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Books: Travel: Armenia
The Travel Bookby Roz Hopkins List Price: $50.00 Available from Amazon $31.50 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page From Booklist *Starred Review* Even the most avid readers of travel guides and travel literature will not have encountered a book quite like this one. It is huge and heavy but reasonably priced, and it is vastly informative, which is its calling card. All the writers who contribute to the Lonely Planet travel guide series have put heads, knowledge, and experience together and come up with an A-Z series of capsule profiles of every country in the world, 230 in number. Each country gets a two-page spread, on which are placed, like luscious dishes set before one at a feast, illustrations that are typical of Lonely Planet's unique, non-picture-postcard brand of shots. The accompanying text presents a cogent rundown of the best experiences for gaining the essence of the place; books to read beforehand; music to listen to before you go; food and drink to consume once you are there; and a few brief but pungent closing comments on the trademark things to do and buy and see and what, ultimately, is the best surprise awaiting the tourist. For borrowers in the travel section to sit down, look at, and make notes from, without taking off the premises. Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Book Description The world is a breathtakingly big place, and in this big book we have undertaken the big task of detailing as much of it as we can - every single country, many of the larger dependencies and other, smaller destinations. With the traveler's experience at its heart, this book shows a slice of life in every corner of the globe, and all points in between, engaging the reader's senses in an adventure which conjures up the sights, smells, tastes, sounds and feel of our amazing world. |
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. |
Europe: A Historyby Norman Davies List Price: $25.95 Available from Amazon $16.35 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page Product Review With Europe: A History, University of London professor Norman Davies has undertaken the near impossible: a synthetic one-volume overview of Europe from prehistory through the present. Remarkably, he has succeeded. Europe: A History is a conventional narrative, proceeding forward in time at a gradually decelerating pace. (The beginning covers millions of years of prehistory, while the final chapter discusses the 46 years between World War II and the book's publication.) But Davies's writing--vigorous, incisive, and confidently knowledgeable--carries the reader along, while the steady sweep of the main narrative is broken up by "capsules," boxed passages examining particular places, customs, or issues that cut across chronological lines. Davies, who has written two books on Polish history, also gives the eastern part of Europe its due coverage, unlike many of his predecessors, and manages to include commoners and the persecuted or ignored in his story along with the mighty and the royal. Europe: A History won't please everybody, but it's a highly intelligent, superbly readable overview that is certain to become a standard text. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Publishers Weekly The pre-eminent scholar of Polish history, Davies (God's Playground and Heart of Europe) expands his focus to all of Europe. While the book is bulky, its size is hardly adequate to a complete history of the continent from pre-history to the dismantling of the Soviet Union. In addition, as one might expect, Davies has taken great pains to treat countries other than England, France and Germany as legitimate parts of Europe?not just as the thresholds over which barbarians crossed. ("For some reason it has been the fashion among some historians to minimize the impact of the Magyars," Davies writes when discussing what would become central Europe. "All this means is that the Magyars did not reach Cambridge.") The book works because his subject is not the constituent countries but the continent as a whole. Thus, while Elizabeth I gets one brief mention in passing, Aristide Briand, the French foreign minister who tried to effect a Franco-German reconciliation until the Nazis won power, gets several paragraphs. Aside from defining what Europe is and giving all countries their due, Davies also tries to show the joys of an inclusive reading of historical subjects (he disparages excessive specialization and writes admiringly of the Annales school). A master of broad-brushstroke synthesis, Davies navigates through the larger historical currents with the detail necessary to a well-written engaging narrative. Copyright 1996 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. |
The Common Reader: First Series, Annotated Editionby Virginia Woolf List Price: $13.00 Available from Amazon $10.66 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page Book Description Woolf’s first and most popular volume of essays. This collection has more than twenty-five selections, including such important statements as “Modern Fiction” and “The Modern Essay.” Edited and with an Introduction by Andrew McNeillie; Index. The Merriam-Webster encyclopedia of Literature Collection of essays by Virginia Woolf, published in two series, the first in 1925 and the second in 1932. The title indicates Woolf's intention that her essays be read by the educated but non-scholarly "common reader," who examines books for personal enjoyment. Woolf outlines her literary philosophy in the introductory essay to the first series, "The Common Reader," and in the concluding essay to the second series, "How Should One Read a Book?" The first series includes essays on Geoffrey Chaucer, Michel de Montaigne, Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Joseph Conrad, as well as discussions of the Greek language and the modern essay. The second series features essays on John Donne, Daniel Defoe, Dorothy Osborne, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Thomas Hardy, among others. |
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. |
My Brother's Road: An American's Fateful Journey to Armeniaby Markar Melkonian List Price: $29.95 Available from Amazon $18.87 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page Product Review "Monte Melkonian's death left us with a riddle. How could a boy from California's heartland become a terrorist in the eyes of the FBI and a saint in the soul of a faraway nation? Who better to take up that riddle than his older brother, Markar? From the fruit fields of the San Joaquin Valley to the killing fields of the Caucasus, he brings home an unforgettable memoir."--Mark Arax, author of In My Father's Name, Staff Writer for the Los Angeles Times
