Travel writing Books
Cornell University Press Views of SeventeenthCentury Vietnam
Book SynopsisThis volume introduces two of the earliest writings about Vietnam to appear in the English language. The reports come from narrators with different interests who are viewing different parts of Vietnam at an early stage of European involvement in the...
£999.99
MB - Cornell University Press Views of SeventeenthCentury Vietnam
Book SynopsisThis volume introduces two of the earliest writings about Vietnam to appear in the English language. The reports come from narrators with different interests who are viewing different parts of Vietnam at an early stage of European involvement in the...
£97.20
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection Letters of a Dead Man
Book Synopsis
£53.51
John Wiley & Sons Infinite West Travels in South Dakota
Book Synopsis
£16.16
University of Nebraska Press The Enjoy Agenda
Book SynopsisPart memoir, part travelogue, The Enjoy Agenda takes readers from Rick Bailey's one-stoplight town in Michigan farm country to Stratford, England, to the French Concession in Shanghai, the Adriatic coast of Italy, and to a small village in the Republic of San Marino.Trade Review“Rick Bailey re-creates for us what Virginia Woolf calls moments of being, those bright bursts of beauty, loss, communion, and bewilderment that constitute a life. I defy you to read one of these deliciously addictive essays without gulping down the entire book.”—Eileen Pollack, author of The Only Woman in the Room“Rick Bailey’s essays overflow with warmth, humor, truth. . . . The Enjoy Agenda offers keen observations, nuggets of wisdom, stories of the heart.”—Christine Rhein, poet and the author of Wild Flight“It’s not often I read a book of essays and fall in love with the writer and the characters in his life. But that’s what happened reading Richard Bailey’s The Enjoy Agenda. . . . It is a lovely antidote to the despair and chaos in today’s world.”—David James, author of My Torn Dance Card “Full of food and music, longing, and curiosity, The Enjoy Agenda is a collection of brief illuminations where each essay arrives like a good friend with a story to tell. With generosity and sincerity, Rick Bailey is a writer who wants to share the world with you, and his book is one of discoveries, small marvels, and celebrations.”—Matthew Olzmann, author of Contradictions in Design“Knowledgeable, funny, and utterly curious, Bailey comes off as everyone’s favorite uncle, who returns from far-flung reaches to share wise tales and good wine. And though this book teems with quirky asides, curious tangents, and plenty of self-deprecating humor, what comes through strongest is a decades-long romance that is worthy of study and emulation.”—Joey Franklin, author of My Wife Wants You to Know I’m Happily Married“Clearing out the parental home, finding the best gelato in an Italian village, using photos to purchase (sans language) a screwdriver in Shanghai: Rick Bailey’s reminiscences are enhanced by research, literary references, and the simple pleasure he takes in the world around us. This is engaging, thoughtful work.”—Terry Blackhawk, Kresge Arts in Detroit Literary Fellow “Hooray for miscellany, for odds and ends gathered between covers, designed to charm and surprise! Rick Bailey launches right into his quirky thoughts on myriad subjects (music, art, food, travel, health, language, etc.) and doesn’t let up for the duration of this wonderfully original, unpredictable book. The Enjoy Agenda subtly and insistently suggests that life is a gift to be enjoyed, a goal the book itself fulfills for readers.”—Patrick Madden, author of Quotidiana and Sublime PhysickTable of Contents1. Inner Music 2. Shorty 3. Bridge 4. Call It a Dance 5. Tilt 6. Bring Your Horn 7. Mindful, Bodyful 8. Tied 9. The Birds and the Beatles 10. Cookies and What? 11. GelatiAmo 12. Beheading 13. Idaho 14. Good Bad 15. Critters 16. iSmell 17. Alarm 18. Up a Creak 19. At Least It’s Not Terrible 20. Wreckage 21. About Your Stuff 22. Try a Little BLT 23. And Then You Eat It 24. Buddy, Can You Spare a Mao? 25. The Dope with the Camera 26. ATM, Wontons, Lizard 27. Fang Xin 28. The Fifteenth Floor 29. Chalant 30. Just Call 31. Say What? 32. Cowboys and Vespers 33. Planticide Now 34. The Cheese of Forgiveness 35. Please, After You 36. When Bacco Smiles 37. Have I Got a Ragu for You 38. Bite Down 39. Difficult Worm 40. The Enjoy Agenda
£15.19
University of Nebraska Press Borderline Citizen
Book SynopsisIn Borderline CitizenRobin Hemley wrestles with what it means to be a citizen of the world, taking readers on a singular journey through the hinterlands of national identity. As a polygamist of place, Hemley celebrates Guy Fawkes Day in the contested Falkland Islands; Canada Day and the Fourth of July in the tiny U.S. exclave of Point Roberts, Washington; Russian Federation Day in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad; Handover Day among protesters in Hong Kong; and India Day along the most complicated border in the world. Forgoing the exotic descriptions of faraway lands common in traditional travel writing, Borderline Citizen upends the genre with darkly humorous and deeply compassionate glimpses into the lives of exiles, nationalists, refugees, and others. Hemley’s superbly rendered narratives detail these individuals, including a Chinese billionaire who could live anywhere but has chosen to situate his ornate mansion in the middle of his impoverished anTrade Review"Engaging bits about intriguing lands, all in service of trying to 'understand the complexities of the world.'"—Kirkus Reviews"A thought-provoking work that troubles the complexities of nationhood."—Wendy Hinman, Foreword Reviews"Borderline Citizen makes not only for interesting historical reading, but an absorbing vantage on our contemporary crises of belonging."—Justin Tyler Clark, Los Angeles Review of Books“Robin Hemley explodes the very idea of nationhood and in so doing redefines it, offering a more thoughtful and humane notion of how to be a citizen of our world today. These ‘dispatches’ are travel writing at its best, where the writer delves into the intimacies of foreign places, seeing beyond their exotic surfaces, in search of a global humanity. Brilliantly comic, darkly but poignantly introspective, Borderline Citizen should be required reading for the twenty-first century and beyond.”—Xu Xi, author of This Fish is Fowl: Essays of Being“Robin Hemley begins Borderline Citizen with the observation that ‘as travelers, we see surfaces first. It’s easy to exoticize, to misinterpret, nearly impossible to see something except through our own lenses.’ He then goes on to show how a thoughtful, perceptive, and open-hearted traveler can overcome all those limitations. In vividly rendered essays, Hemley takes us to some of history’s oddest bits of territory, showing how human lives are shaped (and often distorted) by arbitrary political boundaries. With superb storytelling, he explores the meanings of nationalism, sovereignty, citizenship, and the loyalties of the human heart.”—Corey Flintoff, former NPR foreign correspondent“In these days of ultranationalism comes a surprising antidote in Robin Hemley’s cabinet of curiosities, Borderline Citizen, his account of his journeys to the ‘bits and bobs’ of national territories stranded by accidents of geography, history, and stubbornness. Hemley is a delightful guide, but there are serious questions for him to explore here as well—and lessons for all the mainlands and mother countries about the meaning and price of national identity. Quite possibly the most original travel book published in years.”—Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family and This Brilliant Darkness“Robin Hemley has traveled to more countries than just about anyone I know, and along the way he’s collected vital observations on the tragic absurdity of nationalism and the implicit violence of a world crisscrossed with borders. I think of him in the company of Pankaj Mishra, Pico Iyer, Bruce Chatwin, and John Berger—writers whose transnational souls challenge the idea of a single place of origin.”—Jess Row, author of White Flights and Your Face in Mine“This is a book of daring travel and quiet observation. Borderline Citizen challenges common constructs of national borders, patriotism, and citizenship to shed an urgent light on the exile’s predicament. With a sharp wit guided by empathy, Hemley has written a necessary and entirely unique book about what it really means to belong in a divided world.”—Jennifer Percy, journalist and author of Demon Camp“Robin Hemley is a born traveler, and in Borderline Citizen he visits exclaves, enclaves, and places in between to explore what loyalty to and love of a country mean. In Havana and Hong Kong, Kaliningrad and the Falkland Islands, he poses questions about identity, a complicated subject for many in the twenty-first century, and what he learns along the way is by turns illuminating and amazing. Thus a journey to an artificial rain forest in Nebraska inspires a meditation on authenticity, which reveals that in these uncertain times there is no better guide to the challenges we face than Robin Hemley.”—Christopher Merrill, author of Self-Portrait with Dogwood“Few writers have traveled as voraciously as Robin Hemley, and none with his special blend of curiosity, heart, and wit. His latest collection interrogates the idea of nationhood by spotlighting a wide spectrum of citizens—from an Afghan refugee to a Chinese billionaire—to prove that personhood is all that matters in the end. At a time when nationalism is resurging around the globe, Hemley bolsters the spirit with this vibrant read.”—Stephanie Elizondo Griest, author of All the Agents and Saints: Dispatches from the U.S. BorderlandsTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue: The Traveler in the Twenty-First Century Walled Citizens No One Will See Me Again Forever The Great Land Swap Don’t Be Too Difficult Close Calls with a Potentially Violent Felon in Cuba They Have Forgotten Many Things Mr. Chen’s Mountain To the Rainforest Room Present Celebrating Russian Federation Day with Immanuel Kant Field Notes for the Graveyard Enthusiast Survivor Stories Independence Days
£16.14
University of Nebraska Press Get Thee to a Bakery
Book SynopsisPart memoir, part travelogue, Get Thee to a Bakery explores both humorous and harrowing aspects of growing older and making sense of social, technological, and environmental change. Trade Review"[Get Thee to a Bakery] is a masterclass in how to make art out of the quotidian."—Rachel Rueckert, Fourth Genre"Rick Bailey's essay collection is rich and refreshing, fun and jubilant, and an overall joy to read."—Stephanie Nesja, Colorado Review"I wanted to hang out with Bailey's essays longer than I was afforded. In them, I felt comfort, inspiration, joy."—Jody Gerbig, Brevity"Whether you love to people watch, enjoy virtual travelling, enjoy a spot of humour, or are simply looking for a great read, this is the book for you."—Susan Keefe, Midwest Book Review"If Seinfeld was the show about nothing, this collection might be the book about everything."—alkratz.com“Rick Bailey has a deft comic touch. He can make even a flooding basement or a power outage fascinating and hilarious. The world is a more interesting and far funnier place when seen through his eyes.”—Sharon Harrigan, author of Half“Rick Bailey writes with a rare blend of intelligence and whimsy. Few essayists convey such joy in being alive. Bailey’s prose is sharp and the essays in Get Thee to a Bakery are as accessible as they are profound.”—Cal Freeman, author of Fight Songs“Rick Bailey is an epicurean globetrotter, whisking us on a wholly satisfying culinary tour with equal measures of humor and heart. These short meditations on food, wine, music, place, and language are deliciously entertaining, a pleasure on the reading palate.”—Dorene O’Brien, author of What It Might Feel Like to HopeTable of Contents1. Get Thee to a Bakery 2. This Body Offers to Carry Us 3. A Minor Memory 4. Con te partirò 5. On Wine Tasting and the Limits of Winespeak 6. Learning to Like It 7. You’re Not Going to Eat That, Are You? 8. Clean Up Your Act 9. Alien Pleasures 10. Ecumenical Meat Loaf 11. Good Eggs 12. Bombolone, Venus, Boar 13. Speak to Me 14. Do the Work 15. Take the Money 16. Listen to Teresa 17. Anyone Who Had a Heart 18. Drop It 19. Teeth First 20. Back to Comanche 21. Smitty 22. Still Alive 23. Badass 24. Stand Up 25. Waterful 26. We’re Melting 27. Monsters 28. Fit But 29. Quit It 30. A Suite, a Swim, a Fish 31. Me and Velociraptor and Forrest Gump 32. Rock Me 33. Faces in the Stone 34. Where We Are Was Once a Sea 35. But Why Florida? 36. Coffee Ma’am 37. In Search of 38. The Efficacy of Loud 39. Yoga, Space, and Bragadin’s Skin 40. Don’t Wait 41. Third Eye Seeing 42. This American Smile
