[The Old Patagonian Express] is not primarily a political book; politics just seep in everywhere, as it seems they must in South America. It is chiefly a book about Paul Theroux's determination to travel the length of America by train in the teeth of the opposition mounted by circumstances or by those operating the railway system. There is even a belated goal to this journey, a meeting in Buenos Aires with Jorge Luis Borges. This meeting symbolises the way in which the journey from Boston to Buenos Aires is a return from 'the uninhabited altitudes' of the Andes, to 'a hospitable culture that was explainable and worth the trouble'. It has become, momentarily, a journey to somewhere after all.

But the line does not end in Buenos Aires. Against Borges's earnest advice, Mr Theroux continued to the bitter end, to desolate Patagonia. (p. 29)

Patrick Marnham, "The Great Railway...