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Ethics of Description: The Anthropological Dispositif and French Modern Travel Writing follows the development of a minor tradition in French…
literature where metropolitan authors traveling abroad demonstrate their awareness of the ethical conundrums of representing world peoples. During the colonial–modern era, currents of anthropological thought and representational practice are identifiable throughout society, and across literature, the arts, and the sciences. Collectively, they can be theorized as belonging to a dispositif, the anthropological dispositif. The modernization of anthropology serves as an ambivalent interlocutor for the realizations of the writers studied in this book about the difficulties of describing cultural realities that lie largely outside their ken. Anthropology motivates new literary representational strategies that are, alternatively, in keeping with scientific mandates or operate against them. Forty images are analyzed alongside literary works. A postcolonial chapter shows how the ethical awareness of the colonial–modern authors studied have impacted minority self-representation in contemporary France.
West Coast journeys, 1865-1879: the travelogue of a remarkable woman
By Caroline C Leighton, Caroline C. Leighton. 1995
A first-person account written by a gentlewoman traveling leisurely through post-Civil War America. In 1865, Caroline Leighton left New York…
for San Francisco and traveled throughout the Pacific Northwest with her husband for the next fourteen years. She describes such sights as the California missions, the Rocky Mountains, and Puget Sound, as well as her observations on other cultures, such as the Native Americans, the Chinese, and the Spanish
Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings (Vintage Departures)
By Jonathan Raban. 1999
The bestselling, award-winning author of Bad Land takes us along the Inside Passage, 1,000 miles of often treacherous water, which…
he navigates solo in a 35-foot sailboat, offering captivating discourses on art, philosophy, and navigation and an unsparing narrative of personal loss."A work of great beauty and inexhaustible fervor." —The Washington Post Book WorldWith the same rigorous observation (natural and social), invigorating stylishness, and encyclopedic learning that he brought to his National Book Award-winning Bad Land, Jonathan Raban conducts readers along the Inside Passage from Seattle to Juneau. But Passage to Juneau also traverses a gulf of centuries and cultures: the immeasurable divide between the Northwest's Indians and its first European explorers—between its embattled fishermen and loggers and its pampered new class.
True North: Travels in Arctic Europe
By Gavin Francis. 2009
A journey through the far north from the Shetland Islands to Greenland and beyond: &“A wonder-voyage . . . often beautiful&” (Robert Macfarlane,…
author of Underland). The stark, vast beauty of the remote landscape of Arctic Europe has been the focus of human exploration for thousands of years. In this striking blend of travel writing, history, and mythology, Gavin Francis offers a unique portrait of the northern fringes of Europe. His journey begins in the Shetland Islands, takes him to the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard, and Lapland. Following in the footsteps of the area's early pioneers, the author observes how the region has adapted to the twenty-first century, offering insight into the lives of people he encounters along the way. As with all the best travel writing, True North is an engaging, compassionate tale of self-discovery, blending historical and contemporary narratives. &“His nuanced, often witty, observations of the people and places he encounters mean True North really gets under the skin of Europe&’s magical north.&” —Sunday Herald &“An evocative writer.&” —Booklist on Empire Antarctica
Beyond Sightseeing: The Art of Exploring Cities
By Alexander Garvin. 2021
As vivid as it is practical, Beyond Sightseeing distills the considerable insights Alexander Garvin has acquired through a lifetime of…
traveling the world over in his career as one of the nation&’s most notable urban planners. With historical context, personal stories, and photos from his own travels to locales as far flung as Moscow and Seville, Paris and Havana, Garvin generously invites the reader to view cities through his expert lens. Far from a travel guide, this book is a beguiling invitation to the joys of slow travel—transporting readers while equipping them to transcend tourist destinations to create their own unique experience of the places they visit. Garvin is the author of six other books on cities including, The American City: What Works, What Doesn&’t, winner of the American Institute of Architects book award in urbanism and What Makes a Great City, published by Island Press in 2016. Unlike his other professional books, which are devoted primarily to American cities, Beyond Sightseeing deals with tourist destinations around the world to which Garvin travelled. The principles it sets forth are applicable to places and cities anywhere in the world.
A Last Wild Place: Seasons in the Wilderness
By Mike Tomkies. 2021
When Mike Tomkies moved to a remote cottage on the shores of Loch Shiel in the West Highlands of Scotland,…
he found a place which was to provide him with the most profound wilderness experience of his life. Accessible only by boat, the cottage he renamed ‘Wildernesse’ was to be his home for many years, which he shared with his beloved German Shepherd, Moobli. Centred on different landscape elements – loch, woodlands and mountains –Tomkies describes the whole cycle of nature through the seasons in a harsh and testing environment of unrivalled beauty. Vivid colours and sounds fill the pages – exotic wild orchids, the roar of rutting stags, the territorial movements of foxes, otters and badgers, an oak tree being torn apart by hurricane-force gales. Nothing escapes his penetrating eye. His extraordinary insights into the wildlife that shared his otherwise empty territory were not gained without perseverance in the face of perilous hazards, and the difficulties and challenges of life in the wilderness are a key part of this remarkable book.
