing and The Utne Reader's "Good Life" among other collections. He lives in New York City.