£15.19
Cornell University Press Club Red
Book SynopsisThe Bolsheviks took power in Russia 1917 armed with an ideology centered on the power of the worker. From the beginning, however, Soviet leaders also realized the need for rest and leisure within the new proletarian society and over subsequent decades struggled to reconcile the concept of leisure with the doctrine of communism, addressing such fundamental concerns as what the purpose of leisure should be in a workers'' state and how socialist vacations should differ from those enjoyed by the capitalist bourgeoisie.In Club Red, Diane P. Koenker offers a sweeping and insightful history of Soviet vacationing and tourism from the Revolution through perestroika. She shows that from the outset, the regime insisted that the value of tourism and vacation time was strictly utilitarian. Throughout the 1920s and ''30s, the emphasis was on providing the workers access to the repair shops of the nation''s sanatoria or to the invigorating journeys by foot, bicycle, skis, or horseback that Trade ReviewClub Red, Diane Koenker's excellent new book on Soviet vacation travel, adds to a countercurrent that has gathered force in the past few years. Viewed from the perspective of vacations—or, in other recent works, of automobiles, moviegoing, television, or circuses—the divisions between the NEP, Stalin, and especially Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev periods often seem less sharp than we had previously imagined. Without ignoring repression, works in this vein elucidate aspects of normal Soviet life that previous scholarship had tended to obscure. -- Julie Hessler * The Journal of Modern History *In the early years of the Soviet era, vigorous outdoor activity held sway as a restorative and as a repudiation of the pleasure-filled, hotel-bound vacations favored in the West. Gradually, the regime made room for health sanatoriums and vacation travel, although still guided by 'scientifically planned and purposeful activities.' Ironically, these changes began in 1927, on the eve of Stalin's brutal collectivization of agriculture and first five-year plans. Koenker, with discriminating thoroughness, traces the evolution of Soviet vacationing from that point through the mid-1980s.... This is well-told history, a portrait of life in the Soviet Union that will be recognizable to those who lived it. -- Robert Legvold * Foreign Affairs *This solidly researched history of tourism concerns rest and recreation for the masses as well as outings by more privileged groups.... The book should interest historians and social scientists of the Soviet Unionas well as specialists of tourism elsewhere since she compares Soviet programs with Western tourism. -- Jeffery Brookes * The Journal of Interdisciplinary History *While adding a fresh perspective to the already rather extensive literature on Stalinist consumption, Koenker's work breaks substantial new ground in this account of late socialism and its reforms of consumption and consumerism, on which only a tiny number of archive-based studies yet exist. It also lays a foundation for scholars to investigate this important aspect of the Soviet experience from other perspectives and using other methodologies, including oral history... this ambitious, wide-ranging but still remarkably rigorous study will be of relevance and value to scholars of every period of Soviet history. -- Polly Jones * Slavic Review *Prodigiously researched and expertly written by a pioneering scholar of Soviet tourism, Club Red expands the analytical frameworks of Koenker’s earlier work, particularly her 2006 volume co-edited with Anne E. Gorsuch, Turizm: The Russian and East European Tourist under Capitalism and Socialism. -- Olga Mesropova and Thomas Waldemer * Slavic and East European Journal *[Readers] will be rewarded by seeing Soviet society from a unique and valuable vantage point. Koenker is to be commended for bringing this story to light and to life. * The American Historical Review *Koenker's extremely well researched and well-written book traces the two kinds of vacations (health resorts and tourism) through time and demonstrates how the Soviet state sought to construct a unique socialist leisure regime to benefit the proletariat.... This book will be of great interest to specialists in Soviet history and in the history of travel and tourism. * History *Club Red already provides readers with so much. It does an excellent job describing and analyzing the changing institutional leadership of and cultural and social meanings associated with spa and rest home vacations.... It provides important insights into the contradictions and tensions in the Soviet vacation system. It effectively situates vacations in the "socialist" consumer culture that began to emerge in the 1930s and burgeoned in the 1960s, as well as in the broader Soviet experiment. This extremely well-researched and fascinating book will be of value to many scholars, particularly those interested in consumer culture, vacations and tourism, and the Soviet Union. * Business History Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Vacations, Tourism, and the Paradoxes of Soviet Culture1. Mending the Human Motor2. Proletarian Tourism: The Best Form of Rest3. The Proletarian Tourist in the 1930s: Seeking the Good Life on the Road4. Restoring Vacations after the War5. From Treatment to Vacation: The Post-Stalin Consumer Regime6. Post-Proletarian Tourism: The New Soviet Person Takes to the Road7. The Modernization of Soviet TourismConclusion: Soviet Vacations and the Modern WorldBibliography Index
£22.39
John Wiley and Sons Ltd State of Emergency: Travels in a Troubled World
Book SynopsisThis book ventures into the world beyond Lampedusa: the crisis belt that stretches from Kashmir across Pakistan and Afghanistan to the Arab world and beyond, to the borders and coasts of Europe. Celebrated author Navid Kermani reports from a region which is our immediate neighbour, despite all too often being depicted as remote and distant from our daily concerns. Kermani has visited the places where no CNN transmitter truck is parked and yet smouldering fires threaten world peace. In his widely praised, wonderfully agile and careful prose, he reports on NATO's war in Afghanistan and the underside of globalization in India, on the civil war in Syria and the struggle of Shiites and Kurds against the 'Islamic State' in Iraq. He was the only Western reporter present at the suppression of the mass protests in Tehran, travelled with Sufis through Pakistan, talked with Grand Ayatollah Sistani in Najaf, and observed the disastrous Mediterranean refugee route in Lampedusa. Kermani's gripping reports allow us to understand a world in turmoil, to share the suspense and the suffering of the people in it. As if by magic, he brings individual lives and situations to life so vividly that complex and seemingly distant problems of world politics suddenly appear crystal clear. Our world too lies beyond Lampedusa.Trade Review"Those who want to see the day-to-day lives of human beings in the crisis regions of the Middle East - lives that don't make the news - should read Navid Kermani's sensitive reporting. Reports you won't soon forget."—Deutschland-Radio "Kermani's well-researched and sensitive book reveals how violence is born. It also reminds us that far away victims and perpetrators have one thing in common: they're human beings, just like us."—Süddeutsche Zeitung "Intense, colourful, emotional, subjective."—Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung "Among the most thoughtful intellectual voices in Germany today."—The New York Review of Books "After reading this book, one puts it down glad to have been both touched and taught"—Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag "Kermani's style is nuanced and kindly, poetic and philosophical, he zooms in and out of perspectives like a novelist and is drawn to irresolvable tensions like a conceptual artist... State of Emergency is a humane and timely reminder that there is no one Islam, no one set of Islamic views, values and beliefs, just as there is no one Western creed."—GeographicalTable of ContentsEditorial Note Cairo, December 2006 Paradise in a State of EmergencyKashmir, October 2007 Houseboat 1 In the City Houseboat 2 Politicians 1-4 Night Houseboat 3 The Shrine Houseboat 4 In the Countryside Houseboat 5 The Mother Houseboat 6 Ahad Baba In Kashmir, Far Away from Kashmir LandlessBetween Agra and Delhi, September 2007 Lumpenproletariat in Formation Why Complain? They Want Land Expulsion as Industrial Development Policy The Sky and the Ground Ram Paydiri Doesn’t Understand The LaboratoryGujarat, October 2007 An Idol On the Rubbish Tip Into the Centre Social Praxis India’s Future Where Even the Atheists Pray The Pit A Visit to the SufisPakistan, February 2012 Rhythm of God War Against Themselves The Lovers' Tomb O Papa, Protect Me In the Mansion District The Poor People's Peace Quiet, Cleanliness and Order The Feast The Cosmic Order Bleak NormalityAfghanistan I, December 2006 People Don’t Change Much Really Crazy Two British Commanders Humanitarian Mission In Kabul Where Is the Progress? Master Tamim The New Motorway American Headquarters Visit to the Passport Office Cola in the Dark The Limits of ReportingAfghanistan II, September 11, 2011 Cemetery 1 Walls in Front of Walls Northward Mazar-e Sharif The Best Place in Town In the Countryside In the Panjshir Valley In the South Peace Conference Tribal Leaders 1 Kandahar Tribal Leaders 2 The Limits of Reporting Cemetery 2 The UprisingTehran, June 2009 Chance Companions Arrival Wednesday Thursday Friday Back to Saturday Sunday Early Monday When You See the Black FlagsIraq, September 2014 I. Najaf: In the Heart of the Shia Ubiquity of Death A Dangerous Topic A Different Shia With Swordlike Index Finger Grand Ayatollah Sistani's Message II. Baghdad: The Future Is Past A Thirty Years' War and More A Hookah with Goethe and Hölderlin Fog of Melancholy Right Out of Ali Baba The Last Christian A Warrior III. Kurdistan: The War for Our World Too Literally Overnight What For? To the Front The General The Entrance to HellSyria, September 2012 The Centre and the Margins Artists of the Revolution Two Views Outsourcing Terror The Feast of St Elian At the Tomb of Ibn Arabi Thinking without Gradations The Intensive Care Unit Those Who Can Read, Let Them Read We Too Love LifePalestine, April 2005 In Search of Palestine Without Hope The Wall Against Empathy My Capitulation They Are Human Beings Life as What It IsLampedusa, September 2008 Sunday Outing Ghosts Midnight The Previous Mayor The Camp The New Mayor Night Again With or Without ApprovalCairo, October 2012
£51.52
John Wiley and Sons Ltd State of Emergency: Travels in a Troubled World