"An astonishing bookMelkonian's adventures read like a modern odyssey. 'My Brother's Road' gives a little meaning to a life of political extremism. It sweeps aside the polarised views of this complicated figure, presenting him neither as complete hero nor complete villain. In the end we are left simply with a man who found it impossible to live impassively in the shadow of his people's calamity, the Armenian Genocide, and who sacrificed everything to try and correct the wrongs of the past."--Philip Marsden, author of the award-winning The Crossing Place: A Journey among the Armenians "With a brother's memory and a philosopher's keen judgement, Melkonian reanimates a truly remarkable life."--Nancy Kricorian, author of Zabelle and Dreams of Bread and Fire "A searing and unforgettable testimony of the revolt against justice denied. This is an excellent book, well-written, and driven by a sense of commitment which never overshoots into sentimentality or chauvinism."--Christopher Walker Book Description Known at various times as "Abu Sindi", "Timothy Sean McCormick", "Saro", and "Commander Avo", Monte Melkonian was denounced in Europe as an international terrorist, while his adopted homeland of Armenia decorated him as a national hero who led a force of 4,000 men to victory in Azerbaijan. Markar Melkonian spent seven years unravelling the mystery of his brother's road: a journey which began in his ancestors' town in Turkey and led to a blood-splattered square in Tehran, the Kurdish mountains, the bomb-pocked streets of Beirut, and finally, to the windswept heights of mountainous Karabagh. Monte's life embodied the agony and the follies of the end of the Cold War and the unraveling of the Soviet Union. Yet, who was this man, really? A terrorist or a hero? My Brother's Road is not just the story of a long journey and a short life, it is an attempt to understand what happens when one man decides that violent deeds speak louder than words
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Armenia: The Bradt Travel Guideby Nicholas Holding List Price: $25.72 Available from Amazon $16.20 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page Book Description This new Bradt guide will be the first English-language guide to cover the Caucasian country of Armenia in depth. Armenia was the world's first nation to adopt Christianity as the official state religion (in 301 A.D.), resulting in an astonishingly well-preserved legacy of monastic buildings, often set in magnificent locations--such as clinging to the side of steep gorges. Other historic attractions include Bronze Age standing stones, believed to have been used for astronomical observations and medieval castles. These are just some of the wonders of a country which for much of the last 2,000 years has been ruled by outsiders, with Persians, Ottomans, Arabs, and Russians all having left their imprint. Armenia is more than an add-on country for visitors to Georgia or Azerbaijan. Author Nicholas Holding shows that Armenia is a destination worth visiting in its own right. His guide has thorough coverage of accommodations, eating out, and sightseeing in the capital, including half-day and full-day excursions from Yerevan, visits to the enclave of Nagorno Karabagh, plus both an introduction to the natural history and an in-depth section on the history of Armenia.
Back Cover Copy Armenia is renowned for its medieval monasteries and fortresses, often clinging precariously to the sides of deep river gorges. Admire too its legacy of exquisite stone carvings, including the field of 900 cross-stones at Noratus, and the magnificent collection of illuminated manuscripts in Yerevan.
This guide is the first in English to offer comprehensive information on travel in Armenia. With thorough coverage of the capital, Yerevan, and highlights such as Selim caravanserai, the fortress of Smbataberd and the monastery of Noravank, it is the indispensable guide to a fascinating country. Inside you will find information on: full and half-day excursions from Yerevan; the territory of Nagorno Karabagh; history of the first country officially to adopt Christianity; useful words and phrases; 24 clear maps, including monasteries; architecture, wildlife, religion and culture. |
Madam Secretary: A Memoirby Madeleine Albright List Price: $27.95 Available from Amazon $17.61 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly Albright proposes to "combine the personal with policy" in these memoirs, a sensible narrative strategy, considering her emblematic struggles as a working mother breaking through the glass ceiling of the foreign policy establishment to become U.N. ambassador and secretary of state. Albright's recollections of her background as a child refugee from Czechoslovakia and its twin scourges of Nazism and Communism (later, she accounts for the belated discovery of her Jewish heritage) suggest a basis for her belief in "assertive multilateralism." Although she laments coining this derided term, it's an apt name for her doctrine that human rights should be protected by the international community, led by American power. In the Clinton administration, this was the hawkish position, opposed by Colin Powell, William Cohen and others more cautious about military commitments. Albright treats these and other rivalries with restraint, but she is relatively candid about policy and personality conflicts, to an extent unusual in a diplomat and welcome in an autobiographer. Pitched at a popular audience, Albright's anecdotal style is engagingly direct, but it's not suited to mounting a comprehensive defense of humanitarian interventionism in light of failures in Somalia, Rwanda and Bosnia. Albright is willing to admit mistakes, though she generally pursues the political memoirist's standard agenda of spinning the historical record. Filled with shrewd character sketches of world leaders, Albright's descriptions of the Balkan conflicts, the Middle East peace process and other critical negotiations are thorough and insightful. This memoir captures the disarmingly blunt purposefulness that made its author an irrepressible force in foreign affairs. Copyright 2003 Reed business Information, Inc. From The New Yorker This memoir by America's first female Secretary of State is a deeply conventional book, full of long accounts of negotiations and reflections on the proper uses of American power. Albright is not out to settle scores (her criticisms of colleagues are mild at worst) and seems, on balance, pleased with the foreign-policy record of the Clinton Administration. This might have made a dull book, were it not for Albright's appealing character—personally ingenuous but professionally sophisticated, earnest but hard-nosed. Her eye for details—clothing, food, travel conditions—helps bring the diplomat's world to life, and her portraits of foreign leaders are lively and evocative. The result is a book that creates a sense of policy made by real people, not by world-bestriding titans. Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker --This text refers to the Paperback edition. |
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