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A fascinating political travelogue that traces the life and work of George Orwell, author of 1984 and ANIMAL FARM, in Southeast Asia Over the years the American writer Emma Larkin has spent traveling in Burma, also known as Myanmar, she's come to know all too well the many ways this brutal police state can be described as "Orwellian." The life of the mind exists in a state of siege in Burma, and it long has. But Burma's connection to George Orwell is not merely metaphorical; it is much deeper an...

From childhood, Charles Dickens was fascinated by tales from other countries and other cultures, and he longed to see the world. In Dickens and Travel, Lucinda Hawksley looks at the journeys made by the author - who is also her great great great grandfather. Although Dickens is usually perceived as a London author, in the 1840s he whisked his family away to live in Italy for year, and spent several months in Switzerland. Some years later he took up residence in Paris and Boulogne (where he live...

Uproariously funny and staggeringly innovative travelogue of one man and his car, from London via St Tropez and Florence to Sicily, starting on a day when modern European civilisation seemed doomed. Having sworn off his drug-taking. Duncan Fallowell sets off on the day it is announced that disaster beckons for Western Europe. Peering eagerly through his sunglasses and with a wickedly accurate ear for the idiosyncrasies of the people he meets, he writes it all down before it is too late: from Ban...

Nicholas Dylan Ray grew up next to an American national park, whose mountains and forests he explored to escape his troubled home. As a young man, he left the United States, and aged twenty-two set out on a six-month journey from France to Tibet, travelling through Turkey. That journey forms the first chapter of this book, and led to a career working with the Middle East. In middle age, the author returned to the road, travelling throughout Turkey. In the six subsequent chapters, one for each jo...

This is the Death in Venice, Thomas Mann would not have dared to write and is one of the classic books on Venice at a time when it served as an home for undesirables from all over Europe as well as erotic vacation destinations for some. The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole stands as a uniquely scurrilous sensual testament to Frederick Rolfe's fervent affection for the physical beauty of the city of Venice and it's a inhabitants. Published posthumously in 1934, the original edition was heavily edi...

With the summer beckoning, life in France seems the ultimate dream for all of us rosbifs. But behind the sun, the wine, and the beautifully honey-coloured houses what is the reality of actually living in France? Based on her own experiences, those of her friends and of the many readers who write in to her Sunday Times column French Mistress, Powell tells the story of the daily passions in La Douce France warts and all in a fresh, fast and humorous narrative.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING TRAVEL MEMOIR What happens when an unadventurous adventure writer tries to re-create the original expedition to Machu Picchu? In 1911, Hiram Bingham III climbed into the Andes Mountains of Peru and “discovered” Machu Picchu. While history has recast Bingham as a villain who stole both priceless artifacts and credit for finding the great archeological site, Mark Adams set out to retrace the explorer’s perilous path in search of the truth—except he’d written about...

Tuscany offers some of the most spectacular scenery in Europe. The unique combination of cypress trees and olive groves mingling with vineyards and woods on undulating hillsides is enchanting. With villages and villas at every turn, what better way to explore the countryside than on foot? Over fifteen months of changing seasons Rosemary George did just that, visiting wine producers along the way, observing and savouring the local colour and the idiosyncrasies of a myriad of winemakers. Each chap...

It seemed like any other season on Mount Everest. Ten expeditions from around the world were preparing for their summit push, gathered together to try for mountaineering's ultimate prize. Twenty-four hours later, eight of those climbers were dead, victims of the most devastating storm ever to hit Everest. On the North face of the mountain, a British expedition found itself in the thick of the drama. Against all odds, film-maker Matt Dickinson and professional climber Alan Hinkes managed to battl...

One small East African country embodies the battered history of the continent: patronised by colonialists, riven by civil war, confused by Cold War manoeuvring, proud, colorful, with Africa's best espresso and worst rail service. Michela Wrong brilliantly reveals the contradictions and comedy, past and present, of Eritrea. Just as the beat of a butterfly's wings is said to cause hurricanes on the other side of the world, so the affairs of tiny Eritrea have reached onto the agenda of superpower...

The third book in Charles Bowden's "accidental trilogy" that began with Blood Orchid and Blues for Cannibals, Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing attempts to resolve the overarching question: "How can a person live a moral life in a culture of death?" As humanity moves further into the twenty-first century, Bowden continues to interrogate our roles in creating the ravaged landscapes and accumulated death that still surround us, as well as his own childhood isolation, his lust for alcohol and wo...

Every morning in Sadar Bazaar, one of the oldest markets in Delhi, a gang of men gather looking for work in the building trade. For five years, Aman Sethi shared their lives, and in particular that of Mohammed Ashraf. Ashraf is a mazdoor, an itinerant house-painter, but he's not a typical labourer - he's studied biology in college, and after college learnt how to repair TV sets, cut suits, and slice chicken. He lived all over India, but now he finds himself in Delhi: the second most populous cit...

Virginia Thorndike, Maine's own version of Studs Terkel, traveled to all the Maine coast islands that still maintain a year-round population and persuaded the islanders to talk openly about their lives. The result is a compulsively readable, unvarnished, and appealing portrait, much of it in the islanders? own words. The 15 islands not accessible by bridge that still have year-round populations are: Isle au Haut, Islesboro, the Cranberry Isles (near Mt. Desert Island), Eagle Island, Long Island...