Collects original writings on all fifty states by leading novelists, journalists, and essayists, in a volume that includes Anthony Bourdain on New Jersey, Dave Eggers on Illinois, and Louise Erdrich on North Dakota.

"50 writers on 50 states" -- Cover.

Preface / Matt Weiland -- Introduction / Sean Wilsey -- Alabama / George Packer -- Alaska / Paul Greenberg -- Arizona / Lydia Millet -- Arkansas / Kevin Brockmeier -- California / William T. Vollmann -- Colorado / Benjamin Kunkel -- Connecticut / Rick Moody -- Delaware / Craig Taylor -- Florida / Joshua Ferris -- Georgia / Ha Jin -- Hawaii / Tara Bray Smith -- Idaho / Anthony Doerr -- Illinois / Dave Eggers -- Indiana / Susan Choi -- Iowa / Dagoberto Gilb -- Kansas / Jim Lewis -- Kentucky / John Jeremiah Sullivan -- Louisiana / Joshua Clark -- Maine / Heidi Julavits -- Maryland / Myla Goldberg -- Massachusetts / John Hodgman -- Michigan / Mohammed Naseehu Ali -- Minnesota / Philip Connors -- Mississippi / Barry Hannah -- Missouri / Jacki Lyden -- Montana / Sarah Vowell -- Nebraska / Alexander Payne -- Nevada / Charles Bock -- New Hampshire / Will Blythe -- New Jersey / Anthony Bourdain -- New Mexico / Ellery Washington -- New York / Jonathan Franzen -- North Carolina / Randall Kenan -- North Dakota / Louise Erdrich -- Ohio / Susan Orlean -- Oklahoma / S. E. Hinton -- Oregon / Joe Sacco -- Pennsylvania / Andrea Lee -- Rhode Island / Jhumpa Lahiri -- South Carolina / Jack Hitt -- South Dakota / Saïd Sayrafiezadeh -- Tennessee / Ann Patchett --Texas / Christina Henríquez -- Utah / David Rakoff -- Vermont / Alison Bechdel -- Virginia / Tony Horwitz -- Washington / Carrie Brownstein -- West Virginia / Jayne Anne Phillips -- Wisconsin / Daphne Beal -- Wyoming / Alexandra Fuller -- Afterword : Washington, D.C. : a conversation / with Edward P. Jones -- The 50 states in numbers.