Round Here and Over Yonder: A Front Porch Travel Guide by Two Progressive Hillbillies (Yes, that’s a thing.)
By Trae Crowder, Corey Ryan Forrester. 2023
Join Southern comedian duo Trae Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester in this hilarious and irreverent travel guide as they wander…
about ponderin' the peculiarities beyond their small-town front porches.Trae and Corey will take you from the smallest of small towns to major US metropolises (or is it metropoli? We haven't a fartin' clue!). They'll even cross the pond to sip tea in some of them fancy kings-and-castles places that PBS Viewers Like You can't stop yapping about. From Chickamauga to Cheyenne, New York to New Orleans, Seattle to Scotland—no matter where these two wandering jesters go, there's something to roast, something to toast, and something to learn about what ties us together as humans. Even the most outrageous of us.In this book you'll find:Loads of eccentric things folks say.Seriously well-informed tips on exactly where to eat and what to order in each city.Anecdotes from Corey about everything from "German Mardi Gras" in Helen, Georgia, to eatin' over-priced rabbit in Napa, California.Travel bingo boards and ad-libs for your own adventures.And as many off-the-beaten-path jokes as can be packed into 256 pages!Perfect for anyone who:Likes to travel.Loathes to travel.Any Southerner who's both a little proud and a little ashamed of the South (that's all the sane ones).Any Northerner, Midwesterner, or West Coaster who wants to know what two self-proclaimed rednecks have to say about their own hometown.Anyone from the UK who thinks us Yanks are the craziest folks on God's green earth (cause this book will likely confirm that stereotype, yup).
Prodigal Daughter: A Journey to Byzantium (Wayfarer)
By Myrna Kostash. 2009
“Part spiritual quest, part scholarly inquiry, part travel memoir, Prodigal Daughter is as richly layered as the civilization [Kostash] explores.”…
—The Edmonton JournalA deep-seated questioning of her inherited religion resurfaces when Myrna Kostash chances upon the icon of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica. A historical, cultural and spiritual odyssey that begins in Edmonton, ranges around the Balkans, and plunges into a renewed vision of Byzantium in search of the Great Saint of the East delivers the author to an unexpected place—the threshold of her childhood church. An epic work of travel memoir, Prodigal Daughter sings with immediacy and depth, rewarding readers with a profound sense of an adventure they have lived. This book will appeal to readers interested in Ukrainian-Canadian culture, the Eastern Church, and medieval history, as well as to fans of Kostash’s bold creative nonfiction.“Prodigal Daughter is at one and the same time an anthropological, cultural, and religious quest on two levels: the personal, autobiographical and the wider sociological and cultural. It is both deeply spiritual and intellectually satisfying.” —Tom Harpur, former author, journalist, TV host“Written in lyrical, vibrant prose, Prodigal Daughter is part travelogue and part memoir—a detailed account of findings from her travels to Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Macedonia . . . Winner of the 2011 City of Edmonton Prize, Prodigal Daughter is a thought-provoking book.” —Prairie Fire Review of Books“It may just be her best book to date . . . a shockingly honest and open articulation of a spiritual quest, one that is rich with possibilities.” —Lindy Ledohowski, Canadian Literature
A Route 66 Companion
By David King Dunaway. 2012
A literary history of America&’s most storied highway, featuring work from Raymond Chandler, Joan Didion, John Steinback, Sylvia Plath, and…
more.Even before there was a road, there was a route. Buffalo trails, Indian paths, the old Santa Fe trace—all led across the Great Plains and the western mountains to the golden oasis of California. America&’s insatiable westering urge culminated in Route 66, the highway that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. Opened in 1926, Route 66 became the quintessential American road. It offered the chance for freedom and a better life, whether you were down-and-out Okies fleeing the Dust Bowl in the 1930s or cool guys cruising in a Corvette in the 1960s. Even though the interstates long ago turned Route 66 into a by lane, it still draws travelers from around the world who long to experience the freedom of the open road.A Route 66 Companion gathers fiction, poetry, memoir, and oral history to present a literary historical portrait of America&’s most storied highway. From accounts of pioneering trips across the western plains to a sci-fi fantasy of traveling Route 66 in a rocket, here are stories that explore the mystique of the open road, told by master storytellers ranging from Washington Irving to Raymond Chandler, Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath, Leslie Marmon Silko, and John Steinbeck. Interspersed among them are reminiscences that, for the first time, honor the varied cultures—Native American, Mexican American, and African American, as well as Anglo—whose experiences run through the Route 66 story like the stripe down the highway. So put the top down, set the cruise control, and &“make that California trip&” with A Route 66 Companion.&“Route 66 has a long and interesting history, and Dunaway . . . has done a fantastic job selecting works of literature about &‘America&’s Main Street&’ to tell its dynamic story, supplemented by the editor&’s own invaluable commentary. . . . [An]all-around remarkable anthology.&” —Publishers Weekly&“A Route 66 Companion is a great read and should find its way to the hands of any armchair traveler or lover of the history of the American West.&” —Oral History Review
Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World
By Clara Parkes. 2016
The renowned knitter and author of The Yarn Whisperer spins tales of a creative life enriched by world travel in…
this New York Times–bestselling memoir.In Knitlandia, Parkes invite readers and devoted crafters on excursions to be savored, through seventeen of her most memorable journeys across the globe. Her knitting adventures span from the fjords of Iceland to a cozy yarn shop in Paris’s thirteenth arrondissement.Also known for her PBS television appearances and hugely popular line of small-batch handcrafted yarns, Parkes weaves her personal blend of wisdom and humor into this eloquently volume that is part personal travel narrative and part cultural history, touching the heart of what it means to live creatively.
Interrogating the multiple ways in which travel was narrated and mediated, by and in response to, nineteenth-century British travelers, this…
interdisciplinary collection examines to what extent these accounts drew on and developed existing tropes of travel. The three sections take up personal and intimate narratives that were not necessarily designed for public consumption, tales intended for a popular audience, and accounts that were more clearly linked with discourses and institutions of power, such as imperial processes of conquest and governance. Some narratives focus on the things the travelers carried, such as souvenirs from the battlefields of Britain’s imperial wars, while others show the complexity of Victorian dreams of the exotic. Still others offer a disapproving glimpse of Victorian mores through the eyes of indigenous peoples in contrast to the imperialist vision of British explorers. Swiss hotel registers, guest books, and guidebooks offer insights into the history of tourism, while new photographic technologies, the development of the telegraph system, and train travel transformed the visual, audial, and even the conjugal experience of travel. The contributors attend to issues of gender and ethnicity in essays on women travelers, South African travel narratives, and accounts of China during the Opium Wars, and analyze the influence of fictional travel narratives. Taken together, these essays show how these multiple narratives circulated, cross-fertilised, and reacted to one another to produce new narratives, new objects, and new modes of travel.
Ladies of the Brown: A Women's History of Denver's Most Elegant Hotel (Landmarks)
By Debra B. Faulkner. 2010
&“Amusing and little-known anecdotes&” about the hotel&’s female guests including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Joan Baez, Helen Keller,…
and others (The Denver Post). Since the day it opened in 1892, Denver&’s Brown Palace Hotel has been the Mile High City&’s foremost destination for high-powered business travelers, celebrities, royalty and politicians. In Ladies of the Brown, hotel historian and archivist Debra B. Faulkner introduces readers to some of the hotel&’s most fascinating and famous female visitors, residents and employees. From Denver&’s &“Unsinkable&” Molly Brown and Romania&’s Queen Marie to Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mamie Eisenhower and many, many more, these intriguing characters play leading roles in true tales of romance, scandal, humor and heartbreak. This collection of stories is integral to the history of the Brown Palace and Denver, offering a glimpse into the lives of generations of women from all walks of life. &“Crafted by Brown Palace historian and archivist Debra Faulkner, this well written, well-researched and thoroughly entertaining book presents amazing stories one can hardly believe are true.&” —Colorado Country Life, &“The Year&’s Best Books&” &“What fun we had learning about this amazing assortment of characters, all real, and this building so well-appointed and enduring.&” —Mountain States Collector
Guru in Your Golf Swing: A Golf Pro, a Monk and the Magical Kingdom of Bhutan
By Ed Hanczaryk. 2019
A PGA pro&’s trip to teach golf in Bhutan becomes a journey of self-discovery on which he learns an ancient…
meditation practice.PGA of Canada pro Ed Hanczaryk blends golf and the art of meditation in this travelogue based on his true story of a five-month golf-teaching assignment in the hidden Kingdom of Bhutan. One day he taught a monk how to improve his game, and the next day, the monk taught him to tame his unruly mind . . .A personal story of &“zen and the art of the golf swing&” for readers of Joseph Parent&’s Zen Golf.
