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Showing 1 - 20 of 42 items
The end of elsewhere: travels among the tourists
By Taras Grescoe. 2003
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.The Greek for love: a memoir of Corfu
By James Chatto. 2005
They arrived as tourists in Corfu, Wendy from Canada and James from England. They enjoyed the sun, an idyllic beach,…
olives, fresh apricots and marinated lamb, and long evenings of storytelling at the local taverna. But what captivated James and Wendy was the way the islanders embraced them, and how their deep connection to Corfu and its people sustained them through tragedy just as it had carried them into love. Some strong language. 2005.L'Iran: des Perses à nos jours ((Pluriel).)
By Pierre Briant, Leili Anvar, Pierre Blanchet. 2012
" L'Iran actuel éclipse une civilisation millénaire, l'une des plus anciennes et des plus brillantes du Proche-Orient, l'Empire perse, dont…
le Shah Reza Pahlavi faisait encore un modèle dans les années 1970 : les Empires perses. Ce livre est l'occasion d'interroger les continuités et les ruptures d'un Orient qui ne vit pas uniquement au rythme de la religion chiite. Jadis, en effet, les Perses étaient considérés comme les Barbares par excellence et les Grecs, comme les Romains, les ont combattus en les regardant tels des sauvages gouvernés par des despotes. Pourtant, la culture perse s'est montrée d'une rare richesse et d'une grande tolérance. N'est-ce pas là que le monde juif puisa une partie de ses traditions et de ses coutumes ? N'est-ce pas aussi dans l'Empire perse que trouvaient refuge les bannis des cités grecques ?Quand le pays de Zarathoustra se convertit à l'islam, cet Orient change en profondeur. Il prend les allures d'un concurrent d'un genre nouveau pour le monde occidental, qui le regarde aujourd'hui avec une terrible angoisse, celle de voir une théocratie se doter de l'arme nucléaire. " -- 4e de couv.Berezina ((Démarches).)
By Sylvain Tesson. 2015
" S. Tesson décrit son voyage en side-car de Moscou à Paris, sur les traces de Napoléon, 200 ans, presque…
jour pour jour, après la retraite de Russie. La débâcle tragique de l'armée française, les tourments des soldats, les étapes du parcours (Smolensk, Minsk, la Berezina, Vilnius, etc.) sont relatés. " -- 4e de couv.Le roman de Pékin (Le roman des lieux et destins magiques)
By Bernard Brizay. 2008
Pour les Chinois, comme pour les Occidentaux, jamais capitale n'a autant mérité le statut de ville mythique. Résidence du Fils…
du Ciel, capitale administrative, culturelle et religieuse du plus vieux, du plus peuplé et du plus grand empire au monde, Pékin et la Cité pourpre interdite où vivait l'empereur, entouré de ses concubines et de ses eunuques, fait toujours fantasmer. Le palais impérial est resté pendant cinq cents ans le centre sacré de l'Empire, le siège du gouvernement, où s'est écrite la grande histoire, celle de la Chine. Et la petite histoire, car la Cité interdite fut aussi le lieu privilégié d'intrigues, de drames et de crimes. 2008.Italian days
By Barbara Grizzuti Harrison. 1989
An in-depth travel guide to Italy, which provides a mixture of history, politics, folklore, food, architecture, arts, literature, and local…
anecdotes. From modern, fashionable Milan to historic Rome and primitive Calabria, the author reflects on the country of her origins, where the keys to her past are held by those who never left. 1989.Egg on Mao: the story of an ordinary man who defaced an icon and unmasked a dictatorship
By Denise Chong. 2009
On May 23, 1989, as student protests raged, Lu Decheng and two other men hurled 30 paint-filled eggs at the…
immense portrait of Mao Zedong that dominates Beijing's Tiananmen Square. His poli-art stunt stranded Lu in prison for almost a decade, cost him his wife and daughter, and led to his eventual defection to Canada. While hoping to bring true democracy and to unmask the repression of Mao's reign, Lu learned that in China, preserving the Chairman's legacy mattered more. 2009.Disarming Iraq
By Hans Blix. 2004
Blix reluctantly came out of retirement in 2000 to lead the U.N. weapons inspections team in Iraq because he was…
the only man everyone could agree on for the job. Three years later, those clamouring for military intervention grumbled at his inability (or, as they saw it, refusal) to present evidence of weapons of mass destruction, but he reminds readers that his assignment was to assess and report on the available evidence. A play-by-play account of the months of diplomacy and inspection efforts leading up to the Iraq war. Some descriptions of violence. 2004.Reaping the whirlwind: the Taliban movement in Afghanistan
By Michael Griffin. 2001
Griffin chronicles the rise of the Taliban from their first appearance in 1994, examines their place in the context of…
Afghanistan's political instability, and discusses the significance of their brand of Islamic fundamentalism. 2001.The island of seven cities: the discovery of a lost Chinese settlement in the Americas
By Paul Chiasson. 2006
2002. Architect Paul Chiasson climbed a mountain on Cape Breton and found an old wide, well-made road, once flanked by…
walls. After two years of study, he believed that these ruins were originally built by the Chinese, as part of a large colony that thrived on Canadian shores well before the European Age of Discovery. Chiasson addresses how the colony was abandoned and forgotten except in the storytelling and culture of the Mi'kmaq, whose written language, clothing, technical knowledge, religious beliefs and legends expose deep cultural roots in China. 2006.Voyage au pays d'Al-Qaïda: une femme dans la guerre
