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Georgetown University professor George O'Brien provides the biographical background of the four masters of Irish literature and an in-depth analysis…
of their greatest works. O'Brien discusses the very qualities that set these works apart and the "Irishness" that characterizes each of them. 2006.
In 1997 this New York Times journalist traveled across Asia, visiting the classic hill towns built by several colonial powers.…
She recalls her journeys to these remote locations, discusses their history, and describes how each has evolved since being inherited by an independent nation. 1998.
Catherine Cookson's first novel, "Kate Hannigan", was published in 1950. The novel represented the author's triumph over unhappiness - within…
its pages she was exorcising her own demons. Piers Dudgeon unlocks her complex character using her many books as a key and explores with Catherine herself the tortured drama of her personal life and its resolution. 1997.
To offset the grim predictions of environmentalists, Turner describes solutions already at work around the world, from Canada's largest wind…
farm to Asia's greenest building and Europe's most eco-friendly communities. He also seeks out the next generation of political, economic, social, and spiritual institutions that could provide the global foundations for a sustainable future, including the parliament houses of Scandinavia and the villages of southern India, where microcredit finance has remade the social fabric. Some descriptions of sex and some strong language. 2007.
Dual biographies of playwright Arthur Miller (1915-2005) and actress Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962). Traces the couple's disparate family backgrounds and 1956…
marriage. Describes Monroe's role as Miller's muse but posits that her psychological problems and feelings of inadequacy led to their divorce after five years. Some descriptions of sex. 2009.
Novelist, critic, and biographer White, who moved to Paris in 1983, describes his wanderings through the city's arrondissements, including districts…
congenial to writers, African-Americans, Jews, artists, gays and lesbians, and royalists. A flâneur is someone who strolls about a city with no specific purpose, yet is attuned to its history and character. Bestseller. 2001.
The author recounts her expedition into the forests of Borneo in search of a reclusive primatologist, who has devoted her…
life to protecting orphaned orangutans. Describes the beauty of the island, the local society, and the despoilment of natural resources through poaching, deforestation, and misguided ecotourism. 1998.
Award-winning journalist and author Simon Winchester takes readers on a personal tour of the Balkans. Combining history and interviews with…
the people who live there, Winchester offers a fascinating glimpse into the complex issues at work in this chaotic region. 2001.
The 19th century Russian author's account of an 1852-1853 journey from St. Petersburg around the Cape of Good Hope, up…
to Japan on the frigate "Pallada", concluding with an overland trek across Siberia. c1987. Uniform title: Fregat "Pallada".
The true story of author Gilmour's decision to let his 16-year-old son drop out of high school, on the condition…
that the boy agree to watch three films a week with him. Examines how those years changed both their lives. From French New Wave and Kurosawa to De Palma, film noir, and Billy Wilder, Gilmour describes key moments in each film, as he teaches his son about life and the vagaries of growing up through the power of the movies. Strong language and descriptions of sex. Canada Reads 2012. 2007.
Jaber, a Lebanese-British foreign correspondent, describes covering the Gulf War and her personal engagement with an Iraqi family caught in…
the crossfire. Reporting on the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, Jaber took up the cause of hospitalized children wounded in the bombing, and helped start a fund to provide them with better medical attention and supplies. In particular, she learned the extraordinary story of two orphans and decided to adopt them. Some descriptions of violence. 2009.
A history of the Mediterranean world from the dramatic creation of the sea when the Atlantic flooded across the barrier…
of land connecting Morocco and Gibraltar and plunged over a cliff 50 times the height of Niagara. The transformation of man in this rich region from hunter-gather to a settled form of existence was the beginning of civilisation and so began the process that was to transform the whole area. 1987.
This is the 1970s autobiography of the journalist and historian whose life and writing influenced many Canadians. British Columbia-raised, his…
life spanned some formative years of the province's political history. As a journalist he met and wrote about many prime ministers, and became recognized as an influential thinker. 1976.
Following her husband's death in 1976, Anton spent several years in India as a volunteer Jesuit Lay Missionary. Having travelled…
extensively in India, she presents a realistic look at this nation in transition. 1979.
The author set out in 1972 to cross the Sahara by camel and by himself. This story of his journey,…
fraught with disaster from the outset, is a moving account of his battle with fear and loneliness, and conquest of the many hazards of the desert. 1974.
Taras Grescoe plunges into the ruts where the tourists are thickest, starting at the tip of Spain's Land's End and…
finishing, nine months later, on the soldier-patrolled beaches of China's End of the Earth. Along the way, he crosses the entire Eurasian landmass, experiencing all sorts of travel such as all-inclusive resorts, pilgrimages, and bus tours. Some descriptions of sex and violence, some strong language. 2003.
A biologist searches for a solution that will save many fish species from life-threatening dams. His adventures take him from…
a fisheries patrol boat on the Fraser River to the great Tsukiji fish market in Japan, with stops in the Philippines, Thailand, and assorted South American countries. Portrays fishermen, fish farmers, and even fish cops in a new light, as well as scientists, shysters, and some very drunk, hairy Brazilian men in thongs. Some strong language, some descriptions of sex, and some descriptions of violence. c2008.