Book SynopsisThis book ventures into the world beyond Lampedusa: the crisis belt that stretches from Kashmir across Pakistan and Afghanistan to the Arab world and beyond, to the borders and coasts of Europe. Celebrated author Navid Kermani reports from a region which is our immediate neighbour, despite all too often being depicted as remote and distant from our daily concerns. Kermani has visited the places where no CNN transmitter truck is parked and yet smouldering fires threaten world peace. In his widely praised, wonderfully agile and careful prose, he reports on NATO's war in Afghanistan and the underside of globalization in India, on the civil war in Syria and the struggle of Shiites and Kurds against the 'Islamic State' in Iraq. He was the only Western reporter present at the suppression of the mass protests in Tehran, travelled with Sufis through Pakistan, talked with Grand Ayatollah Sistani in Najaf, and observed the disastrous Mediterranean refugee route in Lampedusa. Kermani's gripping reports allow us to understand a world in turmoil, to share the suspense and the suffering of the people in it. As if by magic, he brings individual lives and situations to life so vividly that complex and seemingly distant problems of world politics suddenly appear crystal clear. Our world too lies beyond Lampedusa.Trade Review"Those who want to see the day-to-day lives of human beings in the crisis regions of the Middle East - lives that don't make the news - should read Navid Kermani's sensitive reporting. Reports you won't soon forget."—Deutschland-Radio "Kermani's well-researched and sensitive book reveals how violence is born. It also reminds us that far away victims and perpetrators have one thing in common: they're human beings, just like us."—Süddeutsche Zeitung "Intense, colourful, emotional, subjective."—Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung "Among the most thoughtful intellectual voices in Germany today."—The New York Review of Books "After reading this book, one puts it down glad to have been both touched and taught"—Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag "Kermani's style is nuanced and kindly, poetic and philosophical, he zooms in and out of perspectives like a novelist and is drawn to irresolvable tensions like a conceptual artist... State of Emergency is a humane and timely reminder that there is no one Islam, no one set of Islamic views, values and beliefs, just as there is no one Western creed."—GeographicalTable of ContentsEditorial Note Cairo, December 2006 Paradise in a State of EmergencyKashmir, October 2007 Houseboat 1 In the City Houseboat 2 Politicians 1-4 Night Houseboat 3 The Shrine Houseboat 4 In the Countryside Houseboat 5 The Mother Houseboat 6 Ahad Baba In Kashmir, Far Away from Kashmir LandlessBetween Agra and Delhi, September 2007 Lumpenproletariat in Formation Why Complain? They Want Land Expulsion as Industrial Development Policy The Sky and the Ground Ram Paydiri Doesn’t Understand The LaboratoryGujarat, October 2007 An Idol On the Rubbish Tip Into the Centre Social Praxis India’s Future Where Even the Atheists Pray The Pit A Visit to the SufisPakistan, February 2012 Rhythm of God War Against Themselves The Lovers' Tomb O Papa, Protect Me In the Mansion District The Poor People's Peace Quiet, Cleanliness and Order The Feast The Cosmic Order Bleak NormalityAfghanistan I, December 2006 People Don’t Change Much Really Crazy Two British Commanders Humanitarian Mission In Kabul Where Is the Progress? Master Tamim The New Motorway American Headquarters Visit to the Passport Office Cola in the Dark The Limits of ReportingAfghanistan II, September 11, 2011 Cemetery 1 Walls in Front of Walls Northward Mazar-e Sharif The Best Place in Town In the Countryside In the Panjshir Valley In the South Peace Conference Tribal Leaders 1 Kandahar Tribal Leaders 2 The Limits of Reporting Cemetery 2 The UprisingTehran, June 2009 Chance Companions Arrival Wednesday Thursday Friday Back to Saturday Sunday Early Monday When You See the Black FlagsIraq, September 2014 I. Najaf: In the Heart of the Shia Ubiquity of Death A Dangerous Topic A Different Shia With Swordlike Index Finger Grand Ayatollah Sistani's Message II. Baghdad: The Future Is Past A Thirty Years' War and More A Hookah with Goethe and Hölderlin Fog of Melancholy Right Out of Ali Baba The Last Christian A Warrior III. Kurdistan: The War for Our World Too Literally Overnight What For? To the Front The General The Entrance to HellSyria, September 2012 The Centre and the Margins Artists of the Revolution Two Views Outsourcing Terror The Feast of St Elian At the Tomb of Ibn Arabi Thinking without Gradations The Intensive Care Unit Those Who Can Read, Let Them Read We Too Love LifePalestine, April 2005 In Search of Palestine Without Hope The Wall Against Empathy My Capitulation They Are Human Beings Life as What It IsLampedusa, September 2008 Sunday Outing Ghosts Midnight The Previous Mayor The Camp The New Mayor Night Again With or Without ApprovalCairo, October 2012
£17.09
University of South Carolina Press Never in a Hurry: Essays on People and Places
Book SynopsisIn these essays, poet Naomi Shihab Nye travels the world at an observant pace, talking to strangers and introducing readers to an endearing assemblage of eccentric neighbours, Filipina faith healers, dry-cleaning proprietors, and other quirky characters.
£15.26
University of Tennessee Press Seekers Of Scenery: Travel Writing From Southern
Book SynopsisDuring the nineteenth century, American travelers began to “discover” southern Appalachia and to define it within mainstream American culture. As a result, American periodicals—from national publications such as Harper’s and The Atlantic Monthly to smaller circulation magazines such as DeBow’s and The Lakeside Monthly—published a great deal about the region, which encompasses parts of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Eighteen articles, culled from this body of literature—including work by Rebecca Harding Davis, W. E. B. DuBois, and Constance Fenimore Woolson—make up this volume. Some passages now read as environmental elegy: descriptions of old-growth forests long since cut, waterfalls now dammed, vistas now hidden behind pollution on high ridges. A variety of genres present a historic view of the region, as well as providing insight into the construction of travel writing in the nineteenth century. For readers interested in the history and culture of the region, these articles offer a glimpse of the social, economic, and political forces that shaped the region as we now know it. They describe economic and domestic practices in the 1800s; show how the image of the “mountaineer”—a distinct, white, southern Appalachian archetype—emerged in the national consciousness; and detail the development of the region during a crucial period.The volume contains helpful glosses and explanatory notes, while maps aid twenty-first-century travelers in following nineteenth-century travel routes. In addition, the book is beautifully illustrated with many woodblock engravings.Contributors: George Cooke, Charles Lanman, Oliver Bell Bunce, Julian Ralph, Bradford Torrey, David Hunter Strother, Constance Fenimore Woolson, Rebecca Harding Davis, Charles Dudley Warner, William Wallace Harney, Louise Coffin Jones, James Lane Allen, Lee Meriwether, Margaret Johann, W. E. B. Du Bois, Jehu Lewis, George Dimmock, Frank O. CarpenterKevin O’Donnell is associate professor of English at East Tennessee State University and is director of that school’s writing-across-the-curriculum program. Helen Hollingsworth is professor emerita of English at East Tennessee State University. She has contributed articles to Appalachia Inside Out: Conflict and Change, and The Highlands Bulletin.
£35.96
University Press of Mississippi No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey
Book SynopsisIn 1997 Gary Younge explored the American South by retracing the route of the original Freedom Riders of the 1960s. His road trip was a remarkable socio-cultural adventure for an outsider. He was British, journalistically curious, and black. As he traveled by Greyhound bus through the former Confederate states, he experienced an awakening. He felt culturally tied to this strange yet familiar place. Though a Briton by birth and the child of emigrants from Barbados, he felt culturally alien in his native land. In Dixie, however, he met African Americans whose racial distinctiveness was similar to his own. To local blacks he looked like a brother, while sounding intriguingly foreign. As he assessed their political rise in the South, he noted too how African American tradition seemed static and unchanged. It was a refreshing whiff of ""home."" Awakened to his own identity as a black in a predominantly white society and absorbed by a sense of southern myth and racial history, he produced this account, a blend of travel writing, historical research, wit, and social commentary. His probing examination of the Southland gives fresh perspective on race relations in America. Originally published in England, No Place Like Home is ""more than a piece of travel writing,"" praised the London Evening Standard, ""[but] a compelling exploration of racial identity and the problems of growing up clever, black, and angry in small-town Stevenage. . . . Younge is a fine journalist--thoroughgoing, clear-minded, and meticulous, and he writes in a measured, lucid prose. . . . Next, please take a trip around the UK, Gary Younge, and write about it. Your country needs you."" Gary Younge is a columnist and feature writer for the London Guardian. In this post he has written extensively from the United States, South Africa, and Europe. In 1996 he worked at the Washington Post as recipient of a Laurence Stern Fellowship.
£27.96
Texas A & M University Press The Other Side of Russia: A Slice of Life in Siberia and the Russian Far East
Book SynopsisAward-winning author Sharon Hudgins takes readers on a personal adventure through the Asian side of Russia - from the ""high-rise villages"" of Vladivostok and Irkutsk to Lake Baikal and the Trans-Siberian Railroad route. Join her as a guest confronted with exotic dishes at Christmas parties, New Year's banquets, Easter dinners, and Siberian festivals - and discover what daily life is really like on Russia's ""other side.Trade ReviewSharon Hudgins has written a vivid and engrossing book about a part of the world that's both geographically and ethnically complex. She's done much to make the unfamiliar familiar. - Larry McMurtry; ""Rare is the person who can step into the wonderland of Siberia and capture the culture and spirit of its people. Sharon Hudgins has done that and more. This is a warm, considered, and completely engaging work from start to finish... a window into the soul of Siberia."" - James Cramer, President & CEO, World Learning; ""... an animated examination of grim, grimy, and unpredictably gracious ordinary life in the extraordinary place she calls Absurdistan."" - Alfred Friendly, Jr., coauthor, Ecocide in the USSR, and former Newsweek Moscow Bureau Chief
£18.36
University of Iowa Press Deep Travel: In Thoreau's Wake on the Concord and Merrimack
Book SynopsisIn the hot summer of 2004, David Leff floated away from the routine of daily life just as Henry David Thoreau and his brother had done in their own small boat in 1839. Fortified with Thoreau's observations as revealed in ""A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers"", Leff brought his own concept of mindful deep travel to these same New England waterways. His first-person narrative uses his ecological way of looking, of going deep rather than far, to show that our outward journeys are inseparable from our inward ones. How we see depends on where we are in our lives and with whom we travel. Leff chose his companions wisely. In consecutive journeys his neighbor and friend Alan, a veteran city planner; his son Josh, an energetic eleven-year-old; and his sweetheart Pamela, a compassionate professional caregiver, added their perspectives to Leff's own experiences as a government official in natural resources policy. Not so much sight seeing as sight seeking, together they explored a geography of the imagination as well as the rich natural and human histories of the rivers and their communities. The heightened awareness of deep travel demands that we immerse ourselves fully in places and realize that they exist in time as well as space. Its mindfulness enriches the experience and makes the voyager worthy of the journey. Leff's intriguing, contemplative deep travel along these historic rivers presents a methodology for exploration that will enrich any trip.Trade ReviewIn the wake of Thoreau, Leff paddles acutely, scrying the traces of the past in the natural and human complexity of the riverine present: an original book of long-term value. - JOHN STILGOE, Harvard University
£26.55
University of Iowa Press And the Monkey Learned Nothing: Dispatches from a
Book SynopsisTom Lutz is on a mission to visit every country on earth. And the Monkey Learned Nothing contains reports from fifty of them, most describing personal encounters in rarely visited spots, anecdotes from way off the beaten path. Traveling without an itinerary and without a goal, Lutz explores the Iranian love of poetry, the occupying Chinese army in Tibet, the amputee beggars in Cambodia, the hill tribes on Vietnam’s Chinese border, the sociopathic monkeys of Bali, the dangerous fishermen and conmen of southern India, the salt flats of Uyumi in Peru, and floating hotels in French Guiana, introduces you to an Uzbeki prodigy in the market of Samarkand, an Azeri rental car clerk in Baku, guest workers in Dubai, a military contractor in Jordan, cucuruchos in Guatemala, a Pentecostal preacher in rural El Salvador, a playboy in Nicaragua, employment agents in Singapore specializing in Tamil workers, prostitutes in Colombia and the Dominican Republic, international bankers in Belarus, a teacher in Havana, border guards in Botswana, tango dancers in Argentina, a cook in Suriname, a juvenile thief in Uruguay, voters in Guyana, doctors in Tanzania and Lesotho, scary poker players in Moscow, reed dancers in Swaziland, young camel herders in Tunisia, Romanian missionaries in Macedonia, and musical groups in Mozambique. With an eye out for both the sublime and the ridiculous, Lutz falls, regularly, into the instant intimacy of the road with random strangers.
