The Wildsam Field Guide series caught our attention back when it first launched in 2012, with a book about Nashville. Filled with hand-drawn maps, quirky historical facts, and narrative essays, the publications are part city guide, part portrait of a place—something you can pack with you on a trip and then display on your coffee table. The latest one to hit the shelves: Brooklyn ($17.95, available online).
Inside, you’ll find a piece by best-selling author Emma Straub; interviews with locals (everyone from Rosie Perez to a local high school basketball coach); a timeline of important dates in the evolution of hip-hop; and maps illustrated by Lauren Tamaki. Travel+ Leisure’s own Brooke Porter Katz also contributed a few stories, including an art-themed map of Bushwick and an interview with the Park Slope-based violinmaker Samuel Zygmuntowicz.
The best part about the books? Rather than recommending a laundry list of top places for, say, pizza or beer or donuts, they highlight just one. (If you’re curious, in Brooklyn those would be Totonno’s, Torst, and Dough, respectively.)
Stay tuned for Charleston, which hits shelves in September.
Nikki Ekstein is the Associate Editor at Travel and Leisure. Follow her on Twitter at @nikkiekstein.
More good reads from T+L:
• Six American Hotels Pushing the Envelope with Letter-Writing Amenities
• Brooklyn’s Ever-Cool Wythe Hotel Now Spotlights Local Artists
• In Photos: New Orleans’s Historic Architecture
