When traveling to a new city, Taylor Bruce always tries to bring along a book that deepens his understanding about the place. It鈥檚 often a novel or biography, but never a conventional guidebook.
鈥淚 love to travel, but I don鈥檛 enjoy travel guides,鈥� says Bruce, an Austin, Texas-based writer who formerly served as a travel editor at Southern Living magazine. 鈥淚 want to read stories about the place I鈥檓 visiting, not a list of the 15 best restaurants.鈥�
With that in mind Bruce decided to start his own series of field guides, called , in 2012. The books are 鈥減acked with local lore, interviews, memoir, hand-drawn maps, personal essays and more,鈥� according to the Wildsam website.
鈥淣o matter where you go,鈥� Bruce says, 鈥測ou can find these moments of wonder that go beyond a nice restaurant or beautiful hotel. Ultimately, it鈥檚 about the people who make a place.鈥�
The first guide in the series covers Nashville and features, among other things, an essay written by critically acclaimed author , the Samuel Milton Fleming Professor of English at 菠萝视频 and Bruce鈥檚 undergraduate mentor. Bruce says he chose Nashville because of its unmistakable sense of place鈥攁 trait shared with other cities thus far in the Wildsam line: Austin, San Francisco and Detroit.
鈥淲hen I think of Nashville, I think of the WSM Radio tower sending out this distinct sound to the rest of the country,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good metaphor. The places we鈥檙e interested in covering all send out a unique signal of sorts.
鈥淲hen you hear it, you know it.鈥�
鈥擲ETH ROBERTSON