£13.95
University of Tennessee Press Trial by Trail: Backpacking in the Smoky
Book SynopsisNow updated with a new predface that examines dramatic changes in his favourite hiking and camping area, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, this classic adventure chronicle, which first appeared in 1996, launched the outdoor writing career of Johnny Molloy. The author of over sixty invaluable hiking, camping, and paddling guides to natural destinations all over the country, Molloy has turned irresistible enthusiasm for the great outdoors, evident in this book, into a profound career, dedicated to honouring and celebrating our greatest wild places—and helping others enjoy them as much as he has. In fourteen lively personal essays, Johnny Molloy describes the adventures by which he came of age as a backpacker. Born a “flatlander” in Memphis, he first visited the Smokies while attending the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in the 1980s. Initially, he treated the park as a personal playground—a place to cut loose, break rules, and act irresponsibly. After many hiking excursions, however, he gained a more profound appreciation of the mountains, becoming an avid park volunteer intent on the protection and improvement of the area. He grew, as he puts it, both as an outdoor adventurer and as a human being. Interwoven throughout these pieces is a wealth of Smoky Mountains lore and history along with dozens of tips for novice backpackers. Molloy’s stories encompass backpacking during all four seasons as well as accounts of solo hiking, off-trail hiking, and whitewater canoeing. Whether describing the hazards of crossing a stream in winter or what to do—and not to do—when one encounters a bear or a rattlesnake, Molloy writes with an infectious enthusiasm that will delight any lover of the outdoors.
£20.21
University of Massachusetts Press African American Travel Narratives from Abroad:
Book SynopsisDuring the Jim Crow era, African American travellers faced the prospects of violence, harassment, and the denial of services, especially as they made their way throughout the American South. Those who journeyed outside the United States found not only a political and social context that was markedly different from America's, but in their international mobility, they also discovered new ways of identifying themselves in relation to others. In this book, Gary Totten examines the global travel narratives of a diverse set of African American writers, including Ida B. Wells, Booker T. Washington, Matthew Henson, Jessie Redmon Fauset, and Zora Neale Hurston. While these writers deal with issues of identity in relation to a reimagined sense of self -- in a way that we might expect to find in travel narratives -- they also push against the constraints and conventions of the genre, reconsidering discourses of tourism, ethnography, and exploration. This book not only offers new insights about African American writers and mobility, it also charts the ideological distinctions and divergent agendas within this group of writers. Totten demonstrates how these travellers and their writings challenged dominant ideologies about African American experience, expression, and identity in a period of escalating racial violence. By setting these texts in their historical context and within the genre of travel writing, Totten presents a nuanced understanding of both popular and recovered work of the period.
£21.80
WW Norton & Co Writing Across the Landscape: Travel Journals
Book SynopsisLawrence Ferlinghetti—legendary poet and best-selling author—collects here his travel journals. Traversing the latter half of the twentieth century to the present, Writing Across the Landscape positions Ferlinghetti as a major voice whose personal writings are now added to the fabric of twentieth-century literary history. The volume gives glimpses of figures like William Burroughs in London, Ezra Pound in Italy and Fidel Castro at the dawn of the Revolution. Readers will journey to Mexico, Morocco, Paris and Rome, as well as to post-Stalinist Russia on a harrowing journey on the Trans-Siberian Express. Embedded with new poems and Ferlinghetti’s pyrotechnic prose, Writing Across the Landscape evokes the people, places and political movements that have shaped our time.Trade Review"Ferlinghetti move[s] through the decades...in the grip of managed melancholy; a detached and watchful sympathy for the world and its follies." -- Iain Sinclair - London Review of Books
£26.59
WW Norton & Co Writing Across the Landscape: Travel Journals
Book SynopsisLawrence Ferlinghetti—legendary poet and best-selling author—collects here his travel journals. Traversing the latter half of the twentieth century to the present, Writing Across the Landscape positions Ferlinghetti as a major voice whose personal writings are now added to the fabric of twentieth-century literary history. The volume gives glimpses of figures like William Burroughs in London, Ezra Pound in Italy and Fidel Castro at the dawn of the Revolution. Readers will journey to Mexico, Morocco, Paris and Rome, as well as to post-Stalinist Russia on a harrowing journey on the Trans-Siberian Express. Embedded with new poems and Ferlinghetti’s pyrotechnic prose, Writing Across the Landscape evokes the people, places and political movements that have shaped our time.Trade Review"Ferlinghetti move[s] through the decades...in the grip of managed melancholy; a detached and watchful sympathy for the world and its follies." -- Iain Sinclair - London Review of Books
£17.09
WW Norton & Co Rediscovering Travel: A Guide for the Globally
Book SynopsisHaving captivated millions during his tenure as The New York Times’s “Frugal Traveler”, Seth Kugel is one of our most internationally beloved travel writers. With the initial publication of Rediscovering Travel, he took the corporate modern travel industry to task, determined to reignite an age-old sense of adventure that has virtually been vanquished by the spontaneity-obliterating likes of Google Maps, TripAdvisor and Starwood points. Now in travel-friendly paperback, this “funny, inspiring and well-crafted” companion (Associated Press) reveals how to make the most of new apps and other digital technologies without being shackled to them. Writing for the tight-belted tourists and the first-class flyer, the eager student and the comfort-seeking retiree, Kugel shows all readers “not only where to look, but how” (Samantha Brown) and promises that we too can rediscover the joy of discovery.
£12.34
University of South Carolina Press A Short History of Charleston
Book SynopsisA Short History of Charleston-a lively chronicle of the South's most renowned and charming city-has been hailed by critics, historians, and especially Charlestonians as authoritative, witty, and entertaining. Beginning with the founding of colonial Charles Town and ending three hundred and fifty years later in the present day, Robert Rosen's fast-paced narrative takes the reader on a journey through the city's complicated history as a port to English settlers, a bloodstained battlefield, and a picturesque vacation mecca. Packed with anecdotes and enlivened by passages from diaries and letters, A Short History of Charleston recounts in vivid detail the port city's development from an outpost of the British Empire to a bustling, modern city.This revised and expanded edition includes a new final chapter on the decades since Joseph Riley was first elected mayor in 1975 through its rapid development in geographic size, population, and cultural importance. Rosen contemplates both the city's triumphs and its challenges, allowing readers to consider how Charleston's past has shaped its present and will continue to shape its future.Trade ReviewSprightly and entertaining Robert Rosen has captured the flavor and flair of Charleston as few writers have been able to do. Rosen is alert to the ironies and idiosyncrasies of his native city, and he writes of personalities and events with an easy, knowing hand, neither boastfully nor regretfully.
