MOUNTAIN TRAVEL-SOBEK

Alps: Germany, Austria & Italy

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

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Walking in the Alps

Walking in the Alps

by Kev Reynolds

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 496 PAGES

A nicely illustrated, authoritative guide to hiking throughout the Alps. Reynolds covers a range of activities from day hikes to the classic hut-to-hut mountain walks. (SWZ44, $22.95)

Killing Dragons, The Conquest of the Alps

Killing Dragons, The Conquest of the Alps

by Fergus Fleming

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 398 PAGES

Fleming spins lively tales of man against nature in this entertaining history of the eccentrics, adventurers and publicity-hounds who sought to conquer the Alps, including Whymper and his first ascent of the Matterhorn (where four of the seven-man team perished). (ALP16, $14.00)

Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier

Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier

by Brenda Fowler

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 313 PAGES

The complete story of the discovery of and controversy surrounding the frozen corpse of a prehistoric man found in the Tyrolian Alps. (ALP20, $20.00)

Alps Map

Alps Map

by Freytag & Berndt

  • 2010
  • MAP

This regional map (1:500,000), centered on the Alps, includes portions of Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and France. (ALP07, $14.95)

 
Venice Map

Venice Map


by Borch Maps

  • 2008
  • MAP

A colorful, detailed city map of Venice, perfect for finding your way around the famously labyrinthine streets and canals. (ITL26, $8.95)

Western Austria Tyrol Map

Western Austria Tyrol Map


by Freytag & Berndt

  • MAP

A colorful regional map of western Austria, including the Tyrolean region. (AST05, $11.95)

Eyewitness Guide Austria

Eyewitness Guide Austria


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • FLEXI-BOUND
  • 384 PAGES

This superb guide to all of Austria features color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a region-by-region synopsis of the country's attractions. (AST59, $25.00)

Eyewitness Guide Munich & the Bavarian Alps

Eyewitness Guide Munich & the Bavarian Alps


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • FLEXI-BOUND
  • 320 PAGES

This comprehensive, illustrated guide is filled with excellent maps, hundreds of photographs and succinct overviews of history, culture and sightseeing. (GER119, $25.00)

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best


by Citypack

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

This shirt-pocket guide includes an excellent map of the city center and essential information. (ITL106, $11.99)

Walking in the Dolomites

Walking in the Dolomites


by Gillian Price

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

A comprehensive walker's guide to the Dolomites geared to a wide variety of difficulty levels. Illustrated with photographs and maps. (ITL289, $19.95)

The Austrians, A Thousand-Year Odyssey

The Austrians, A Thousand-Year Odyssey


by Gordon Brook-Shepherd

  • HISTORY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 512 PAGES

Detailed, impressively researched and readable, this book is a wide-ranging narrative history of the last 1,000 years of Austria and the Austrian character. (AST10, $23.00)

The German Way

The German Way


by Hyde Flippo

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 138 PAGES
  • BEST SELLER

This clever A-to-Z guide to quirks, attitudes, behavior and customs is a terrific resource for travelers seeking insight into why the Germans, Austrians and Swiss do what they do. (GER12, $17.00)

The Germans

The Germans


by Gordon A. Craig

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 361 PAGES

A gifted historian, Craig explores the complex paradoxes of German identity in this masterly portrait of German life, past and present, with chapters on religion, money, Jews, women, literature and society, Berlin and language. (GER10, $18.00)

The Habsburgs, Embodying Empire

The Habsburgs, Embodying Empire


by Andrew Wheatcroft

  • HISTORY
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

The Habsburgs ruled over more diverse peoples and cultures than any other European dynasty since the Roman period. With skillful scholarship and engaging style, Wheatcroft reveals the history of this family of eccentric monarchs. (AST11, $17.00)

Art and Life in Renaissance Venice

Art and Life in Renaissance Venice


by Patricia Brown

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 176 PAGES

This compact volume evokes the spirit of Renaissance Venice with authoritative essays and 120 full-color illustrations. (ITL57, $40.80)

