Nobody Better, Better Than Nobody

“Five extraordinary tales profiling people and events in the coolest, clearest, most wittily perceptive prose you'll find anywhere these days.” ―Forbes

National Bestselling Author

Ian Frazier's Nobody Better, Better Than Nobody is a collection featuring five of his extended essays that originally appeared in The New Yorker from 1978 to 1986.

In the tradition of A. J. Liebling and Joseph Mitchell, Frazier raises journalism to high literary art. His vivid stories showcase a strange and wonderful parade of American life, from portraits of Heloise, the syndicated household-hints columnist, and Jim Deren, the urban fly-fisher's guru, to small-town residents in western Kansas preparing to celebrate a historic, mutual massacre, to which they invite the Cheyenne Indians' descendants with the promise of free bowling.

“Wickedly funny . . . [A] rare combination of humor and empathy . . . More eloquent in their directness than poetry.” ―The New York Times

“Astonishing . . . The reader winds up laughing and knowing a great deal.” ―Time

“Clear and thoughtful―with a fillip of the outlandish. This is the stimulating, ardent writing that one always hopes for and rarely finds.” ―Houston Chronicle