Sullivan, Robert 1963-

PERSONAL: Born 1963; married; father. Hobbies and other interests: Accordion, tin whistle, old music, travel, hiking.

ADDRESSES: Home— Brooklyn, NY.

CAREER: Writer. Vogue, New York, NY, contributing editor.

AWARDS, HONORS: Alex Award, 2005, for Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants; New York Times Notable Books of the Year citations, for The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures at the Edge of a City, A Whale Hunt, and Rats.

WRITINGS

The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures at the Edge of a City, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 1998.

A Whale Hunt, Scribner (New York, NY), 2000.

Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants (children’s book), Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2004.

How Not to Get Rich; or, Why Being Bad Off Isn’t So Bad, illustrations by Scott Menchin, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2005.

Cross Country: Fifteen Years and Ninety Thousand Miles on the Roads and Interstates of America with Lewis and Clark, a Lot of Bad Motels, a Moving Van, Emily Post, Jack Kerouac, My Wife, My Mother-in-Law, Two Kids, and Enough Coffee to Kill an Elephant, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including Vogue, Condé Nast Traveler, New York Times Magazine, and the New Yorker.

SIDELIGHTS: Robert Sullivan does not consider himself to be a nature writer, although his books are frequently shelved in the nature section of the bookstore or local library. Instead of writing about nature as it is most commonly considered—far removed from the cities, still untouched by man-made structures or industry—he writes about the ways in which nature coexists with technology and urban sprawl. In his book The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures at the Edge of a City, Sullivan explores the swamp area that lies within view of the Manhattan skyline. Considered an eyesore by most, and often used as a dumping ground, the swampy area still manages to hold Sullivan’s interest, and the book chronicles his explorations of the area by foot, car, and even by boat. Sullivan provides a history of the Meadowlands as well, both factual and rumored. Donna Seaman, in a review for Booklist, remarked that the author was “irrepressible and irresistible as he captures the Meadowlands’ anomalous beauty and revels in its colorful lore.” A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called Sullivan’s effort a “sad if intriguing tale of industrial carnage.” Writing in the Library Journal, Lonnie Weatherby labeled the book as “finely wrought and imaginatively styled.”

In A Whale Hunt, Sullivan explores the glorious Olympic Peninsula in Washington, a region inhabited by the Makah Native Americans. This tribe was once known for its whale hunting skill, but when commercial whaling endangered the gray whale common in the local waters, the Makah were forced to cease whaling. Once the whale’s numbers increased sufficiently, the Makah began a legal battle to regain their whaling rights. However, so many years had passed since the tribe had gone whaling, many of their whaling techniques had been lost. The tribe was forced to create new methods of whaling, and Sullivan spent two years observing them as they went through the process of building a whaling canoe, training a crew, and setting out to capture a whale. Nancy Bent, in a review for Booklist, observed: “No matter where one stands on the subject of aboriginal whaling rights, this book will be fascinating reading.”

Sullivan was inspired to write Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants in part due to his experiences watching the Makah. After seeing the spectacle of whaling, he found himself wondering what sort of animal was at the opposite end of the spectrum—something no one would make a grand effort to chase and capture. His answer was the rat. So he set out to determine why most people consider rats to be disgusting, and why they hold so little interest. He spent time talking to experts on the species, and also observing them in the alleyways of New York City. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews called the book a “skittering, scurrying, terrific natural history.” Michael D. Cramer, writing for the Library Journal, noted: “Well written and fun to read, this book has only one drawback: a lack of more detailed information on rat biology.” However, writing for the School Library Journal, Jamie Watson remarked: “This creative writer has taken on a seemingly unappealing subject and turned it into a topnotch page-turner.” A contributor for Publishers Weekly wrote: “This book is a must pickup for every city dweller, even if you’ll feel like you need to wash your hands when you put it down.”

