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READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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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

Item EXMED383. Buy these 5 items as a set for $82 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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Mediterranean by Cruise Ship

Mediterranean by Cruise Ship

by Anne Vipond

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

The best-selling, compact guide, featuring excellent local maps, hundreds of color photographs, concise background information and recommended excursions for ports-of-call throughout the Mediterranean. (MED34, $21.95)

The Ancient Mediterranean

The Ancient Mediterranean

by Michael Grant

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 374 PAGES

Grant explores the realms of archaeology, geography, art and economics to sketch this classic portrait of the ancient world, from prehistory through the Roman Imperium, and the influence on western civilization. (MED10, $20.00)

The Alhambra

The Alhambra

by Robert Irwin

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 213 PAGES

Irwin's brief, indispensable guide introduces the stunning Moorish palace and fortress complex, revealing its mysteries, myths and significance with wit and insight. (SPN226, $14.95)

The Caliph's House, A Year in Casablanca

The Caliph's House, A Year in Casablanca

by Tahir Shah

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 343 PAGES
  • BEST SELLER

Shah is a marvelous storyteller, weaving Moroccan customs and history with deft portraits of neighbors, craftsmen and others in this entertaining tale of the transformation of a crumbling palace in Casablanca. (MRC66, $16.00)

Mediterranean Cruises Map

Mediterranean Cruises Map

by Freytag & Berndt

  • 2010
  • MAP

A double-sided, full-color map of the Mediterranean, including the Iberian Peninsula and Black Sea, North Africa and the Levant, at a scale of 1:2,000,000. (MED36, $14.95)

 

Eyewitness Guide Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 216 PAGES

This colorful guide includes excellent maps, essays and hundreds of photographs, providing a great introduction for travelers. (SPN222, $20.00)

Eyewitness Guide Seville and Andalusia

Eyewitness Guide Seville and Andalusia


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 286 PAGES

This wonderfully organized and visually rich guide features excellent maps and essays on the culture, history and geography of the region. (SPN15, $23.00)

Fodor's Lisbon's 25 Best

Fodor's Lisbon's 25 Best


by Fodor's

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

This slim guide to Lisbon includes an excellent map of the city center and essential information on its highlights. (PGL40, $11.99)

Fodor's Rome's 25 Best

Fodor's Rome's 25 Best


by Fodor's

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

This shirt-pocket guide includes a map of the city and essential information on its highlights. (ITL112, $11.99)

Rome from the Ground Up

Rome from the Ground Up


by James H. S. McGregor

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 332 PAGES

A wonderfully erudite, in-depth guide to the architecture and history of Rome. With 88 color and 34 black-and-white photographs and 20 maps. (ITL629, $29.95)

A Traveller's History of Portugal

A Traveller's History of Portugal


by Ian Robertson

  • HISTORY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

A lively, admirably concise survey from prehistory to the present, great for travelers to Portugal who would like an overview of the country's history and culture. (PGL32, $14.95)

Islam, A Short History

Islam, A Short History


by Karen Armstrong

  • RELIGION
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 230 PAGES

Armstrong brings authority and experience to this vivid, clear-headed survey of the history and impact of Islam from the birth of Muhammad to present-day challenges. (ISL15, $15.95)

Moorish Spain

Moorish Spain


by Richard Fletcher

  • HISTORY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 189 PAGES

The history and culture of Islam in Spain geared for the curious traveler. (SPN110, $26.95)

Morocco, The Islamist Awakening and Other Challenges

Morocco, The Islamist Awakening and Other Challenges


by Marvine Howe

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2005
  • HARD COVER
  • 428 PAGES

A penetrating look at political, social and cultural life in Morocco under King Mohammed V, by a former New York Times correspondent. (MRC75, $20.00)

Spain, The Root and the Flower

Spain, The Root and the Flower


by John A. Crow

  • HISTORY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 455 PAGES

Take this book with you to Spain: it's an absorbing, well-written account of Spanish cultural history from prehistory to the Romans, Jews, Moors, Golden Age and on to Franco and his legacy in modern Spain. (SPN13, $29.95)