By Sara Daniel. 2006
"Ce livre est un journal de guerre. Récit personnel, témoignage engagé, ce texte est écrit par une journaliste qui, bien…
que mère d'une petite fille de deux ans, décide de partir en Irak dès le déclenchement de la guerre pour voir, savoir, tenter de comprendre. Portée par son désir de connaître et non de juger, Sara Daniel est acceptée et accueillie, tant du côté des "coupeurs de tête" de Fallouja et des membres de la guérilla, que de celui des soldats américains qui l'embarquent dans leur char. Chronique humaniste d'un échec programmé, d'un désastre qui ne cesse de s'amplifier, ce grand reportage nous plonge dans le quotidien et l'absurdité de cette guerre tout en nous permettant d'en comprendre les enjeux politiques et humains." -- 4e de couv. Titre uniforme: Voyage to a stricken land.The sleeping buddha: the story of Afghanistan through the eyes of one family
By Hamida Ghafour. 2007
In 2003, journalist Ghafour was sent to Afghanistan, which she had fled in 1981, to cover the country's reconstruction. In…
a place totally changed from the world her parents had described, she discovered a school which teaches women a new kind of independence, her cousin's determined parliamentary campaign, and the archaeologist digging for his country's lost civilization in the form of a giant sleeping Buddha. Some descriptions of violence. 2007.The Iraq invasion of 2003 was only the latest in a long line of episodes of Western manipulation in that…
country, which owes its existence - and its complex and troubled demographics - to the designs of British imperialists. The brunt of Lando's argument is that the U.S. has routinely played Iraq for profit and strategic advantage yet consistently evaded responsibility for exacerbating the carnage of its destructive wars and humanitarian crises. Descriptions of violence and strong language. 2007.Under the Tuscan sun
By Frances Mayes. 1998
The author opens the door on a wondrous new world when she buys and restores an abandoned villa in the…
spectacular Tuscan countryside. She explores the nuances of the Italian landscape, history and cuisine. Each adventure yields delightful surprises - the perfect panettone, an unforgettable wine, or painted Etruscan tombs. 1998.On Foot to Canterbury: A Son’s Pilgrimage (Wayfarer)
By Ken Haigh. 2021
The Diary of Dukesang Wong: A Voice from Gold Mountain
By Dukesang Wong, Wanda Joy Hoe, David McIlwraith. 2020
Here is the only known first-person account from a Chinese worker on the famously treacherous parts of transcontinental railways that…
spanned the North American continent in the nineteenth century. The story of those Chinese workers has been told before, but never in a voice from among their number, never in a voice that lived through the experience. Here is that missing voice, a voice that changes our understanding of the history it tells and that so many believed was lost forever. Dukesang Wong’s written account of life working on the Canadian Pacific Railway, a Gold Mountain life, tells of the punishing work, the comradery, the sickness and starvation, the encounters with Indigenous Peoples, and the dark and shameful history of racism and exploitation that prevailed up and down the North American continent. The Diary of Dukesang Wong includes all the selected entries translated in the mid-1960s by his granddaughter, Wanda Joy Hoe, for an undergraduate sociology paper. Background history and explanations for the diary’s unexplained references are provided by David McIlwraith, the book’s editor, who also considers why the diarist’s voice and other Chinese voices have been silenced for so long.The home that was our country: a memoir of Syria
By Alia Malek. 2017
With the advent of the Arab Spring, the author returned to Damascus to reclaim her grandmother's apartment, the loss of…
which was central to her family's decision to build a life in America. She portrays the building's tenants, restores her family's home, and privately confronts her fears for Syria's future. 2017War in 140 characters: how social media is reshaping conflict in the twenty-first century
By David Patrikarakos. 2017
A foreign correspondent examines the role of social media in early-twenty-first-century warfare. Discusses its use as a recruitment tool, the…
manufacturing of fake news, and more. Some violence and some strong language. 2017A hope more powerful than the sea: one refugee's incredible story of love, loss, and survival
By Melissa Fleming. 2017
The author shares the story of young Syrian refugee Doaa Al Zamel. She recounts how Doaa and her family left…
war-torn Syria for Egypt, her relationship with a former Free Syrian Army fighter named Bassem, and Doaa and Bassem's harrowing flight from Egypt across the Mediterranean Sea. Violence. 2017Not in God's name: confronting religious violence
By Jonathan Sacks. 2015
Rabbi and author of The Great Partnership (DB 78791) examines foundational texts of the three Abrahamic faiths--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--to…
delve into causes for religious-based violence. Posits that rationalizing is based on misreading of texts, and presents reasons why people of faith should denounce extremists. 2015