Eiger Dreams, Ventures Among Men and Mountains

Eiger Dreams, Ventures Among Men and Mountains


by Jon Krakauer

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES

A collection of some of Krakauer's (Into Thin Air) best journalism, these stories and essays focus on the mindset and determination of world-class mountaineers, including Alpine and Himalayan climbers. (ALP10, $14.95)

Ludwig II of Bavaria, The Swan King

Ludwig II of Bavaria, The Swan King


by Christopher McIntosh

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

This lively biography of King Ludwig II, builder of the wild castles of Bavaria, chronicles in fascinating detail Ludwig's rise to the throne at age 18, his devotion to music and architecture and his death under questionable circumstances at the age of 41. (GER27, $23.00)

Schlepping Through the Alps, My Search for Austria's Jewish Past with Its Last Wandering Shepherd

Schlepping Through the Alps, My Search for Austria's Jewish Past with Its Last Wandering Shepherd


by Sam Apple

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

A hilarious and touching exploration of history, tradition and sheep. This account of travels in Austria with Hans Breuer, a shepherd who sings Yiddish folk songs to his sheep, is admittedly a comic quest, but it also delves into some of the darker corners of Austria's history in World War II. (AST74, $16.00)

Scrambles Amongst the Alps: In the Years 1860-69

Scrambles Amongst the Alps: In the Years 1860-69


by Edward Whymper

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Edward Wymper's vivid account of Victorian-era mountaineering, a classic, captures the geography, beauty and allure of the Alps. (ALP02, $16.00)

The World of Venice

The World of Venice


by Jan Morris

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 315 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Morris displays her talent for research, anecdote and well-wrought prose in this spirited history of a beloved city. (ITL12, $18.95)

There & Then, Travel Writings of James Salter

There & Then, Travel Writings of James Salter


by James Salter

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 296 PAGES

These sketches and essays cover 20 years of novelist Salter's peripatetic life, particularly his extended time hiking and skiing in the Alps of Switzerland, Austria and France. (ALP28, $15.00)

Death at La Fenice

Death at La Fenice


by Donna Leon

  • MYSTERY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 270 PAGES

The first of the tremendously good Guido Brunetti mysteries, all set in the author's beloved Venice, in which a famous conductor is found dead at the celebrated theater of the title. (ITL555, $13.99)

Homestead

Homestead


by Rosini Lippi

  • LITERATURE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 210 PAGES

Set firmly in a small village in the Austrian Alps, these 12 interlinking stories are almost ethnographic in their rich detail of small town life. The stories range from the turn-of-the-century to the present, accurately charting change in the remote village. (ALP11, $13.95)

In a German Pension

In a German Pension


by Katherine Mansfield

  • LITERATURE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 116 PAGES

Mansfield's first published work, which pierces the bourgeoisie at a Bavarian spa town in 13 interconnected stories. Frau Fischer, the narrator, is wonderful -- and entertaining. (GER134, $13.95)

La Nouvelle Heloise

La Nouvelle Heloise


by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  • LITERATURE
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 421 PAGES

Rousseau may be best known for his political philosophy, but in this novel we see his softer side. This is the passionate story told through the letters of two lovers in a small town at the foot of the Alps. (SWZ19, $33.95)

Medusa, An Aurelio Zen Mystery

Medusa, An Aurelio Zen Mystery


by Michael Dibdin

  • MYSTERY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

In this ninth book in the thoroughly enjoyable Aurelio Zen series, our worldly detective investigates a mysterious corpse in a long-abandoned military tunnel in the Dolomites. (ITL576, $13.95)

Solo Faces

Solo Faces


by James Salter

  • LITERATURE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 218 PAGES

The story of an American climber who, dissatisfied with his everyday life, travels to the Alps of southern France to tackle mountain peaks. The prose is glorious and the mountain-climbing scenes are as vivid as they get. (ALP14, $15.00)

Birds of Europe

Birds of Europe


by Lars Svensson

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Featuring 3,500 glorious paintings by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom, the second revised edition of this exquisite guide has been brought up to date with revised text and maps. (FG47, $29.95)

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