New book “Rebel Reporting: John Ross Speaks to Independent Journalists,” edited by Cristalyne Bell and Norman Stockwell, is on sale now just in time for the holidays. Here's a look.

Robert Isenberg offers the reader a kaleidoscopic view of Costa Rica. He takes them on unusual museum visits, participates in drunken carnivals, tears down the dusty veneers of once-proud cities like Puerto Limón, speaks to young women who have been physically abused and, like most U.S. youths who visit Costa Rica, takes the required surfing lessons.

Throughout this whirlwind of a book about a whirlwind of a life, Cohen teaches the reader about bananas, Central American politics and history, and the Banana King’s role in the turbulent politics of Honduras and Guatemala in particular.

Unlike so many would-be authors, Page can put words together. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and has published in The New York Times, and her literary competence shows. Some sections in “Paradise Imperfect” are smart and eloquent, and she frames her story well.

In 2004, J. Maarten Troost burst onto the travel-writing scene with his first book, “The Sex Lives of Cannibals.” Troost was lovable for many reasons: He was a Gen X slacker, but inspired enough to live in the South Pacific. He was funny, but not hyperbolic. He was Dutch, but not really European – more like a bumbling Englishman with a hemp necklace. He was smart, free-spirited, and utterly fun.