THE MONKS

"Jim Crotty and Michael Lane never planned to change the world. But in 1986, when they quit their jobs, bought an over-the-hill van and hit the road with two cats and a Macintosh, they began a journey that would forever alter the bounds of technology and entrepreneurialism."
--Portable Computing

"Reading these guys is like watching a grainy, irreverent film about
America--real, unreal, surreal."
--The Boston Globe

"The world of travel writing has seen some big bylines. Chaucer, Kerouac, and of course Kuralt. Now some might add the Monks."
--Ed Bradley, CBS TV

"Forget all those travel writers you've been reading, the Monks are the real article."
--CNN

"No matter where you go in the U.S., chances are these two guys have been there."
--CNN

"Modern troubadours"
--New York Times

"Kerouacs of the 90's"
--Seattle Times

"A duo that truly extends the definition of the word weird."
--USA Today

"The coolest guys ever to emerge from a 1986 Fleetwood Bounder motorhome."
--USA Today

MAD MONKS' GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY

"[The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City is] as astute and oddball a guidebook as that heavily over-guidebooked megalopolis could hope for."
--Los Angeles Times

"Talk about alternative guides. The Mad Monks' Guide To New York City is truly alternative. Witty, subversive and profane, it brims with life, like the city it so passionately chronicles."
--Chicago Tribune

"Unlike traditional travel books, The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City cuts right to 'the soul of the city.' Along with the sublime and the bizarre is a cornucopia of the great city's diverse culture, from bars and restaurants to entertainment spots, making it probably as useful for those who live in the city as for those planning to visit it."
--Reuters News Service

"Tired of typical, snoozy guidebooks? Looking for something with more enthusiasm and a skewed vision of the world? Then check out The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City.... This is not a guide for the easily offended or humor-challenged. It's intended for those who like to experience more than the Tourism Bureau recommends. It's fun, exciting and delivers the twisted spontaneity that is the Monks' trademark."
--Trips Magazine

"These Monks know NYC"
--New York Daily News

"Even if you've lived in New York your whole life, you can always discover something new. That's where the Mad Monks come in."
--New York Daily News

"The Monks definitely get beyond the usual tourist blah-blah."
--New York Daily News

THE USA PHRASEBOOK

"The most entertaining travel book to come down the pike"
--Oakland Tribune

MAD MONKS' GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA

"Within the pages lies, no doubt, one of the best defenses of LA ever
published in a travel guide."
--The Seattle Times (Jan 23, 2000)

"Local schoolchildren should be made to memorize the Monks' list of 33 reasons to love LA"
--Seattle Times

HOW TO TALK AMERICAN


"Hip and refreshing"
--San Diego Union-Tribune

"Savvy and very funny"
--Willamette Week

"A rollicking read"
--Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"Crotty hits a home run."
--San Francisco Bay Guardian

MONK: THE MOBILE MAGAZINE

"The David Lynch version of Travels with Charley"
--Whole Earth Review

"'A cross between Jack Kerouac and Charles Kuralt, with a little Laurel and Hardy thrown in.' And perhaps a bit of Oscar Wilde."
--Newsweek

"A magazine like no other this side of the astral plane."
--Boston Globe

"Exhilarating and hilarious"
--Washington Post

"Mad, merry and defiantly indefinable"
--The Advocate

"An unshaven version of Travel and Leisure."
--Utne Reader

"Michael Lane and Jim Crotty get a serious hunk of credit for pioneering the whole recent zine scene."
--Out Your Backdoor

"These guys have attitude like you won't believe--lows and highs are all bowled straight at us, with more candor than in any other national magazine."
--Out Your Backdoor

"Hot Magazine of the Year"
--Rolling Stone

READER FEEDBACK ON MONK MAGAZINE

"Why do I read Monk? Outlaw/outsider, cutting-edge view, alternative, essential American voice, love of camp and kitsch and the authentic, way cool politics, rad fantasy, hip aesthetic, my hunger for the genuine and disdain for the Disneyfication of pop culture, a good laugh, fun irreverence and appropriate reverence, my kind of travel info, the regional Monk lexicons. DON'T STOP. We need you. Freedom, funk, and creative intelligent spirit must survive."
--Michele Szymkiewicz, Norwood, MA

"I read Monk because I've always wanted a Pink Winnebago. Because, secretly, I believe in the American spirit. Because sometimes it's the only way to get out of this city, this neighborhood, this house, this head. I read Monk because life's too short not to."
--Tara Blaine, Kansas City, MO

OTHER PRESS COVERAGE

ABC's "Good Morning America"
BBC
Brutus (Japan)
CBC (Canada)
CBS "Street Stories"
CNN
Der Stern (Germany)
Fox News
Los Angeles Times
MTV
Newsweek
NPR's "Morning Edition"
NPR's "Savvy Traveler"
NPR's "Whaddya Know?"
The New York Times
The New Yorker
Panorama (Italy)
Rolling Stone
Time
USA Today
Utne Reader
Village Voice
The Washington Post
Wired News