The Land and Its People by David Sedaris .jpg
The Land and Its People by David Sedaris .jpg

The Land and Its People: Essays by David Sedaris

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Hardcover:

Named a #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Land and Its People earned starred reviews from both Kirkus Reviews, which called the essays "among the best of his career," and Publishers Weekly, which praised it as "classic Sedaris: sharp, shameless, and strangely tender."

David Sedaris is back with his sharpest, funniest, and most tender essay collection yet — proof that no one turns the small absurdities of everyday life into comic gold quite like him.

In The Land and Its People, David Sedaris returns with 28 essays — most appearing here for the first time, alongside a few favorites from The New Yorker — that find him at his funniest and most emotionally generous. He tries on the role of caretaker after his husband Hugh's hip surgery, dares his friend Dawn to eat a truck tire, and argues with a Duolingo bot about his own family.

Sedaris keeps adding to his list of "Countries I Have Been To," riding a horse named Tequila in Guatemala, buying a priest's cassock in Vatican City, and going on safari in Kenya without snapping a single photo. Along the way, he turns his famously unsparing eye on manners, mortality, marriage, and the strange things people say when they think no one's listening.

It's a collection about aging, friendship, and the family we're born into versus the one we build — delivered with the wit that has made Sedaris one of the most beloved humorists of his generation.

Named a #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Land and Its People earned starred reviews from both Kirkus Reviews, which called the essays "among the best of his career," and Publishers Weekly, which praised it as "classic Sedaris: sharp, shameless, and strangely tender."

David Sedaris is back with his sharpest, funniest, and most tender essay collection yet — proof that no one turns the small absurdities of everyday life into comic gold quite like him.

In The Land and Its People, David Sedaris returns with 28 essays — most appearing here for the first time, alongside a few favorites from The New Yorker — that find him at his funniest and most emotionally generous. He tries on the role of caretaker after his husband Hugh's hip surgery, dares his friend Dawn to eat a truck tire, and argues with a Duolingo bot about his own family.

Sedaris keeps adding to his list of "Countries I Have Been To," riding a horse named Tequila in Guatemala, buying a priest's cassock in Vatican City, and going on safari in Kenya without snapping a single photo. Along the way, he turns his famously unsparing eye on manners, mortality, marriage, and the strange things people say when they think no one's listening.

It's a collection about aging, friendship, and the family we're born into versus the one we build — delivered with the wit that has made Sedaris one of the most beloved humorists of his generation.

“★★★★★ You’re renting a brand-new hardcover for $12 instead of paying $30+. Even if you keep it, you come in under what you’d pay elsewhere.”
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  • Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

    Title: The Land and Its People

    Author: David Sedaris

    On Sale Date: July 7, 2026

    ISBN-13: 9780316264839

    ISBN-10: 0316264830

    Format: Hardcover

    Retail Price: $30.00 USD

    BISAC: Humor / Essays

    Page Count: 272

    Dimensions: 8.7 in H | 5.9 in W | 0.9 in T

    Weight: 0.8 lb

  • David Sedaris is one of America's most celebrated humorists, first introduced to listeners through his 1992 NPR broadcast of "The SantaLand Diaries." He is the bestselling author of Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day (winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor), When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and Calypso, among others. Named Humorist of the Year by Time magazine, he has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his audiobooks and remains a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and public radio.

  • Pre-release readers are calling it sharp, tender, and hilarious:

    • Early readers describe The Land and Its People as sharp, tender, and hilarious.

    • "Classic Sedaris" -- funny, self-deprecating, and unexpectedly moving by turns.

    • A collection that finds the absurd in caretaking, marriage, and growing older, without ever losing its warmth.

    • The kind of book readers say they raced through and then immediately wanted to reread.

This book is for you if:

  • You’re a big fan of David Sedaris.

  • You love essay collections that make you laugh out loud.

  • You’re drawn to stories about marriage, aging, and long friendships told with brutal honesty and warmth.

  • You want a book that turns everyday travel and family moments into unforgettable comic set pieces.

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