Survivors in Mexico
By Rebecca West. 2003
A travelogue and historical exploration of Mexico from one of the twentieth century&’s greatest travel writers Dame Rebecca West travels…
through Mexico and explores its people, history, religion, and culture in her unfinished work Survivors in Mexico, carefully stitched together by Bernard Schweizer in this posthumously published edition. West tackles the country&’s broad historical legacy—the Spanish conquest and Mexican revolution, the muralist movement, race relations, and contemporary life—and delves into the personal, intimate lives of key figures such as Hernán Cortés, Montezuma, Dr. Atl, Diego Rivera, and Leon Trotsky. Conceived as a companion to West&’s masterful classic Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, this book showcases the complexity of West&’s character, addresses the paradoxes inherent in her work, and allows for a mature understanding of her ideology. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Rebecca West featuring rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the Department of Special Collections and University Archives, McFarlin Library, at the University of Tulsa.
William Wordsworth and the Invention of Tourism, 1820-1900
By Saeko Yoshikawa. 2014
In her study of the opening of the English Lake District to mass tourism, Saeko Yoshikawa examines William Wordsworth’s role…
in the rise and development of the region as a popular destination. For the middle classes on holiday, guidebooks not only offered practical information, but they also provided a fresh motive and a new model of appreciation by associating writers with places. The nineteenth century saw the invention of Robert Burns’s and Walter Scott’s Borders, Shakespeare’s Stratford, and the Brontë Country as holiday locales for the middle classes. Investigating the international cult of Wordsworthian tourism, Yoshikawa shows both how Wordsworth’s public celebrity was constructed through the tourist industry and how the cultural identity of the Lake District was influenced by the poet’s presence and works. Informed by extensive archival work, her book provides an original case study of the contributions of Romantic writers to the invention of middle-class tourism and the part guidebooks played in promoting the popular reputations of authors.
Wild Island: A Year in the Hebrides
By Jane Smith. 2016
This memoir of a year on a virtually uninhabited Scottish island, including illustrations of flora and fauna, is &“the next…
best thing to being there&” (Scotland on Sunday).Wild Island depicts a year in the life of Oronsay, a remote Scottish island that is farmed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and follows artist Jane Smith as she attempts to portray the interactions of wildlife, farm animals, and a small number of human inhabitants. A humorous, first-hand, personal view of island life, both human and otherwise, the book is illustrated with Smith&’s vibrant and acutely observed sketches, paintings, and prints. She invites us into her world as she delves into such questions as: What does it feel like to sit in a bog all day? Where are a bird's knees? And why do I always wind up covered in acrylic paint? Musing on encounters with creatures from otters to oil beetles, conservation management, and the tides, winds, and ferries that affect each journey to and from the island, Smith offers a beautiful portrait of a special place—and shares the ridiculous things that happen when living on a remote island, cut off from the rest of the world.
Whiskies Galore: A Tour of Scotland's Island Distilleries
By Ian Buxton. 2017
A travelogue of one man&’s whisky-tasting journey across Scotland&’s beautiful islands, by the bestselling author of 101 Gins to Try…
Before You Die. Island whiskies have long held a fascination and a powerful emotional draw on whisky drinkers the world over. Their special combination of heritage, mystique, and remote location captures the imagination; their highly distinctive flavors are often imitated but seldom bettered. There have been few books on island whisky and none written in recent years. But Whiskies Galore is not your average whisky book. It is not simply a catalogue of distilleries, but a story of discovery and adventure. Join Ian Buxton on a personal journey across Scotland&’s islands, where he learns to fish with high explosives, ends up hurling his dinner into the sea, and comes face to face with a basking shark. Combining an expert&’s knowledge of whisky with a travel writer&’s fondness for anecdote, and with a keen description of place, he provides a special treat for all who love the islands&’ magical drams. &“One of the great whisky writers.&” —The Guardian (UK) Praise for Whiskies Galore &“A great read: it mixes childhood recollections, laments about Hebridean weather, historical anecdotes and 101 astute, humorous observations.&” —Brian Townsend, TheDundee Courier (UK) &“Sardonic, unsentimental and often very funny . . . the most original drink book I&’ve read in a long time . . . this book will make you love Scotch whisky all the more.&” —Henry Jeffreys, award–winning author of Empire of Booze
A Canterbury Pilgrimage: An Italian Pilgrimage (Wayfarer)
By Joseph Pennell, Elizabeth Robins Pennell. 2015
