Paul Theroux on travel and travel writing: "I never had a name; I was never able to pull rank. I was sometimes effendi or ferinji, but throughout Swahili-speaking Africa I was mzee -- pops, gramps -- which is how I wanted it to be. There are risks, of course, in solo travel, but there are also great rewards. One is privileged enough in being an American traveler, but I don't see how it is possible to get at the truth of a country without seeing its underside, its hinterland, its everyday life."