The Middle Sea

The Middle Sea


by 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. (MED98, $21.00)

The Ornament of the World, How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

The Ornament of the World, How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain


by Maria Rosa Menocal | Harold Bloom

  • RELIGION
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

A lively, illuminating portrait of the Andalucian Kingdom, its cultural achievements and religious tolerance from the eighth century to 1492. (SPN185, $15.99)

The Story of the Moors in Spain

The Story of the Moors in Spain


by Stanley Lane-Poole

  • HISTORY
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 285 PAGES

A wonderfully readable, sweeping tale of splendor and tragedy, first published in 1866. (SPN12, $18.95)

Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palace of Islamic Spain

Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palace of Islamic Spain


by D. Fairchild Ruggles

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 264 PAGES

Spain's Moorish legacy is nowhere more evident than in its graceful Islamic architecture and sumptuous gardens. (SPN170, $39.95)

Dreams of Trespass, Tales of a Harem Girlhood

Dreams of Trespass, Tales of a Harem Girlhood


by Fatima Mernissi

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 242 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

This captivating memoir opens, "I was born in a harem in 1940 in Fez, a ninth-century Moroccan city." Mernissi captures not only the spirit of the place, but also the hierarchy and decorum of a family compound in a Muslim household. (MRC10, $17.00)

Iberia, Spanish Travels & Reflections

Iberia, Spanish Travels & Reflections


by James Michener

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 960 PAGES

In this best-selling travelogue, Michener presents a compulsively readable and well-observed account of his love affair with Spain and all things Spanish. It has achieved the status of a classic, rich in detail and insightful. (SPN16, $8.99)

In Morocco

In Morocco


by Edith Wharton

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 223 PAGES

Wharton's enjoyable account of her month-long journey through Morocco after WWI captures the landscapes, architecture and many aspects of Muslim culture and history, and especially the cities of Rabat, Fez and Marrakech. (MRC02, $10.95)

Pillars of Hercules

Pillars of Hercules


by Paul Theroux

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 509 PAGES

Theroux seems to have had an exceptionally good time on his tour of the Mediterranean, circling the celebrated sea on foot, horseback, train and boat from Gibraltar to North Africa. (MED20, $17.00)

A Small Death in Lisbon

A Small Death in Lisbon


by Robert Wilson

  • MYSTERY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 440 PAGES

Set in Lisbon in 1941 and 1999, this award-winning mystery intertwines a present day murder, some unsavory arms production, and smuggling in Nazi Germany. Be warned, there are some graphic passages dealing with the horrors of war and concentration camps. (PGL22, $7.99)

Marks of Identity

Marks of Identity


by Juan Goytisolo | Gregory Rabassa

  • LITERATURE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

Banned under Franco, this is the story of a man struggling to get along without love for his country or himself. The author has written a number of novels concerning Spain on the periphery of the Western and Islamic worlds. (SPN25, $15.00)

Spain in Mind

Spain in Mind


by Alice Powers

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 372 PAGES

This literary A-to-Z includes selections by Auden, Hemingway, Michener, Twain, Orwell, Trollope, Wharton and other luminaries. (SPN290, $15.95)

The Spider's House

The Spider's House


by Paul Bowles

  • LITERATURE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 406 PAGES

Set in Fez during a 1954 nationalist uprising, this richly descriptive novel may be the most evocative of Bowles' many works set in Morocco. Originally published in 1955. (MRC08, $14.99)

Plant Life in the World's Mediterranean Climates

Plant Life in the World's Mediterranean Climates


by Paul Dallman

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 210 PAGES

Richly illustrated, clearly written and engaging, this book is an ecological overview of the landscapes, plants and vegetation types found in Mediterranean climates. (MED21, $35.95)

Field Guide to the Birds of the Atlantic Islands

Field Guide to the Birds of the Atlantic Islands


by Tony Clarke | Chris Orgill

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

A comprehensive field guide to 450 species of birds, both resident and migrant, of the Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores and Cape Verde. (ATL23, $60.00)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.