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Books: Travel: Arkansas
Trip-Tracker: Travel Journal and Gamebookby Rand McNally List Price: $12.95 Available from Amazon $9.97 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page Product Review Trip Tracker is Rand McNally's travel gift to parents of children ages 8 and older. Enclosed within its spiral- bound covers are pages of games, songs, puzzles, and activities guaranteed to keep youngsters occupied in the backseat of a car or the passenger seat of a train or airplane. In addition, there's a packet of colored markers, stickers, and postcards, plus plenty of space to record travel memories, doodles, and lists. A word to the wise, however: if you don't want to be driven mad by all the verses of "99 Miles to Go on Our Trip," consider quietly removing the pages entitled "Songs to Drive the Grown Ups Crazy!" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. |
The Best American Travel Writing 2005 (The Best American Series (TM))by Jamaica Kincaid and Jason Wilson List Price: $14.00 Available from Amazon $10.78 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page From Booklist Great travel writing feeds our hunger for armchair journeys while somehow making the armchair less comfortable. Series editor Wilson searched for the rare pieces that weren't "aggressively positive"; Kincaid chose finalists that she says "underline my sense of my displacement." True enough, whether discussing suburban Florida or the bullet-riddled border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, these essays and articles show us the overlooked and never-seen with curiosity, insight, engagement, and humility; none of these writers brags about being at home in the world. Standouts are many: in "Into the Land of bin Laden," Robert Young Pelton finds a soldier who says, "I have no idea who we are fighting"; in "Tight-Assed River," John McPhee sails with the men who pilot aircraft carrier-length barges down Illinois' narrow waterways; and in "Trying Really Hard to Like India," Seth Stevenson serves a stern rebuke to travelers who return with praise for a country simply because they made it there and back. Readers may try to sample this, but they'll end up devouring it all. Keir Graff Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. Book Description Edited by the renowned novelist and travel writer Jamaica Kincaid, this year's collection reflects the wandering spirit and ever-present quest for adventure of the seasonedand not so seasonedtraveler. Contributors include Tom Bissell, Ian Frazier, Simon Winchester, Murad Kalam, and others. |
Spirit of Place: The Art of the Traveling Photographerby Bob Krist List Price: $24.95 Available from Amazon $15.72 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page Book Description The natural synergy between photography and travel is explored in these exquisite, lavishly illustrated, and instructive pages that demonstrate how artful camera use can record the true spirit of a place. On this thrilling worldwide tour, the author shows traveling nonprofessional photographers how to bring home memorable pictures of people, festivals, wildlife, architecture-even aerial and underwater shots. Directions are detailed for composing landscapes with a variety of lenses, working in both natural and artificial light. Valuable tips tell how to pack and carry photo equipment, deal with airport and hotel security, and prepare for various locations and weather conditions.
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The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulfby William C. Davis List Price: $28.00 Available from Amazon $17.64 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly Historian Davis contemplates the New Orleans privateers Jean and Pierre Laffite, who loomed large in Gulf Coast waters—and in history—from about the time of the Louisiana Purchase and into the 1820s. Although adding little new research, Davis (Lincoln's Men), director of programs for the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, does an admirable job of recounting the brothers' true story, separating fact from clouded legend. The senior brother and brains of the operation, Pierre, was born in Bordeaux, France, around 1770. His half-brother Jean followed about 12 years later. By 1803 the brothers were in New Orleans and soon embarked on careers as privateers with a presence extending as far as Pensacola and Galveston. Davis is particularly strong in revealing the brothers as complex if ruthless businessmen who, while savaging the trade of Spanish merchants on the gulf, formed the foundation for a profitable syndicate. Their associates included leading citizens and government officials on the take. The Laffites themselves, however, became notorious only when they courted the Spanish and betrayed their allies. Davis tells their story eloquently and with some admiration, while at the same time acknowledging that the freewheeling Laffites spent as voraciously as they earned and squandered their empire, leaving nothing behind but their legend. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW. (May) Copyright © Reed business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist *Starred Review* Most Americans familiar with Pierre and Jean Laffite associate them with their aid to American forces during the War of 1812. But the lives and exploits of these brothers were more complicated and interesting than a minor footnote of history. Davis, director of programs at the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies and a teacher of history at Virginia Tech, has written an engrossing and exciting chronicle of these men and their times. Their story ranges from their ancestral homes in southwestern France to the Louisiana bayous, and it includes privateering, piracy, and espionage as France, Spain, Britain, and the U.S. vie for control of the Gulf region. Like other historians, Davis never quite gets a handle on the "true" character of the Laffites. At times, they seem to be brutal, ruthless buccaneers. At other times, they appear as entrepreneurs and savvy businessmen who skillfully navigate the borders of legality. Davis also provides an interesting glimpse at the culture of early nineteenth-century New Orleans, where a diverse ethnic and racial population fosters a rich social milieu. This is an excellent examination of interesting, tough men who knew how to survive in an interesting, tough age. Jay Freeman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved |
We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Lightby John Baxter List Price: $13.95 Available from Amazon $10.74 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly Perhaps no city has been more lustfully romanticized than Paris, and this cavorting collection of bons mots will do nothing to quell its erotic reputation. Baxter (A Pound of Paper), a cineast and biographer (of Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg and others), is an Australian in love with a French woman. After moving into her Parisian apartment in 1990, he subsequently becomes her baby's father, her husband and eventually, in his own way, French. He loosely arranges his narrative in themed chapters, lobbing little-known facts, references to favorite films, and gossip about the inglorious past of certain addresses into stories about the affairs of the heart of famous Parisians and expats. He peppers tales of his quotidian life with bemused observations of Gallic quirks and offhanded recommendations of tucked-away shops and obscure cafés, resulting in a book that is part guidebook, part memoir. Some chapters are bawdy and some hilarious, such as "Invaders," about uncouth, ingrate houseguests. Anyone who appreciates Paris and its myths, likes the meandering storytelling of good conversation and enjoys the mildly salacious will relish reading this book, curled up with a glass of full-bodied red and a box of chocolates. Photos. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Australian-born Baxter moves from Los Angeles to Paris to start a new marriage to a French television newscaster. Searching for a place to live, they find an apartment on the tiny, Seine-bound Ile de la Cite, the veritable heart of Paris, steps from Notre Dame. From there, Baxter leads his readers on a decidedly eccentric tour of Paris. A film critic, Baxter intelligently connects Paris venues to various films, French and American, familiar and obscure. Baxter loves to focus on Paris' erotic history, and he does a particularly stunning job of explicating Josephine Baker's electric effect on the French psyche, attributing to her nude dances a profound restructuring of French attitudes to sexuality. Foodies will revel in Baxter's portrayals of Parisian restaurants' obsession with offal. Baxter's mordant humor is put to good use in his observations on Paris' ubiquitous dogs and their ton-a-day droppings on the capital's chic byways. Baxter also provides lively perspectives on Andre Malraux and on the city's ancient marketplace, Les Halles. Mark Knoblauch Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved |
Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaborationby Warren G. Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman List Price: $16.95 Available from Amazon $11.02 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page Product Review For years, Warren Bennis has written about leadership in works such as Learning to Lead, Beyond Leadership, and the bestselling On Becoming a Leader. His aim in these well-received titles was to catalog the traits and styles of leadership that help individuals excel in their work. In his new book (and already another bestseller) Organizing Genius, Bennis declares the age of the empowered individual ended: what matters now is "collaborative advantage" and the assembling of powerful teams. Drawing from six case studies that include Xerox's PARC labs, the 1992 Clinton campaign, and Disney animation studios, Bennis and coauthor Patricia Biederman distill the characteristics of successful collaboration, showing how talent can be pooled and managed for greater results than any individual is capable of producing. Organized in easily digested chapters and written in clear, concise prose, Organizing Genius will be useful to folks finding their way in new organizational structures. The lessons Bennis and Biederman offer in the final chapter of the book don't constitute the obvious advice most business books convey; these are real experiences gleaned from the stories of collaboration they surveyed. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Publishers Weekly University of Southern California business professor Bennis and Los Angeles Times reporter Biederman examine six "Great Groups" whose work affected and sometimes changed the modern world. They are the Disney organization and its animated films; the Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto research Center, which designed the first user-friendly computer; the Clinton presidential campaign of 1992 for what the authors deem a remarkable victory; Lockheed's Skunk Works, where the U-2 spy plane and the Stealth bomber were developed; Black Mountain College in the foothills of North Carolina, which lasted only from 1933 to 1956 but attracted many major artists; and the Manhattan Project, whose scientists created the atomic bomb. All of these groups, the authors stress, consisted of enormously talented people with a sense of mission, who worked under a strong leader and were imbued with pragmatic optimism. Each segment is so well told that it has lessons for all. Copyright 1996 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. |
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the Westby Wallace Earle Stegner List Price: $16.00 Available from Amazon $10.40 On 7-21-2006
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The Ultimate Wyoming Atlas and Travel Encyclopediaby Michael Dougherty List Price: $24.95 Available from Amazon $15.72 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page Book Description The most complete guide to the Cowboy State in print. 129 maps, 60 maps of towns and cities, over 1,100 restaurants, over 550 motels, every public and private campground, over 200 guest ranches and resorts, over 130 bed and breakfasts, vacation homes and cabins, over 200 outfitters and guides, airports, more than 270 fisheries, 100s of National Trail points of interest, 49 public golf courses, 100s of museums and historical sites, hot springs, hikes, over 65 scenic drives and side trips, more than 50 ghost towns, downhill and cross country ski areas, gas stops, hundreds of attractions, 1,000s of photographs, weather information for over 60 locations, information on every city and town, 1,000s of things to do, 1,000s of addresses and phone numbers. Complete sections with maps for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and Fort Laramie National Historic Site. Includes free photo CD-ROM of 100s of screensaver sized photos. |
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