Wild Stories

May 13, 2002
In honor of Men's Journal's 10th anniversary, editor-in-chief Sid Evans and staff assemble 32 articles about "exploring new territory, finding new challenges, goofing off, and occasionally attempting the impossible" in an unbeatable anthology for fans of sports and adventure stories. But it's not all testosterone (though the prose begs to be called lean, taut and muscular): the volume also offers skilled reportage, gripping narratives, existential investigations and "quiet moments"—the best of a decade of them. In "The Baby Goat Murders," novelist Larry Brown recalls his fondness for three young goats as he stalks the coyote he thinks killed them, subtly turning an anecdote into a meditation on "what is possible in this life in the country, and sometimes what is not." George Plimpton, reporting on a "porn-awards gala," learns how Paper Lion, his 1966 account of attempting to play professional football, inspired someone to become a porn star in the funny (and educational) "X-rated." Sebastian Junger chronicles a Kashmir climbing expedition that turned into a hostage crisis in "Escape from Kashmir"; and political humorist P.J. O'Rourke (The CEO of the Sofa) takes readers on a journey along India's Grand Trunk Road, through customs and around Calcutta in a piece that's both hilarious and sad. Even the questionable contributions (the reprint of contributing editor Peter Wilkinson's take on the Into Thin Air
Everest expedition, for example, hardly seems necessary—hasn't enough ink been spilled?) prove entertaining. From the "you lose thirty points if you die" world of extreme snowboarding to the pensive moments fishing provokes, this is a collection for adventurers—armchair or otherwise—of all stripes.