Journey across Europe aboard a tandem tricycle in these two Victorian-era travelogues that take readers to England and Italy.A peasant…
in peaked hat and blue shirt, with trousers rolled up high above his bare knees, crossed the road and silently examined the tricycle. “You have a good horse,” he then said; “it eats nothing.” —from An Italian PilgrimageThe 1880s was an exhilarating time for cycling pioneers like Elizabeth and her husband Joseph. As boneshakers and high-wheelers evolved into tandem tricycles and the safety bike, cycling grew from child’s play and extreme sport into a leisurely and, importantly, literary mode of transportation. The illustrated travel memoirs of “those Pennells” were—and still are—highly entertaining. They helped usher in the new age of leisure touring, while playfully hearkening back to famous literary journeys. In this new edition, Dave Buchanan provides rich cultural contexts surrounding the Pennells’ first two adventures. These long out-of-print travel memoirs will delight avid cyclists as well as scholars of travel literature, cycling history, women’s writing, Victorian literature, and illustration.“In the airy, self deprecating style of Robert Louis Stevenson, an American couple captured the imaginations of UK and US readers through the five illustrated cycle-travel books they created beginning in the 1880s. . . . Elizabeth and Joseph Pennell succeeded in bringing the leisure touring idea to the forefront through their jaunts aboard a tandem tricycle outfitted with luggage racks. . . . Cycling historian Dave Buchanan contributes an enlightening introduction which grounds the couple in the literary/art world of the late nineteenth century and gives a gearhead sense of bicycling history. But Elizabeth’s delightful prose steals the show.” —Foreword Reviews
&“In an age that values faster and faster travel, Lane&’s river memoir affirms the great value of floating and observing.&”—Booklist…
Three months after a family vacation in Costa Rica ends in tragedy when two fellow rafters die on the flooded Rio Reventazón, John Lane sets out with friends from his own backyard in upcountry South Carolina to calm his nerves and to paddle to the sea. Like Huck Finn, Lane sees a river journey as a portal to change, but unlike Twain&’s character, Lane isn&’t escaping. He&’s getting intimate with the river that flows right past his home in the Spartanburg suburbs. Lane&’s three-hundred-mile float trip takes him down the Broad River and into Lake Marion before continuing down the Santee River. Along the way, Lane recounts local history and spars with streamside literary presences such as Mind of the South author W. J. Cash; Henry Savage, author of the Rivers of America Series volume on the Santee; novelist and Pulitzer Prize–winner Julia Peterkin; early explorer John Lawson; and poet and outdoor writer Archibald Rutledge. Lane ponders the sites of old cotton mills; abandoned locks, canals, and bridges; ghost towns fallen into decay a century before; Indian mounds; American Revolutionary and Civil War battle sites; nuclear power plants; and boat landings. Along the way he encounters a cast of characters Twain himself would envy—perplexed fishermen, catfish cleaners, river rats, and a trio of drug-addled drifters on a lonely boat dock a day&’s paddle from the sea. By the time Lane and his companions finally approach the ocean about forty miles north of Charleston, they have to fight the tide and set a furious pace. Through it all, paddle stroke by paddle stroke, Lane is reminded why life and rivers have always been wedded together.
Who Goes There: Travels Through Strangest Britain In Search Of The Doctor
By Nick Griffiths. 2009
The author of Dalek I Loved You charts his travels through England and Wales tracking down locations used in Doctor Who,…
both classic and new. Being an odd kind of show, Doctor Who&’s locations too are odd. This is no glamorous trip. Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, anyone? A flooded china clay pit in Cornwall? As he travels, so Nick Griffiths discovers another side to his well-trodden country, which is no less evocative. Then he goes to the pub. As in his previous memoir Dalek I Loved You, the travel writing is backed up by Nick&’s childhood reminiscences and contemporary musings. A companion website offers photographs from the trip, a Google map of the locations, and details of the nearest pub. In this innovative way, readers are invited to follow in his footsteps. Who Goes There isn&’t just for Who fans, it&’s a very funny book for anyone who fancies a trip off the beaten path. Praise for Dalek I Loved You &“A very funny book for anyone who grew up wearing Tom Baker underpants. I know I did.&”—David Tennant &“An unadulterated nostalgia-fest written with fun, wit and love.&”—Doctor Who Magazine &“He conjures up just how mind-blowing it was for an ordinary suburban kid to be transported to a realm of danger and rampant sci-fi imaginings.&”—Financial Times &“If I am getting carried away, it is the fault of Griffiths&’s awfully charming memoir of boyhood and Doctor Who, with its deft evocations of eight-year-old invincibility and embarrassing school discos as well as arguments about Cybermen vs Autons or Jon Pertwee vs Tom Baker. Griffiths&’s chatty, self-deprecating style is disarming.&”—The Guardian