£17.06
University of Nevada Press Going It Alone: Ramblings and Reflections from the Trail
Book SynopsisGoing It Aloneis the story of Tim Hauserman's conflict between wanting to be alone in the wilderness, and finding himself with deep feelings of fear and loneliness once he's gets there. Sure, he revels in the quiet of a dense forest, the soft lines of the shoreline of a shimmering mountain lake and the stark gray beauty of granite peaks, but he also gets the heebie jeebies in the face of a trail with a steep drop off or the sound of a bear crunching sticks next to his tent.After day hiking for years, he decided he wanted to stay in the wilderness when the sun set and be there again for its rising. So he set out on a series of backpack trips by himself. Solo takes the reader along as Tim hikes on the John Muir Trail through rainstorms and challenging climbs while facing stoves that don't work and lonely nights in the tent. Next, he heads out from his driveway onto a 14 day thru-hike of the Tahoe Rim Trail. Despite writing the guidebook to the TRT, he only truly discovers the trail when he thru-hikes it by himself. Finally, he travels to Minnesota to face bugs, drought, and sometimes non-existent trails on a section of the Superior Hiking Trail that he seems to have all to himself.The story combines self-deprecating humor, Stupid Tim Tricks and delightful descriptions of the natural surroundings. While some might call the wilderness the middle of nowhere, or nothingness, Tim believes it is everything. While his love for nature remains undaunted, he also discovers that he has overly high expectations for his capabilities and that just wishing loneliness away doesn't work. He eventually discovers that his long walks in the woods are less about hiking, than about learning how he wants to live his life.Table of Contents Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: What Was I Thinking? 1. Howling at the Half Moon 2. What the Q? 3. Six Days on the John Muir Trail 4. The Tahoe Rim Trail 5. The Superior Hiking Trail...Solo Hiking, Minnesota Style 6. Finding Peace at Fontanillis Epilogue Works Cited About the Author
£17.56
Iter Press Far from Home in Early Modern France – Three
Book SynopsisAn engaging account of women’s travels in the early modern period. This book showcases three Frenchwomen who ventured far from home at a time when such traveling was rare. In 1639, Marie de l’Incarnation embarked for New France where she founded the first Ursuline monastery in present-day Canada. In 1750, Madame du Boccage set out at the age of forty on her first “grand tour.” She visited England, the Netherlands, and Italy where she experienced firsthand the intellectual liberty offered there to educated women. As the Reign of Terror gripped France, the Marquise de la Tour du Pin fled to America with her husband and their two young children, where they ran a farm from 1794 to 1796. The writings these women left behind detailing their respective journeys abroad represent significant contributions to early modern travel literature. This book makes available to anglophone readers three texts that are rich in both historical and literary terms. Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction The Other Voice Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation (1599–1672) Anne Marie Fiquet Du Boccage (1710–1802) Henriette-Lucie Dillon, Marquise de La Tour du Pin (1770–1853) Experiencing Otherness It will be there that I find bliss . . . Let us step outside our homeland, there will be a new being . . . The happiest moment of my existence . . . The Journey Narrative: Forms and Content The Missionary Letter The Familiar Letter The Autobiographical Memoir: A Hybrid Form Travel Writing and Gender as a Field of Investigation and a Source for Teaching Note on the Translations Travel NarrativesMarie de l’Incarnation, Correspondence Madame Du Boccage, Letters on England, Holland, and Italy Madame de La Tour du Pin, Journal of a Fifty-Year-Old Woman Appendix 1: Cécile de Sainte-Croix, The Story of Her Crossing and Arrival in Quebec (September 2, 1639) Appendix 2: Glossary of Places Appendix 3: Table of Currencies and Values Appendix 4: Chronology Bibliography Index of Names Thematic Index
£41.80
NewSouth Publishing Kings Cross: a biography
Book SynopsisCelebrated playwright, author and screenwriter Louis Nowra loves King Cross. A long-time resident, he makes us reimagine the most infamous and misunderstood place in Australia, a magnet for bohemianism, cosmopolitanism and organised crime. In a wildly energetic book that walks the streets, sits in bars, chats with the locals, and spends time in clubs and apartments where you wish the walls could talk, Nowra traverses the history and the future of his beloved neighbourhood. He burrows beneath the sensationalist Underbelly ‘sex and sin’ narrative, revealing stories and a cast of characters – some household names, others little-known – that not even a writer could conjure up. Kings Cross is a no-holds barred place where backpackers, prostitutes, strippers, chefs, mad men, poets, beggars, booksellers, doctors, gangsters, sailors, musicians, drug traffickers, eccentrics, judges and artists live side by side. Part flâneur, part historian and part eyewitness, Louis Nowra is the best possible guide to a place that is both real and a state of mind.
£17.95
NewSouth Publishing The Crow Eaters: A journey through South
Book SynopsisOutsiders think of South Australia as being different, without really knowing much about it. Combining his own travel across the million-square kilometres of the state with an investigation of its history, Ben Stubbs seeks to find out what South Australia is really like.In the spirit of the best travel writing and literary non-fiction, he lingers in places of quiet beauty and meets some memorable people. Along the way he debunks most of the clichés that plague the state. Travelling to Maralinga, Snowtown, Kangaroo Island, the Flinders Ranges, Coober Pedy, the storied Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth and the once-mighty river that is the Murray, Stubbs brings this diverse state to life. He even addresses head-on the question ‘Is South Australia weird?’Readers will find it hard to resist the book’s implicit invitation to take a look at places much closer to home, to take the time to drink in dramatic landscapes that are slow, deep and speckled with unforgettable characters. Uncovers the state’s fascinating history – the 1960s Maralinga atomic bomb tests, the stories of Marree where the first mosque in Australia was built, and where the long-running relationship between the desert and the Afghan Cameleers began The New York Times and Lonely Planet recently described South Australia as one of the best places in the world to visit
£18.86
NewSouth Publishing Amnesia Road: Landscape, violence and memory
Book SynopsisShortlisted for the NSW Premier’s History Awards — Australian History Prize 2021 How vast then is forgetting – of language, of places, of the dead? Are these even things that can be measured? They are not – but they can be described. Amnesia Road is a powerful literary consideration of historic violence in two different parts of the world, the seldom-visited mulga plains of south-west Queensland and the backroads of rural Andalusia. It is also an unashamed celebration of the landscapes where this violence – frontier conflict and civil war – has been carried out. Australian Hispanist Luke Stegemann uncovers neglected history and its victims and asks where such forgotten people can find a place in contemporary debates around history, nationality, guilt and identity. Stegemann writes powerfully about these landscapes, finding threads of forgotten history, particularly the brutal murderous Indigenous history that is so often deliberately ignored and the mass killings of civilians in the Spanish Civil War, in Andalusia and Cádiz in particular. Characterised by beautiful, lush writing that remains unflinching, this book prompts us to consider traumatic history and the places where it unfolded in new ways.Trade Review‘This book will come to be regarded as a classic of Australian literature.’ — Nicolas Rothwell
£19.76
NewSouth Publishing Walking Sydney
£19.80
Collective Ink Banyan Tree Adventures: Travels in India
Book SynopsisDrawing upon his own travel experiences and those of others, Keith Forrester interrelates travel writing, tourism and serious commentary to produce an account of the delights, challenges and excitement of visiting old and new India. Banyan Tree Adventures: Travels in India is not the usual travelogue or tourist guide to India. It is a book that not only discusses the Indian experiences and views of non-domestic travellers in their explorations and adventures, but also a text that helps understand the simple question of why tourists keep returning to the country. What is it about India that prompts the interest and loyalty of returning tourists? Where do they go and why? What areas do tourists visit and what aspects of Indian culture, policy and history interests them? How do overseas tourists cope with and understand the shocking evidence of poverty while travelling around the country? Few countries embody the blending of tradition and the ancient with the new and the modern. So yes, it is a good time to be interested in and thinking about India. It’s an even better time to be travelling around the country.
£14.99
Liverpool University Press Hidden Texts, Hidden Nation: (Re)Discoveries of
Book SynopsisThis book explores the representation of Wales and ‘Welshness’ in texts by French- (including Breton) and German-speaking travellers from 1780 to the present day. Since the emergence of the travel narrative as a popular source of information and entertainment in the mid-18th century, writing about Wales has often been embedded and hidden in accounts of travel to ‘England’. This book locates and presents these largely forgotten texts and broadens perspectives to encompass European perceptions. Works uncovered for the first time include travelogues, private correspondences, travel diaries, articles and blogs which have Wales or Welsh culture as their focus. The ‘travellers’ analysed in this volume include those travelling for the purpose of leisure, scholarship or commerce as well as exiles and refugees. By focusing on Wales, a minoritized nation at the geographical periphery of Europe, the authors are able to problematize notions of hegemony and identity, relating to both the places encountered (the ‘travellee’ culture) and the places of origin (the travellers’ cultures). This book thereby makes an original contribution to studies in travel writing and provides an important case study of a culture often minoritized in the field, but that nevertheless provides a telling illustration of the dynamics of intercultural relations and representation.Trade Review‘This rich, readable book surveys almost 250 years of writing by European travellers to Wales, from private letters to conventionally published works to contemporary digital forms. It broaches a remarkable, original field of research, encompasses a wide historical, linguistic, and critical range, and presents an impressive array of materials previously invisible to scholarship.’ Mererid Puw Davies, Modern Language Review‘This is an innovative book that combines cross-cultural dialogue with the “tourist gaze” in order to explain the gap between fabricated expectations and real destinations. Drawing on a wide literature and on neglected – sometimes anonymous – texts in French, German and Breton that the authors took great effort to uncover and recover, Hidden Texts, Hidden Nation is a substantial book that should be enjoyed not only by cultural historians of the period in question, but also by students, university teaching staff, translators, specialists in travel literature as well as anyone interested in the topic.’ Elena Butoescu, CompLitTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsChapter 1: Introduction: Hidden Texts, Hidden NationChapter 2: Landscape, Industry, Piety: Wales as a Site of Inspiration in Travel Writing in French from 1780 to 1905Chapter 3: Patriotism, Pan-Celticism and the Welsh Cultural Paradigm in Travel Writing in French from 1830 to 1900Chapter 4: Periphery, Modernity and the Discovery of Wales in Travel Writing in German from 1790 to 1850Chapter 5: Identity, Celtomania and the Narrative of Wales in Travel Writing in German from 1850 to 1905Chapter 6: Safe Haven, Literary Paradise and Present-Day Adventureland: Wales in Travel writing in Breton, French and German from 1945 to 2018Chapter 7: Conclusion: The Narrative of Wales: From Blind Spot to Blank CanvasBibliography
£109.50
Liverpool University Press Music for Unknown Journeys by Cristian Aliaga:
Book SynopsisWhat is the purpose of travel in an age when millions are displaced against their will or have no home to speak of in the first place? How can we travel without being tourists, without erasing the stories of those who live where we visit? These are some of the questions addressed in Cristian Aliaga’s compelling collection of prose poems, Music for Unknown Journeys.This collection contains Aliaga’s “travelling sketches,” in the tradition of Matsuo Bashō, John Berger, or W.G. Sebald. Each prose poem is geographically situated in his travels across Patagonia or his more recent journeys around the edge-lands of Europe. His work is politically acute, exploring struggles over territory, resources, and culture, in the places he visits. There is an intense emotional charge as he records the stories of those who globalization and contemporary capitalism have used and left behind. This volume brings together a generous selection of Aliaga’s prose poems, the majority previously unseen in English, as well as a substantial introduction to the author’s work and its context, both literary and political, by the editor and translator.Cristian Aliaga (b. 1962, Tres Cuervos, Province of Buenos Aires) is one of Argentina’s foremost contemporary poets. His work has been highly praised in the TLS and elsewhere.Trade Review‘Music for Unknown Journeys by Christian Aliaga is the Argentinian poet’s first collection to be translated into English. [The poems] are highly evocative and full of wonderful, sometimes meticulous, details... Ben Bollig has done an effective job of capturing Aliaga’s voice in English. Bollig has also written an illuminating introduction.’ Leo Boix, Resistance and Defiance‘In his observations of ordinary people pursuing their daily bread, [Aliaga] cannot shake off a sense of timeless and universal human trauma... this volume will also be of interest to researchers engaged in work on contemporary poetic forms—and indeed short prose forms—and how they integrate with the tradition of the travelogue.’ Iona Macintyre, Modern Language ReviewTable of ContentsIntroductionThanks and AcknowledgmentsPart One. Unknown Music for Journeys: North and South American TravelsPoemsPart Two. The Foreign Passion (Revised and Expanded): European and African TravelsPoemsTranslator’s NotesIndex of Place Names
