The author of Bad Land realizes a lifelong dream as he navigates the waters of the Mississippi River in a spartan sixteen-foot motorboat, producing yet another masterpiece of contemporary American travel writing.In the course of his voyage, Raban records the mercurial caprices of the river and the astonishingly varied lives of the people who live along its banks.Whether he is fishing for walleye or hunting coon, discussing theology in Prairie Du Chien or race relations in Memphis, he is an expert observer of the heartyland's estrangement from America's capitals ot power and culture, and its...
The author of Bad Land realizes a lifelong dream as he navigates the waters of the Mississippi River in a spartan sixteen-foot motorboat, producing ye...
A New York Times Notable Book "In an era of jet tourism, Jonathan Raban] remains a traveler-adventurer in the tradition of . . . Robert Louis Stevenson." --The New York Times Book Review In 1782 an immigrant with the high-toned name J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur--"Heartbreak" in English--wrote a pioneering account of one European's transformation into an American. Some two hundred years later Jonathan Raban, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, arrived in Crevecoeur's wake to see how America has paid off for succeeding generations of newcomers. The result is...
A New York Times Notable Book "In an era of jet tourism, Jonathan Raban] remains a traveler-adventurer in the tradition of . . . Robert Louis...
Thelma and Louise get sporty (and survive) in this anthology of true stories about women whose idea of fun involves sharing adventures--big and small--in the great outdoors. In essays that not only take you to mountains, forests, lakes, and rivers but also explore the powerful and intimate bond of female companionship, the editor of Solo: On Her Own Adventure introduces sixteen daring women and their travel mates as they ski, climb, hike, bike, and drive all over the world. Trudge through the muddied roads of Australia's outback with thirty-something Sara Corbett and her childhood chum to...
Thelma and Louise get sporty (and survive) in this anthology of true stories about women whose idea of fun involves sharing adventures--big and small-...
From Jonathan Raban, the award--winning author of Bad Land and Passage to Juneau, comes this quirky and insightful story of what can happen when one can and does go home again. For the past thirty years, George Grey has been a ship bunker in the fictional west African nation of Montedor, but now he's returning home to England-to a daughter who's a famous author he barely knows, to a peculiar new friend who back in the sixties was one of England's more famous singers, and to the long and empty days of retirement during which he's easy prey to the melancholy of memories, all the more acute...
From Jonathan Raban, the award--winning author of Bad Land and Passage to Juneau, comes this quirky and insightful story of what can happen when one c...
In 1996, Tom Bissell went to Uzbekistan as a na ve Peace Corps volunteer. Though he lasted only a few months before illness and personal crisis forced him home, Bissell found himself entranced by this remote land. Five years later he returned to explore the shrinking Aral Sea, destroyed by Soviet irrigation policies. Joining up with an exuberant translator named Rustam, Bissell slips more than once through the clutches of the Uzbek police as he makes his often wild way to the devastated sea. In Chasing the Sea, " "Bissell combines the story of his travels with a beguiling chronicle of...
In 1996, Tom Bissell went to Uzbekistan as a na ve Peace Corps volunteer. Though he lasted only a few months before illness and personal crisis forced...
In Ted Conover's first book, now back in print, he enters a segment of humanity outside society and reports back on a world few of us would chose to enter but about which we are all curious. Hoboes fascinated Conover, but he had only encountered them in literature and folksongs. So, he decided to take a year off and ride the rails. Equipped with rummage-store clothing, a bedroll, and a few other belongings, he hops a freight train in St. Louis, becoming a tramp in order to discover their peculiar culture. The men and women he meets along the way are by turns generous and mistrusting,...
In Ted Conover's first book, now back in print, he enters a segment of humanity outside society and reports back on a world few of us would chose to e...
After two years as a postgraduate student at Nanjing University in China, Vikram Seth hitch-hiked back to his home in New Delhi, via Tibet. From Heaven Lake is the story of his remarkable journey and his encounters with nomadic Muslims, Chinese officials, Buddhists and others.
After two years as a postgraduate student at Nanjing University in China, Vikram Seth hitch-hiked back to his home in New Delhi, via Tibet. From He...
To discover what becomes of Mexicans who come illegally to the United States, Conover disguised himself as an illegal alien, traveling and working across America for more than a year. This is the chronicle of his journey. Ted Conover lived the bizarre life of the Mexican illegals. Theirs is a sub-terrestrial world of high-wire tensions, of brutal police, of sinister smugglers . . . A devastating document, this one must be read. Leon Uris"
To discover what becomes of Mexicans who come illegally to the United States, Conover disguised himself as an illegal alien, traveling and working acr...
O'Hanlon takes us into the bug-ridden rain forest between the Orinoco and the Amazon--infested with jaguars and piranhas, where men would kill over a bottle of ketchup and where the locals may be the most violent people on earth (next to hockey fans).
O'Hanlon takes us into the bug-ridden rain forest between the Orinoco and the Amazon--infested with jaguars and piranhas, where men would kill over a ...
The entries in this collection take us to the farthest extremes of travel with tales of danger, disorientation and bemused discomfort; combines reportage, fiction and poetry representing some of the best-known writers of our time.
The entries in this collection take us to the farthest extremes of travel with tales of danger, disorientation and bemused discomfort; combines report...