One Hundred Miles from Manhattan By Guillermo Fesser

A fresh, funny, positive and affectionate portrait of life in small-town America –and beyond by Guillermo Fesser.

In 2002 Guillermo Fesser decided to take a sabbatical year from his morning radio show in Madrid, and moved with his family to Rhinebeck, N.Y. Finding himself in a rural community 6,000 miles from home and 100 miles from New York City, Fesser began to listen to the fascinating stories of the people he met. He not only discovered an America he had never imagined existed, but kept doing things that surprised him —like climbing Slide Mountain in the middle of winter, helping make maple syrup, hosting an impromptu wedding and iceboating on the Hudson River. And of course, being a journalist, Fesser couldn’t stop taking notes. I was so surprised with the America I was experiencing. It was not the America that I had envisioned. It was then that I decided to stop talking and listen, he says.

One Hundred Miles from Manhattan is a fresh, funny, positive and affectionate portrait of life in small-town America —and beyond. Although he had given up interviewing movie and rock stars, writers, kings and prime ministers, he didn’t miss it. Chatting every day to the people of Rhinebeck was equally satisfying. Every life is interesting, Fesser says. All you need is the time and commitment to pull out a good story. Many reporters wait for the big story and miss out on a lot of fascinating tales that happen right before their eyes.

This book is filled with the stories of people Fesser met, the places he visited and the things he learned during his year in Rhinebeck. From the German neighbors who welcome in the New Year by jumping back and forth from the couch to the coffee table to a Texas rancher who follows Native American traditions at his bison ranch. From a guide who leads fishing expedition into Alaska’s Kuskokwim Mountains to the engineer responsible for the steam conduction system in Manhattan’s underbelly. And from a former follower of Reverend Moon turned track coach, to the man who created Big Bird.