£109.50
Liverpool University Press Music for Unknown Journeys by Cristian Aliaga:
Book SynopsisWhat is the purpose of travel in an age when millions are displaced against their will or have no home to speak of in the first place? How can we travel without being tourists, without erasing the stories of those who live where we visit? These are some of the questions addressed in Cristian Aliaga’s compelling collection of prose poems, Music for Unknown Journeys.This collection contains Aliaga’s “travelling sketches,” in the tradition of Matsuo Bashō, John Berger, or W.G. Sebald. Each prose poem is geographically situated in his travels across Patagonia or his more recent journeys around the edge-lands of Europe. His work is politically acute, exploring struggles over territory, resources, and culture, in the places he visits. There is an intense emotional charge as he records the stories of those who globalization and contemporary capitalism have used and left behind. This volume brings together a generous selection of Aliaga’s prose poems, the majority previously unseen in English, as well as a substantial introduction to the author’s work and its context, both literary and political, by the editor and translator.Cristian Aliaga (b. 1962, Tres Cuervos, Province of Buenos Aires) is one of Argentina’s foremost contemporary poets. His work has been highly praised in the TLS and elsewhere.Trade Review‘Music for Unknown Journeys by Christian Aliaga is the Argentinian poet’s first collection to be translated into English. [The poems] are highly evocative and full of wonderful, sometimes meticulous, details... Ben Bollig has done an effective job of capturing Aliaga’s voice in English. Bollig has also written an illuminating introduction.’ Leo Boix, Resistance and Defiance‘In his observations of ordinary people pursuing their daily bread, [Aliaga] cannot shake off a sense of timeless and universal human trauma... this volume will also be of interest to researchers engaged in work on contemporary poetic forms—and indeed short prose forms—and how they integrate with the tradition of the travelogue.’ Iona Macintyre, Modern Language ReviewTable of ContentsIntroductionThanks and AcknowledgmentsPart One. Unknown Music for Journeys: North and South American TravelsPoemsPart Two. The Foreign Passion (Revised and Expanded): European and African TravelsPoemsTranslator’s NotesIndex of Place Names
£29.69
Liverpool University Press Hidden Texts, Hidden Nation: (Re)Discoveries of
Book SynopsisThis book explores the representation of Wales and ‘Welshness’ in texts by French- (including Breton) and German-speaking travellers from 1780 to the present day. Since the emergence of the travel narrative as a popular source of information and entertainment in the mid-18th century, writing about Wales has often been embedded and hidden in accounts of travel to ‘England’. This book locates and presents these largely forgotten texts and broadens perspectives to encompass European perceptions. Works uncovered for the first time include travelogues, private correspondences, travel diaries, articles and blogs which have Wales or Welsh culture as their focus. The ‘travellers’ analysed in this volume include those travelling for the purpose of leisure, scholarship or commerce as well as exiles and refugees. By focusing on Wales, a minoritized nation at the geographical periphery of Europe, the authors are able to problematize notions of hegemony and identity, relating to both the places encountered (the ‘travellee’ culture) and the places of origin (the travellers’ cultures). This book thereby makes an original contribution to studies in travel writing and provides an important case study of a culture often minoritized in the field, but that nevertheless provides a telling illustration of the dynamics of intercultural relations and representation.Trade Review‘This rich, readable book surveys almost 250 years of writing by European travellers to Wales, from private letters to conventionally published works to contemporary digital forms. It broaches a remarkable, original field of research, encompasses a wide historical, linguistic, and critical range, and presents an impressive array of materials previously invisible to scholarship.’ Mererid Puw Davies, Modern Language Review‘This is an innovative book that combines cross-cultural dialogue with the “tourist gaze” in order to explain the gap between fabricated expectations and real destinations. Drawing on a wide literature and on neglected – sometimes anonymous – texts in French, German and Breton that the authors took great effort to uncover and recover, Hidden Texts, Hidden Nation is a substantial book that should be enjoyed not only by cultural historians of the period in question, but also by students, university teaching staff, translators, specialists in travel literature as well as anyone interested in the topic.’ Elena Butoescu, CompLitTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsChapter 1: Introduction: Hidden Texts, Hidden NationChapter 2: Landscape, Industry, Piety: Wales as a Site of Inspiration in Travel Writing in French from 1780 to 1905Chapter 3: Patriotism, Pan-Celticism and the Welsh Cultural Paradigm in Travel Writing in French from 1830 to 1900Chapter 4: Periphery, Modernity and the Discovery of Wales in Travel Writing in German from 1790 to 1850Chapter 5: Identity, Celtomania and the Narrative of Wales in Travel Writing in German from 1850 to 1905Chapter 6: Safe Haven, Literary Paradise and Present-Day Adventureland: Wales in Travel writing in Breton, French and German from 1945 to 2018Chapter 7: Conclusion: The Narrative of Wales: From Blind Spot to Blank CanvasBibliography
£29.99
Liverpool University Press The Place de la Bastille: The Story of a Quartier
Book SynopsisEpicentre of the Revolution of 1789, erstwhile bastion of the skilled working-class and centre of radical agitation, along with Pigalle and Montmartre a focus for popular and raffish night-life in the early twentieth century, the Bastille area of Eastern Paris (also known as the Faubourg Saint-Antoine) is now an ethnically and socially mixed quartier which still bears the traces of its previous avatars. In a fascinating tour, Keith Reader charts the history and cultural geography of this unique area of Paris, from the fortress and prison that gave the area its name to the building of the largest and costliest opera house in the world.Trade ReviewWhat is provocative about the text is an underlying argument that Paris cannot yet be consigned as a living museum. It is this spark which catches fire soon into the book and makes it so entertaining and accessible … an important book not only because it illuminates one of the many shadowy places in Parisian history, but because it has an importance for anyone interested in cities and what they might mean. Andrew HusseyA wonderful piece of work that cuts a new path through French studies. Using topography to bring history, anthropology, literature and the arts into a single focus, the book is also a guide or mode d'emploi for each and all who have affection for Paris and, more broadly, gallic culture. Tom Conley, Harvard University'A well-argued, thoroughly-researched and scholarly work, it is vibrant and readable enough to interest a readership from outside the academic community from which Reader comes.' Urban LandfillThe book will be a useful reference work for students of literary and cinematic representations. It also fills a niche as a historical survey of an area that has played major roles in the political, economic, and leisure life of Paris. French HistoryThis in-depth study of the Place de la Bastille and its surroundings is a welcome addition to the study of the cultural history of Paris. The work is made even more appealing by the literary and cinematic depictions of the life in the quartier. The final chapter’s detailed description of present-day streetscapes is useful for visitors, who may now approach the area with a more informed attitude. Alice J. Strange, French Review, 85.4Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: The Place de la Bastille 1. What's that poor creature doing here? : the area and the fortress before the Revolution of 1789 2. 'Thought blew the Bastille apart': the fall of teh fortress and the revolutionary years, 1789- 1815 3. 'The strategy of the generals of Africa shattered': the Restoration, Orleanist and Second Republic Years, 1815-1851 4. 'Where is the noise of the storm that I love?: The Second Empire from Hausmann to the Commune 5. 'Satan's bagpipes' : La Belle Epoque's forty-three years of peace 6. 'Villains, stars and everybody in between': The First War and the 'entre-deux-guerres' 7. 'Slicked hair and splendid sideburns': Occupation and Liberation 8. Let's have some sun!: post- Gaullisma and the Mitterrand years 9. 'A building, not a monument': the construction of the Bastille Opera 10.'A real earthquake': the impact of the Opera on the quartier 11. Flanerie in the archive: the Faubourg/ Bastille today Notes Bibliography Index
£40.82
Collective Ink Beard In Nepal 2, A – Return to the Village
Book Synopsis'A Beard In Nepal 2. Return to the Village' is the story of Fiona and Tod's second visit to the village of Salle, high in the Himalayas of Nepal. They returned to take presents and supplies to the villagers. The book is again full of humour as the couple from Liverpool trek with Kalyani (the village school headmistress) to a remote, hidden valley where her new husband's family live, braving again those incredibly high, dangerous roads through the mountains. This book gives us more detail about the villagers lives, and the lives of the wonderful, happy village children, who live so very differently from their Western counterparts. It also touches on the downside of life in Nepal today; the corruption, the destruction of the forests, lack of electricity, and lack of clean water. 'A Beard In Nepal 2' tells us about Fiona and Tod's encounter with black, poisonous spiders; how they avoided having to eat a cockerel; a water buffalo that snores so loudly it has to sleep in its own specially built shelter; and once again the nightmare of travelling in a local bus through the remote tracks in the high Himalayas. The book also looks at developments in Kathmandu, such as the 'removal' of 10,000 street dogs in the last few months.
£11.77
Collective Ink Pilgrimage to Anywhere
Book SynopsisHoping to rediscover his deeper purpose, Rijumati, an English Buddhist teacher and businessman, embarked on a journey into the unknown: a round-the-world trip by land and sea that became a kind of pilgrimage. Months - and many crises - later he returned with new reverence for ordinary people and places, a sense of veneration for nature's wonders and a profound gratitude for being human. Part travel diary and part record of a spiritual journey, these pages evoke the sacred, remote places encountered in the outer world alongside the 'inner terrain' that unfolded along the way. If you have ever felt the call of the open road, longed to travel as a form of self-discovery, or just wanted to know how to stay sane whilst getting a visa stamp in Kazakhstan, then Pilgrimage to Anywhere is for you.Trade ReviewRijumati's long journey took him through many countries, cultures, and climates, and he writes with veracity and verve about the places he passed through and the diverse people he met. Once you have started on this book you will find it difficult to put it down. (Sangharakshita, author of The Rainbow Road and Facing Mount Kanchenjunga)
£11.99
Collective Ink Turning the Wheel
Book Synopsis'The frisky Oss appeared - the dancers and drummers in a kind of shamanic trance (induced by a day of drumming, dancing and beer). They were wilder than ever; the atmosphere was positively Bacchanalian and I felt we had all become lost in a kind of collective folk consciousness.' On two wheels across Britain 'Bard on a Bike' Kevan Manwaring searches out the places and people who mark the seasons and cycles in their own special way - in ceremonies and festivals both private and public, large and intimate, ancient and modern. Along the way, he experiences and relates moments of sacred time found in the unlikeliest of places and circumstances, showing how it is a state of mind that can be experienced not only at sacred sites, but in the everyday. A collection of reflections about being fully alive in the Twenty First century, as much a useful guide for the curious, Turning the Wheel is a wise and witty account of a leather-clad time-traveller.
£15.19
University of KwaZulu-Natal Press Lost city of the Kalahari
Book SynopsisLost city of the Kalahari is the author's hitherto unpublished account of the odd adventure. Recounted by hand-drawn maps, provisions lists, photographs, 8mm film stills and other fascinating memorabilia from the period, this travelogue brings to life the quirky cast of characters, rough discomforts of the journey, tedium of unvarying landscape, vast deserts vistas, and encounters with 'wild Bushmen' and other Kalahari people.
