The Snakes That Ate Florida: Reporting, Essays, and Criticism

by Ian Frazier

Selected pieces on nature, history, politics, and urban culture from a master of the nonfiction narrative.

Writing on subjects as divergent as the mega-fires that burned the grasslands of the Great Plains in 2018, the tragic secret life of the manufacturer of maraschino cherries, the world’s largest beaver dam, and the invasive Burmese pythons of the Florida Everglades, Ian Frazier captures the multiplicity, the strangeness, and the wonder of contemporary life.

This collection of pieces—consisting of features and reportage for The New Yorker beginning in 1970, articles on topics such as COVID and rereading Lolita fifty years later, and work published in the last year—showcases the wide-ranging play of Frazier’s imagination. Astute and engaged, he is the supreme chronicler of the everyday, a kind of social and political anthropologist. Fifty years of keen observation and irrepressible curiosity come together in The Snakes That Ate Florida, establishing Frazier as nothing less than the greatest practitioner of the form.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 13, 2026

About the author

Ian Frazier (b.1951) is an American writer and humorist. He is the author of Travels in Siberia, Great Plains, On the Rez, Lamentations of the Father and Coyote V. Acme, among other works, all published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He graduated from Harvard University. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker, he lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/ianfra...

Reviews

[Karen Carlson]

h/t lithub's most anticipated books of 2026 - sounds like a fun read.

[Lissa00 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to have a book of essays to dip in and out of and this was a good one to have on hand. This is a solid collection of Ian Frazier’s prior work. Like any collection, I like some more than others. The title essay and the one about “Lolita” were my favorites but they all had something to enjoy. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

[Margaret Heller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed for Library Journal. My Goodreads review isn't related to my professional review. But I did love this book.

[Venneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of a journalist's writing throughout his career, both for his longer and shorter form stories, essays, and criticism. It's fascinating to see the lens that he views his subjects through evolve as his career goes along.