With Cross Country: Fifteen Years and Ninety Thousand Miles on the Roads and Interstates of America with Lewis and Clark, a Lot of Bad Motels, a Moving Van, Emily Post, Jack Kerouac, My Wife, My Mother-in-Law, Two Kids, and Enough Coffee to Kill an Elephant, Sullivan takes a step away from pure nature writing and takes a look at his own traveling history with his family. Sullivan determined that he had made approximately twenty-seven trips from coast to coast across the United States over the fifteen years that he and his wife had been taking driving vacations with the family. He explains that this is due to the fact that he is from the New York/New Jersey area, while his wife is originally from Oregon, providing them with extended families on both sides of the country and ample excuses to drive back and forth to visit. Sullivan does not escape nature writing entirely, of course, as he chronicles many of the sites visited during his cross country vacations, along with a history of road trips, starting with Lewis and Clark’s expedition, and provides amusing and colorful family anecdotes. Finn-Olaf Jones, writing for the New York Times Book Review, commented: “There are moments of brilliance along the way.” A contributor for Kirkus Reviews called the book “a dazzling account of America’s most archetypal odyssey, with much social history slyly and wryly inserted.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

BOOKS

Sullivan, Robert Cross Country: Fifteen Years and Ninety Thousand Miles on the Roads and Inter-states of America with Lewis and Clark, a Lot of Bad Motels, a Moving Van, Emily Post, Jack Kerouac, My Wife, My Mother-in-Law, Two Kids, and Enough Coffee to Kill an Elephant, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1998, Donna Seaman, review of The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures at the Edge of a City, p. 1088; September 15, 1998, Brad Hooper, review of The Meadowlands, p. 189; October 1, 2000, Nancy Bent, review of A Whale Hunt, p. 309; December 1, 2000, Donna Seaman, review of A Whale Hunt, p. 686; April 1, 2004, Ray Olson, review of Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants, p. 1338; April 1, 2005, Gillian Engberg, “The Alex Awards, 2005,” p. 1355.

Bookwatch, July, 2005, review of Rats.

Commonweal, June 19, 1998, George W. Hunt, review of The Meadowlands, p. 25; April 7, 2006, Peter Quinn, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” review of How Not to Get Rich; or, Why Being Bad Off Isn’t So Bad, p. 26.

Entertainment Weekly, March 26, 2004, Gregory Kirschling, “The Rat Packer,” p. 77; June 30, 2006, Gilbert Cruz, review of Cross Country, p. 165.

Forbes FYI, March 29, 2004, review of Rats, p. 84.

Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2004, review of Rats, p. 77; May 1, 2006, review of Cross Country, p. 450.

Library Journal, July, 1998, Lonnie Weatherby, review of The Meadowlands, p. 120; March 1, 2004, Michael D. Cramer, review of Rats, p. 100; Library Journal, June 1, 2006, Mari Flynn, review of Cross Country, p. 140.

Mother Jones, September-October, 2006, Jon Mooallem, “Running on Empty: Looking for America in the Wild Red Yonder,” review of Cross Country, p. 97.

Natural History, May, 2004, Laurence A. Marschall, review of Rats, p. 54.

People, July 17, 2006, Natalie Danford and Emily Chenoweth, review of Cross Country, p. 49.

Publishers Weekly, February 16, 1998, review of The Meadowlands, p. 194; October 2, 2000, review of A Whale Hunt, p. 66; February 2, 2004, review of Rats, p. 65; May 1, 2006, review of Cross Country, p. 50; May 22, 2006, A. Boaz, “PW Talks with Robert Sullivan,” p. 40.

School Library Journal, September, 2004, Jamie Watson, review of Rats, p. 237; April, 2005, review of Rats, p. S67.

Spectator, January 22, 2005, Sara Wheeler, “The Year of the Rat,” p. 34.

U.S. News & World Report, July 3, 2006, Christopher Elliott, interview with Robert Sullivan, p. 49.

ONLINE

BookBrowse.com, http://www.bookbrowse.com/ (January 2, 2007), author biography.

New York Times Book Review Online, http://www.nytimes.com/ (October 15, 2000), Nathaniel Phil-brick, “In a Gray Area”; (April 4, 2004), William Grimes, “Pack Journalism”; (December 18, 2005), Tara McKelvey, “Nonfiction Chronicle”; (July 2, 2006), Bruce Barcott, “Are We There Yet?”; (July 14, 2006), Finn-Olaf Jones, “An Impala’s-Eye View of Highway History.”

Powell’s Online, http://www.powells.com/ (April 21, 2004) David Weich, “Walled in with Robert Sullivan.”