£29.56
University of Calgary Press Galapagos: A Natural History
Book SynopsisTwenty thousand copies of the first edition of this book were sold. An attractive and comprehensive guidebook, it has been completely revised and updated by the author. The reader will find an easy-to-use text which details the natural history of the plants and animals found in the Galapagos Islands. Management and conservation of the Galapagos National Park is discussed, and visitor information and notes about the various tourist sites are given. An index and checklist of plants and animals with page references and a glossary of technical terms are provided.Trade Review"Jackson tells delightful little stories through this unusual natural history guide. This is unusual because it's so uplifting. The Galà pagos Islands are a place of wonder, with such rich, abundant wildlife and natural history that readers will yearn to experience them first-hand and not just through a book. But this guide will do for a start. [Here] is the kind of book that belongs in every nature lover's library." -- Margaret Mironiwicz, The Globe and Mail "The book is more than a simple guide, it contains information gleaned from the extensive literature existing on the Galà pagos Islands, combining it with first-hand experience of the author, who worked in the archipelago as a naturalist guide and as a zoologist." -- Marinus HoogmoedThe book is more than a simple guide, it contains information gleaned from the extensive literature existing on the Galápagos Islands, combining it with first-hand experience of the author, who worked in the archipelago as a naturalist guide and as a zoologist. Marinus HoogmoedTable of Contents Preface GalÁpagos National Park Rules Acknowledgements 1. Historical Background 2. Environmental Setting 3. Colonisation, Evolution, and Ecology 4. Plant Life 5. Reptiles 6. Seabirds 7. Coastal Birds and Migrants 8. Land Birds 9. Native Mammals 10. Terrestrial Invertebrates 11. Intertidal and Marine Life 12. Conservation in the Islands 13. Visiting the Islands Selected Bibliography Appendix 1: Checklist of Plants and Animals Appendix 2: Glossary of Terms Appendix 3: Units and Conversions Appendix 4: Information for Supporters of GalÁpagaos Conservation Index
£29.95
Fernhurst Books Limited A Wild Call: One Man's Voyage in Pursuit of
Book SynopsisMartyn Murray was finding modern life, with all its restrictions and controls, suffocating. Following years of soul-searching, his father's death triggered him into opening the old logbooks and charts to retrace the sailing trips they had once shared together. He determined to revisit those waters and bring home the freedom of the seas. Falling in love with an old ketch in Ireland, he bought and restored her enough to sail back to Scotland. Over the next two summers he cruised Scotland's Western Isles, with one goal: to reach St Kilda - the remotest part of the British Isles, 40 miles from the Outer Hebrides. During his cruising he considered the islanders and their sense of freedom - often restricted by absentee landlords and officialdom. He riled against bureaucracy and commercial enterprise restricting the yachtsman's ability to roam free. For parts of his journey he was joined by the beguiling Kyla; a rare, independent spirit who both excited and frustrated Martyn. But much of Martyn's voyaging was undertaken alone, encountering a variety of places, situations and characters along the way. He attempted his long-awaited sail out to St Kilda through the teeth of a storm, believing that achieving this feat would bring him the freedom and clarity that he craved. What he came up against was far more testing and turbulent than the tides and gales of the North Atlantic. As he sailed back to the mainland things fell into place: a sense of achievement in completing the arduous voyage alone, but - most of all - an understanding of who he is, clarity on his relationship with Kyla and a real sense of his own freedom.Trade Review"What an exhilarating experience, reading those pages! This is a special book, the style and thinking behind it in perfect harmony." (Dervla Murphy). "A terrific read, full of adventure and learning, and will inspire a lot of people who have only thought about major voyages to step on to their boats and actually make them." (Sam Llewellyn). "A Wild Call is one of those all-too-rare books that you just know you are going to remember, a book you can expect to come to mind at odd moments as you encounter the joys and challenges of your own everyday life. It's beautifully written and eminently readable, but those aren't the characteristics that make it stand out and give it such an enduring quality. What really makes this book special is that it is thought-provoking and inspirational. A Wild Call is a book we thoroughly enjoyed and are glad to have read. " (Undiscovered Scotland website) "Grand tale....... really enjoyed it!" (Tom Cunliffe, Yachting Journalist, Author and Broadcaster). "wonderful heart-warming tale, looking at the bonds of family and freedom of adventure... This book is truly a treat for anyone who loves sailing, Scotland, adventure, or just a good story. Highly recommended." (Sailing Today) "Thought-provoking account of one man's Scottish cruise north towards St Kilda and much more." (Classic Boat). "When packing for your next cruise, I suggest that you slip a copy of A Wild Call into your bag." (Clyde Cruising Club) "... wonderfully heart-warming tale, looking at the bonds of family and freedom of adventure... This book is truly a treat for anyone who loves sailing, Scotland, or just a good story. Highly recommended." (Sailing Today, Nov 2017) "A Wild Call comes out in a series devoted to sailing... but even if you don't know your keel for your burgee, it has the universal appeal of a love story... The yacht and dinghy crowd might well wish that Murray had dumped a lot of the romantic stuff, but the real heart of the book, and by no means the smoothly beating heart, is the story of his relationship to the red-haired woman he calls Kyla. I've rarely encountered such a compelling but troubling character in a real-life book... It's certainly not just a book for sailors, because it speaks to something in all of us." (The National, Oct 2017) "... the journey of self-discovery of an intelligent, sensitive man sailing again the seas of his early life off the coast of Scotland. The waters may be familiar to many a yachtsman, but his perspective enriches our understanding of these well-travelled seaways." (Tom Cunliffe, Yachting World, Nov 2017) "A fascinating account of one man's rediscovery of the joy of sailing in the Western Isles and his search for freedom for himself, for yachtsmen and for the Scottish islanders." (Yachting Life, Jan 2018) "For readers who have sailed these waters, or are yearning to do so, the detailed descriptive text will do wonders!... His harrowing journey to reach his destination makes the reader admire and respect his considerable courage and ingenuity... an interesting read of sailors and landspeople alike." (Cruising Association, 2017) "well written. The slight edge of panic at the cost of each repair has a very familiar ring. His satisfaction at each challenge overcome is shared. The description of the anchorages and moorings of the Inner and Outer Hebridean Islands is highly evocative and anyone who has been there will enjoy revisiting them." (Little Ship Club, Jan 2018) "A very enjoyable read." (Royal Cruising Club, March 2018) "A Wild Call would be a good read for many, especially those with an interest in sailing and the Scottish waters. The book also covers themes such as love and friendship throughout, making it heart-warming and enjoyable to read. Overall, A Wild Call is a very gentle and satisfying book." (Scottish Field, March 2018) “Tales of people who find aspects of modern life suffocating are not uncommon. However, Martyn Murray goes the distance, so to speak, in setting his target, St Kilda, quitting work, restoring and equipping an old ketch as well as sailing from Cork to the Crinan Canal and out into the Atlantic. The challenges he faced were more than just maritime.” (Scottish Islands Explorer, Nov 2017)Table of ContentsPreface; PART ONE: 1. Wild Boat Chase, 2. Dog Watch, 3. Did We Mean To Go To Sea?, 4. Fatal Flaw, 5. In the Wake of Saints; PART TWO: 6. Glorious Day of Salvage, 7. The Sea Gypsy, 8. Molio's Cave, 9. Mull of Kintyre, 10. Fiddler's Green, 11. Ring of Bright Bubbles, 12. Stormbound, 13. Wild Mountain Thyme; PART THREE: 14. Cup and Ring, 15. Wolf Island, 16. Isle of The Great Women, 17. Battle of Dreams, 18. The Dark Laird, 19. Piloting a Craft Called Freedom, 20. Flight of the Fulmar, 21. Abode of Ancestors, 22. Running Free
£11.39
Fernhurst Books Limited In Bed with the Atlantic: A young woman battles
Book SynopsisIn Bed with the Atlantic is a travel memoir of a young woman, Kit Pascoe, as she goes from never having stepped on a yacht, to sailing over 18,000 miles - across the Atlantic, around the Caribbean and then back - in three years with her partner. At first, she was dogged by doubt, a belief that she wasn't a `sailor', never would be and that she was in no way capable of such an undertaking. She believed that the ocean was out to get her, that weather needed to be battled and that she would forever be ruled by the anxiety that plagued her. Woven into the narrative of the journey's progression are stories from Kit's childhood and life before the voyage, explaining her battles with anxiety and the feelings of being lost as a graduate in post-recession Britain. The book also relays her struggle with reconciling a life of travel with the expectations and experiences of those back home, at an age when most of her contemporaries were starting corporate careers and families. In her courage to leave everything she knows behind, she learns the history of the islands and their people, swims with turtles, explores strange cave systems, and learns to forage for food straight from the sea. But she also encounters hardships like running out of food and water, battling against storms, trying not to be struck by lightning, and discovering the crippling loneliness of sailing an ocean for months on end. Sailing back to the UK after three years Kit realises the colossal difference that sailing has made to her life and understanding of the world. She ponders how easy it is not to do something, to protect ourselves from risks and ridicule and everything that makes us uncomfortable. But now appreciates that it is only when we take the risk, that we get the reward and that we connect not just with the world at large, but also with ourselves.Trade Review“Pascoe is a fine travel writer, fascinated by all that she sees as well as by the changes she experiences in her understanding of the world. She is also a fearless risk taker who battles persistent anxiety with impressive success.” (Yachting Monthly, December 2018)Table of ContentsList of Stopovers; I Bought a Boat; Spanish Horizons; Columbus' Island; An Unfamiliar Ocean; Racing Grenada; Tropical France; A Caribbean Crossing; Sloth Hunting; Beating Through Rainbows to Paradise; The Sky, the Sea and the Waves; Northern Bahamas; Riding the Gulf Stream Home; The Outpost Islands; A Circle has No End; Sources; Glossary of Nautical Terms
£11.39
University of Nevada Press Across America and Back: Retracing My Great Grandparents' Remarkable Journey
