| State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey, eds. |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Harper Collins |
| Publication date | 2008 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| ISBN | 9780061470905 |
State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America is a collection of pieces about the United States of America, with one essay on each of the fifty states. It was conceived of and edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey.
Weiland and Wilsey stated that they were inspired by the Federal Writers Project of the 1930's, in which the US government helped to create jobs by sending writers across the country and commissioning pieces on their sights and experiences. The two previously edited Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup, in which they commissioned 32 authors to write pieces on the 32 countries competing in the 2006 World Cup; they decided a similar approach could be taken with the United States.
Both Weiland and Wilsey decided that they wanted a mixture of approaches for the collection; while several well-known authors (eg, Ha Jin, Jhumpa Lahiri, Dave Eggers) were included, they deliberately avoided certain authors that were closely associated with a particular state - for instance, Garrison Keillor with Minnesota, or Carl Hiaasen with Florida. The collection has a mix of familiarity, with some authors writing about places in which they have lived their entire lives, while others visited the state for the first time.
Afterword: Washington, D.C. - A Conversation with Edward P. Jones