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In Farewell Transmission, Will McGrath guides us on a rambling quest into the enlightenment of other lives. Funny and weird, heartbreaking and galvanizing, these essays take us from Yemen to Lesotho to the Bronx and beyond. We find Caravaggio at an Arizona homeless shelter and Elvis in rural Canada. We meet street preachers and diamond miners and professional wrestlers and ex-cons—those wilderness prophets too frequently cropped from the picture and pushed out of the frame.
This is a book of hiddenness: of secret lives and inscrutable passions, of ghost stories and hallucinations, of excavations into landscapes rarely seen. Whether he’s unraveling the mysterious history of a noose in Namibia or rambling through the Driftless Area with a modern-day goatherd, Will McGrath is in search of the invisible forces that bind us across our wondrous and troubling planet. Like John Jeremiah Sullivan’s Pulphead and Leslie Jamison’s The Empathy Exams, these dispatches pulse with electric prose and vivid characters.
Farewell Transmission is a book about paying attention: to the concealed lives and hidden worlds we encounter every day.
Praise for Everything Lost Is Found Again
"Subtle, witty, and well-observed, McGrath's narrative is a chronicle of spiritual growth and a memorable love letter to the remote African kingdom that stole his heart. A warmly humane memoir." -Kirkus Reviews
"A wonderful book, keenly observed, a breezy, thought-provoking read. ... McGrath is a likable, curious guide, embracing whatever adventures come along." -Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"An endearing combination of insightful commentary and sympathetic comedy. This is a book in the best tradition of travel writing. ... Laugh-out-loud moments are balanced by heart-warming interludes, and altogether, this is an illuminating and enjoyable read that reminds readers of the essential oneness of humanity." -Booklist
"It is messy, often overwritten, sometimes jumbled. But above all it is joyful. McGrath tells his stories, even the tragic ones, with hope and humor—the greatest defenses against despair." -Asymptote