Here's a page from Longitude, the specialty bookseller for travelers. To order online, and to see the latest, most comprehensive selection of books and maps, go to http://reading.longitudebooks.com/SB10589. You may also call 800-342-2164 to order or request a catalog.

Burton Holmes Early Travel Photography  •  Genoa Caldwell TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2010 •  HARD COVER  • 288 PAGES A glorious selection of photos, hand-tinted lantern slides and tales from Burton Holmes's extraordinary multi-volume Travelogues, originally published in 1901. From the boulevards of Paris to the pyramids of Egypt, China's Great Wall and bustling Marrakech, Burton Holmes was there at the turn of the 20th century, turning iconic images into hand-tinted lantern slides which he enthusiastically projected to packed houses across the country at the turn-of-the-last century. This captivating collection of tinted photographs presents the best of his work. (TVL116, $29.99)
Galen Rowell, A Retrospective  •  Sierra Club  •  Galen Rowell ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2008 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES A tribute to the renowned traveler, photographer and friend, by a host of contributors and the editors of Sierra Club books, featuring a stunning sampling of Rowell's magnficent color photographs, including mountain images, Antarctica and the Arctic. (PHT21, $39.95)
Historical Atlas of the United States  •  Derek Hayes REFERENCE •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 280 PAGES One in a series of handsomely-produced books by geographer Derek Hayes, this oversized overview of the United States charts exploration and discovery, treaties and war and development up to now in 500 beautiful full-color maps and drawings. (USA150, $45.00)
The Middle Sea  •  John Julius Norwich HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 720 PAGES A marvelous writer who has already tackled Byzantium, the Normans in Sicily and Venice, Norwich spins his magic in this story of culture, trade and politics, royalty and rulers, wars and religion in the Mediterranean from antiquity to the end of the First World War. (MED98, $21.00)
The Classical World  •  Robin Lane Fox HISTORY •  2008 •  PAPER  • 656 PAGES Classicist and popular author Fox (Alexander the Great) illuminates ancient Greek and Roman civilizations with wit and flair in this hugely ambitious, stimulating history. Heroes and tyrants populate his tales, ranging from Homer to Augustus, the exploits of Alexander the Great, Roman rule and the rise of Christianity. (GRE293, $19.99)
La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind  •  Beppe Severgnini CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2007 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES Hugely popular in Italy, this witty guide to the Italian character addresses the apparently never-ending Italian passion for beauty, disorder and high emotion. An Italian journalist, Severgnini opens with a snapshot of the hubbub at Malpensa Airport, taking the unwary reader firmly by the hand on a journey to Milan,Tuscany, Rome, Naples and Sardinia. He hilariously points out Italian rituals and quirks from the highway to hotels, bedrooms, restaurants, the office and beach. (ITL718, $14.00)
Reluctant Mr. Darwin, An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution  •  David Quammen NATURAL HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES David Quammen hits just the right note in this sprightly tale of the man, his ideas and their impact. Not just a marvelous and witty writer with a conversational style, Quammen (Flight of the Iguana, Song of the Dodo, etc.) also has an uncanny ability, in full display in this extended essay, to express complex ideas with clarity. (NAT94, $14.95)
The Places in Between  •  Rory Stewart TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2006 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES Born in Hong Kong, educated at Eton and Oxford and formerly tutor to Prince William and Prince Harry, Rory Stewart ditched it all in 2000 to walk 6,000 miles from Turkey to Bangladesh. The Places in Between, which won the Ondaatje Prize, illuminates the absurdity, plight and peril of the Afghans after the fall of the Taliban. Stewart walked from Herat to Kabul in the dead of winter, depending on luck, a big dog and the kindness of strangers (along with his ability to speak Persian and his knowledge of local customs). His thrilling, poignant book is a worthy successor to Bruce Chatwin and Peter Levi's 1960s trek recounted in The Light Garden of the Angel King. (MDE100, $14.95)
Overthrow, America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq  •  Stephen Kinzer HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES Hawaii, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Iran, the Philippines, Granada, Panama, Chile, Afghanistan, Iraq. In this compelling review, New York Times journalist and author Kinzer (Crescent and Star, Turkey Between Two Worlds) crisply outlines the events, politics and personalities of 14 cases in which America has brought down foreign governments since 1893. Kinzer effectively demonstrates that revolutions, invasions and foreign meddling are as American as apple pie (and that such adventures rarely do much to enhance security). (USA148, $17.00)
The Naked Tourist, In Search of Adventure and Beauty in the Age of the Airport Mall  •  Lawrence Osborne TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2007 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES "It came upon me suddenly," Osborne reports, "like a mental disorder unknown to psychiatry: the desire to stop everything in normal life, to uproot, leave." And so he does, taking off on a six-month journey from Dubai to India, Bangkok, Bali and Papua New Guinea on the "Asian Highway." Osborne is not just interested in travel, but also in the reasons why we travel, layering his own entertaining adventures with ruminations on Shangri-La, The Grand Tour, the exotic and primitive. (SEA50, $20.00)
A Complete Guide to Arctic Wildlife  •  Richard Sale NATURAL HISTORY •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 464 PAGES Featuring 400 lively color photographs of Arctic peoples, wildlife and landscapes, this handsomely illustrated book is both a primer on the circumpolar north and a guide to Arctic birds and mammals. With hundreds of spectacular color photographs, color range maps and descriptions of 200 species of birds and 77 kinds of mammals. (ARC190, $49.95)
Oracle Bones  •  Peter Hessler HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 512 PAGES Peter Hessler (River Town) captures the confounding pace of change in these tales of travel and conversation in contemporary China. The Beijing correspondent for the New Yorker with a depth of knowledge and love of the place, Hessler draws on his familiarity with the country, linguistic ability and his many friends for this penetrating report from the field. Hessler also writes for National Geographic. (CHN316, $15.99)
The Caliph's House, A Year in Casablanca  •  Tahir Shah TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2006 •  PAPER  • 343 PAGES • BEST SELLER Shah's entertaining account of the transformation of a spectacularly crumbled palace in Casablanca, abandoned for a decade. Shah is a marvelous writer and storyteller, interweaving Moroccan customs and history and deft portraits of neighbors, craftsmen and others. He captures the mix of old and new, absurd and moving, frustration and joy of Morocco. The house was not just crumbling but occupied by spirits. (MRC66, $16.00)
The Inheritance of Loss  •  Kiran Desai LITERATURE •  2006 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES Alternating between a once grand household in northern India and the life of the cook's son in New York, this novel by the marvelous and wise Desai skewers the aspirations and reality of both worlds. Happily, she immerses the reader in the particulars of place. Winner of the 2006 Man Booker Prize. (IDA303, $14.95)

Also Recommended