cover image A Border of Blue: Along the Gulf of Mexico from the Keys to the Yucatan

A Border of Blue: Along the Gulf of Mexico from the Keys to the Yucatan

Frederick Turner. Henry Holt & Company, $23 (302pp) ISBN 978-0-8050-2072-4

Turner's droll humor, well-stocked mind and eclectic interests endow this engaging record of his 3500-mile jaunt--much of it through awesome sleaze--with a special charm. Driving north from ``Mile Zero'' in Key West, Turner ( Beyond Geography ) explores whatever wayside attractions intrigue him. He examines the injured ecology of the Everglades; the dismal remains of a Florida utopian community whose members believed the earth to be a concave wall in a globular universe; and the niceties of mullet-eating. In New Orleans, he pursues the trail of Aaron Harris, a black outlaw made famous by a Jelly Roll Morton song. After pushing on through Louisiana wetlands, Texas towns and Mexican roads, he reaches Merida, where, relaxing over good coffee to the sound of marimba bands in the town square, he muses delightfully on the mysteries of the Mayan past. Mingling history and spirited personal observation, Turner's book is the stuff of fine companionship for travelers--whether on the road or in an armchair. (Feb.)