Book SynopsisAfter unearthing her great-grandparents’ diaries, Mary Ann Hooper set out on a journey to retrace their 1871 trip across the United States on the newly-opened Transcontinental Railroad—via Chicago, just destroyed by the Great Fire, then across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains to the Golden City of San Francisco. Filled with rich details of time, place, and culture, Mary Ann’s thoughtful and compelling narrative is both a re-creation of a family journey and a thoughtful account of how the American West has changed over the last 150 years. Using the common thread of the same train trip across the American landscape, she weaves together the two stories—her great grandparents, Charles and Fannie Crosby’s leisurely Victorian tourist trip described in both their diaries—and her own trip. Mary Ann’s adventurous and determined voice fills the pages with entertaining encounters on the train, escapades on her folding bike, and her reflections on her birth country and her own life story.During her journey, she discovers the stories of her 1950s childhood reflect a “Wild West” at odds with the West her great-grandparents record in their diaries, leading her to uncover more of the real and meatier history of the American West—going through conquest, rapid settlement, and economic development. As Mary Ann fulfills her quest to understand better why glorified myths were created to describe the Wild West of her childhood, and reflects on the pitfalls of what “progress” is doing to the environment, she is left with a much bigger question: Can we transform our way of doing things quickly enough to stop our much-loved West becoming an uninhabitable desert?Trade ReviewWith her humor and inquisitive spirit, Mary Ann Hooper proves that she is an earnest and likeable storyteller. Blending deep introspection with no-nonsense matter-of-fact commentary, Across America and Back is a story that both teaches and inspires. There is a bittersweet quality to her transcontinental journey retracing her great-grandparents' migration more than a century before. It is vital to carry forward these great American West stories. Anyone interested in history, travel by rail, the American West, and family narratives will be enchanted by Hooper's story."" - Melissa Cistaro, author of Pieces of My Mother: A Memoir
£17.56
University of Nevada Press Out of the Woods: Seeing Nature in the Everyday
Book SynopsisHave you ever wondered about society’s desire to cultivate the perfect lawn, why we view some animals as “good” and some as “bad,” or even thought about the bits of nature inside everyday items—toothbrushes, cell phones, and coffee mugs? In this fresh and introspective collection of essays, Julia Corbett examines nature in our lives with all of its ironies and contradictions by seamlessly integrating personal narratives with morsels of highly digestible science and research. Each story delves into an overlooked aspect of our relationship with nature—insects, garbage, backyards, noise, open doors, animals, and language—and how we cover our tracks.With a keen sense of irony and humor and an awareness of the miraculous in the mundane, Corbett recognizes the contradictions of contemporary life. She confronts the owner of a high-end market who insists on keeping his doors open in all temperatures, and takes us on a trip to a new mall with a replica of a trout stream that once flowed nearby. The phrase “out of the woods” guides us through layers of meaning to a contemplation of grief, remembrance, and resilience.Out of the Woods leads to surprising insights into the products, practices, and phrases we take for granted in our everyday encounters with nature and encourages us all to consider how we might revalue or reimagine our relationships with nature in our everyday lives.Trade Review“An engaging, accessible, beautifully written celebration of our frayed relationship with the more-than-human world and the animals who are our kin . . . Julia Corbett explores the richness of nearby nature, reminding us that nurturing our bond with local landscapes is essential to the survival of the natural world and key to our own health and happiness.”—Michael P. Branch, author of Rants from the Hill and Raising Wild“This exceptional, eclectic book is the brave future of nature writing.”—Richard Louv, author of The Nature Principle and Last Child in the Woods."Corbett’s complex relationship with the environment comes across as genuine and authentic. Her provocative, timely message suggests we are not “out of the woods” quite yet." — Foreword Reviews
£16.96
West Virginia University Press The Painted Forest
Book SynopsisIn this often-surprising book of essays, Krista Eastman explores the myths we make about who we are and where we’re from. The Painted Forest uncovers strange and little-known "home places" —not only the picturesque hills and valleys of the author's childhood in rural Wisconsin, but also tourist towns, the "under-imagined and overly caricatured" Midwest, and a far-flung station in Antarctica where the filmmaker Werner Herzog makes an unexpected appearance.The Painted Forest upends easy narratives of place, embracing tentativeness and erasing boundaries. But it is Eastman's willingness to play—to follow her curiosity down every odd path, to exude a skeptical wonder—that gives this book depth and distinction. An unlikely array of people, places, and texts meet for close conversation, and tension is diffused with art, imagination, and a strong sense of there being some other way forward. Eastman offers a smart and contemporary take on how we wander and how we belong.Trade ReviewThe Painted Forest is a surprising and tender book in which a reader might be reminded of the considered natural observations of Annie Dillard, the unrelenting gaze of Lia Purpura, or the masterful storytelling of Jo Ann Beard. Eastman is interested in interrogating the history and ethos of several specific places, including her own home state of Wisconsin, as well as elegantly demonstrating the ways in which landscapes shift and morph through generations and recall.”- Caryl Pagel, author of Twice Told “In this shimmering collection, Krista Eastman blends imagined scene with researched fact to bring us fresh visions of places we thought we knew. From examinations of home to 'laughter from nowhere,' from the Wisconsin Dells to Antarctica’s McMurdo Station, from an itinerant painter’s elliptical masterwork to gestation’s feral undertow, Eastman casts a spell that renders us 'still captive to the mystery in distance, still loyal to the pledge found in story.”- Joni Tevis, author of The World Is On Fire: Scrap, Treasure, and Songs of ApocalypseTable of Contents Scrap Metal (A Prologue) Insider’s Almanac Wonder Spot Middle West The Painted Forest Everybody Comes Round Here Animals My Youth Layers of Ice Notes Acknowledgments
£17.95
De Gruyter Handbook of British Travel Writing
Book SynopsisThis handbook offers a systematic exploration of current key topics in travel writing studies. It addresses the history, impact, and unique discursive variety of British travel writing by covering some of the most celebrated and canonical authors of the genre as well as lesser known ones in more than thirty close-reading chapters. Combining theoretically informed, astute literary criticism of single texts with the analysis of the circumstances of their production and reception, these chapters offer excellent possibilities for understanding the complexity and cultural relevance of British travel writing.
£200.45
Trivent Publishing Voyages and Travel Accounts in Historiography and
Book SynopsisTravelling is one of the most fascinating phenomena that has inspired writers and scholars from Antiquity to our postmodern age. The father of history, Herodotus, was also a traveller, whose Histories can easily be considered a travel account. The first volume of this book is dedicated to the period starting from Herodotus himself until the end of the Middle Ages with focus on the Balkans, the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic world, and South-Eastern Europe. Research on travellers who connected civilizations; manuscript and literary traditions; musicology; geography; flora and fauna as reflected in travel accounts, are all part of this thought-provoking collected volume dedicated to detailed aspects of voyages and travel accounts up to the end of the sixteenth century.The second volume of this book is dedicated to the period between Early Modernity and today, including modern receptions of travelling in historiography and literature. South-Eastern Europe and Serbia; the Chinese, Ottoman, and British perception of travelling; pilgrimages to the Holy land and other sacred sites; Serbian, Arabic, and English literature; legal history and travelling, and other engaging topics are all part of the second volume dedicated to aspects of voyages and travel accounts up to the contemporary era.Table of Contents Introduction, Boris Stojovski CHAPTER 1. Svetozar Boškov, Herodotus as a Travel Writer CHAPTER 2. Konstantinos Karatolios, Travelling as a Hostage: The Testimony of Kaminiates's Capture of Thessalonike CHAPTER 3. Yanko Hristov, Travelling and Travellers: Persons, Reasons, and Destinations According to A Tale of the Iron Cross CHAPTER 4. Paulo Catarino Lopes, Medieval Travels and the Ensuing Texts as Mirrors of a Society, a Culture, and a World View CHAPTER 5. Boris Stojkovski, Southern Hungary and Serbia in al-Idrisi's Geography CHAPTER 6. Nebojša Kartalija, The Perception of the Balkans in Western Travel Literature from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Century CHAPTER 7. Djura Hardi, From Ma?va to Tarnovo: On the Roads of the Balkan Politics of Prince Rostislav Mikhailovich CHAPTER 8. Marie-Emmanuelle Torres, Echoes of Constantinople: Rewriting the Byzantine Soundscape in Travel Accounts CHAPTER 9. Radivoj Radi?, The Temptations of the Night Journey: An Image from the Voyage of Nicephorus Gregoras through Serbia CHAPTER 10. Sandra Du?i? Collette, Dante (1265-1321): The Exile and Birth of a Pilgrim CHAPTER 11. Shiva Mihan, The Journey of The Gift of the Noble CHAPTER 12. Stanoje Bojanin, The South Slavic Parish in Light of Stephen Gerlach's Travel Diary CHAPTER 13. Aleksandar Krsti?, Vegetation in the Territories of Serbia and Southern Hungary in Travel Accounts (Fifteenth–Seventeenth Centuries)
£91.20
Trivent Publishing Voyages and Travel Accounts in Historiography and
Book SynopsisTravelling is one of the most fascinating phenomena that has inspired writers and scholars from Antiquity to our postmodern age. The father of history, Herodotus, was also a traveller, whose Histories can easily be considered a travel account. The first volume of this book is dedicated to the period starting from Herodotus himself until the end of the Middle Ages with focus on the Balkans, the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic world, and South-Eastern Europe. Research on travellers who connected civilizations; manuscript and literary traditions; musicology; geography; flora and fauna as reflected in travel accounts, are all part of this thought-provoking collected volume dedicated to detailed aspects of voyages and travel accounts up to the end of the sixteenth century.The second volume of this book is dedicated to the period between Early Modernity and today, including modern receptions of travelling in historiography and literature. South-Eastern Europe and Serbia; the Chinese, Ottoman, and British perception of travelling; pilgrimages to the Holy land and other sacred sites; Serbian, Arabic, and English literature; legal history and travelling, and other engaging topics are all part of the second volume dedicated to aspects of voyages and travel accounts up to the contemporary era.Table of Contents Introduction, Boris Stojovski CHAPTER 1. Svetozar Boškov, Herodotus as a Travel Writer CHAPTER 2. Konstantinos Karatolios, Travelling as a Hostage: The Testimony of Kaminiates's Capture of Thessalonike CHAPTER 3. Yanko Hristov, Travelling and Travellers: Persons, Reasons, and Destinations According to A Tale of the Iron Cross CHAPTER 4. Paulo Catarino Lopes, Medieval Travels and the Ensuing Texts as Mirrors of a Society, a Culture, and a World View CHAPTER 5. Boris Stojkovski, Southern Hungary and Serbia in al-Idrisi's Geography CHAPTER 6. Nebojša Kartalija, The Perception of the Balkans in Western Travel Literature from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Century CHAPTER 7. Djura Hardi, From Ma?va to Tarnovo: On the Roads of the Balkan Politics of Prince Rostislav Mikhailovich CHAPTER 8. Marie-Emmanuelle Torres, Echoes of Constantinople: Rewriting the Byzantine Soundscape in Travel Accounts CHAPTER 9. Radivoj Radi?, The Temptations of the Night Journey: An Image from the Voyage of Nicephorus Gregoras through Serbia CHAPTER 10. Sandra Du?i? Collette, Dante (1265-1321): The Exile and Birth of a Pilgrim CHAPTER 11. Shiva Mihan, The Journey of The Gift of the Noble CHAPTER 12. Stanoje Bojanin, The South Slavic Parish in Light of Stephen Gerlach's Travel Diary CHAPTER 13. Aleksandar Krsti?, Vegetation in the Territories of Serbia and Southern Hungary in Travel Accounts (Fifteenth–Seventeenth Centuries)
£78.30
Hardpress Publishing A Yachting Cruise in the South Seas 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£14.20
