From Oscar Wilde to James Joyce, from Virginia Woolf to Frank McCourt: three centuries of Irish, English, and American writers in search of the real Ireland.
From the editor of the outstandingly popular Italy in Mind comes another superb collection: three centuries of fiction, poems, and essays, from both Irish expatriates and non-Irish visitors.
From the comic terror of Frank McCourt's First Communion to the raucous pagan festival Muriel Rukeyser attended in County Kerry in the 1930s; from John Betjeman's lyrical evocation of a ruined abbey in the mist to Eric Newby's...

In her third literary Baedeker, Alice Leccese Powers editor of Italy in Mind and Ireland in Mind explores France through the senses and sensibilities of thirty-three British and American authors.
The food and the people, the culture and viniculture, the architecture and the expatriates, the pleasures (and frustrations) of France are described by intrepid travelers who also happen to be brilliant essayists, poets, and novelists. From Gertrude Stein s Paris to Ezra Pound s Pyrenees; from Tobias Smollett, who grumbled, to Peter Mayle, who settled in; and from Edith...

There is no other place quite like Brooklyn. Not only has it inspired and nurtured many native writers, it has had a profound impact on those passing through. The Brooklyn Reader features a rich diversity of writings -- short stories, poetry, essays, novels, biographies, and plays -- that offer thirty writers' unique and colorful experiences of New York City's biggest borough. Ranging from warm, nostalgic memories of childhood to humorous tales of new arrivals adjusting to the American way, or just stories of life's unplanned adventures, this reading tour is a true delight. Contributors...

Comprised of short stories, novel excerpts, essays, poetry journals and letters, this work will delight anyone who loves Italy or great travel writing. Pieces include Barbara Grizzuti Harrison marveling at baroque Sicilian confections, Mary McCarthy celebrating Venice's threadbare dignity, and Henry James's Isabel Archer succumbing to the treacherous antiquities of Florence.

In her fourth literary travel companion, Alice Leccese Powers explores one of the most seductive regions of the world through more than two centuries of fiction, poetry, essays, letters, and memoirs by English-speaking visitors to northern Italy.
The poet Shelley called Tuscany a paradise of exiles; it has long been a magnet for literary travelers and expatriates. Here are writers who have made their home in Tuscan villas, castles, and farmhouses, from the Shelleys, Byron, and the Brownings to Frances Mayes. Here too are Charles Dickens, Edith Wharton, Henry James, and E. M. Forster on the...

This spellbinding literary travel guide gathers poetry, nonfiction, and fiction about Spain by forty English and American writers.
Here are letters and memoirs from Lord Byron, Edith Wharton, and Henry James; a poem about Picasso by E. E. Cummings; and a comic tale by Anthony Trollope in which two Englishmen mistake a Spanish duke for a bullfighter. W. H. Auden, George Orwell, and Langston Hughes record their experiences in the Spanish Civil War, Ernest Hemingway takes on bullfighting, Richard Wright is beguiled by gypsy flamenco dancers, and Calvin Trillin pursues an obsession with...