Thomas Kohnstamm (born ) is an American author from Seattle, Washington.

Fiction

Kohnstamm announced in late 2023 that his next novel, Supersonic, will publish in early 2025. His first nove
Lake City
was published by

Counterpoint Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company distributed by Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Avalon Publishing Group's Shoemaker & Hoard and the independent S ...

in January 2019. The dark comedy was called “a caustic satire on class privilege and deprivation” by

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...

and “hip, intrepid, and philosophical” by

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

Non-fiction

Kohnstamm's book '' Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?'', a

gonzo Gonzo may refer to: People * Gonzo (nickname), a list of people with the nickname * Radislav Jovanov Gonzo (born 1964), Croatian music video director Radislav Jovanov, also known as Gonzo * Matthias Röhr (born 1962), German musician whose sta ...

style memoir was published by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

Three Rivers Press Three Rivers Press is the trade paperback imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. It publishes original paperback titles as well as paperback reprints of books issued initially in hardcover by the other Crown imprint ...

in April 2008. The author drew criticism, and according to the author, death threats, after he said in publicizing the book that he had performed a "desk update" of a guidebook - before later clarifying that he had only been commissioned to write the front-of-book (introduction, history, culture, etc) chapters and oversee the other writers. He also called into question both the accuracy and the practices of his fellow travel guide writers. Lonely Planet's publisher Piers Pickard defended their rate of pay, and the accuracy of their work. Other guidebook writers defended some of Kohnstamm's claims, contrasting with those of Pickard who had first claimed "no freebies — period", before then admitting freebies could be taken under some circumstances. The book received positive reviews.

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

observed "were I his editor, I’d want his blood", but also admitted "As a reader...I could not get enough of the most depraved travel book of the year". Another review praised Kohnstamm's "spirited prose".

Notes

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohnstamm, Thomas American travel writers Bowdoin College alumni 1975 births Living people