First published 2003
Esquire magazine's editors gathered more than fifty personal testimonies from people who lived through extraordinary moments. A tornado survivor describes the freight train roar and trembling earth. Someone at an orgy can't stop thinking "I'm at an orgy!" A person with a severe stutter explains how his mind races at a thousand words per minute while his tongue manages only ten. A mob hitman admits the work is nerve wracking and requires total concentration to avoid getting caught. A 105-year-old reflects on being born in 1897 and witnessing everything the world offers. These raw, unfiltered voices reveal what it actually feels like to experience life's most intense, bizarre, and memorable situations. The accounts span the spectrum from exhilarating to terrifying to simply strange, offering readers direct access to experiences most will never have themselves.
Genres: sociology, non-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: first-person-perspective, raw-unfiltered-accounts
Setting: Esquire
Period: 1897, 21st-century
144 pages · Paperback · Three Rivers Press