Meet Tom Miller: From Underground Journalist to Revered & Bestselling Travel Writer

Along The Way, He Encounters Spies, CIA, KGB, Soldiers of Fortune, and More

Travel Writer Tom Miller (photo by Jay Rochlin).

In this episode of the Journeys With WorldRider Podcast, Allan Karl WorldRider interviews Tom Miller, the legendary, best-selling travel writer and author of “The Panama Hat Trail,” which National Geographic calls “among the best travel books ever written.” Enjoy this casual conversation where we discuss his latest book, a memoir titled “Where Am I?” where he reflects on a life of travel and writing. In addition, we talk about his bout with Parkinson’s disease, his travels, spies, borders, gun-toting priests, and so much more.

Tom Miller started his writing and journalist career from the “underground” in the late 1960’s writing for the anti-war press. Eventually, he moved above ground, writing for sea-level publications such as Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, Esquire, The Chicago Quarterly Review, The New Yorker, LIFE, and many others.

His books include “The Panama Hat Trail,” about South America; “On the Border,” an account of his travels along the U.S.-Mexico frontier; “Revenge of the Saguaro,” about the American Southwest; and about Cuba, “Trading with the Enemy.”

Tom has been a member of the Thornton Wilder Society and the Cervantes Society of America and served as a Fellow of the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History.

The Ecuadorian capital City of Quito designated Miller “Un Huésped Illustre,” and he was honored by the Castilla-La Mancha Regional Consejería de Cultura, Turismo y Artesanía in Spain. In 2017 he was honored with a Festschrift. Since 1990 he has served as an Adjunct Research Associate of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona.