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In the Kitchen

Gran Cocina Latina, The Food of Latin America

Maricel E. Presilla

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Endurance, Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

Alfred Lansing

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Arctic Dreams

Barry Lopez

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Every Day in Tuscany, Seasons of an Italian Life

Frances Mayes

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READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

Longitude News June

City of Fortune, How Venice Ruled the Seas

City of Fortune, How Venice Ruled the Seas

by Roger Crowley

  • HISTORY
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

Crowley spins tales of three centuries of plunder and plague, imperial conquest and piracy in this riveting new history, chronicling the transformation of a tiny city of lagoon dwellers into the richest place on earth. City of Fortune is framed by two of the great collisions of world history: the ill-fated Fourth Crusade -- culminating in the sacking of Constantinople in 1204 -- and the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1499-1503. (MED185, $18.00)

Vodka, A Global History

Vodka, A Global History

by Patricia Herlihy

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 128 PAGES

A professor of history at Brown, Patricia Herlihy tracks our fascination with this most versatile of spirits from its mysterious 14th Century Slavic origins to today's global dominance in this throughoughly entertaining, erudite and illustrated short history. A volume in the lively Edible History Series, which also includes the ideal companion: Olives, A Global History. (RUS475, $17.00)

Masters of the Planet, The Search for Our Human Origins

Masters of the Planet, The Search for Our Human Origins

by Ian Tattersall

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 266 PAGES

With characteristic charm and wit, paleoanthropologist, popular author and study leader Ian Tattersall spins tales of the saga of the evolution of our species and the "long trek from ancient ape to modern human." (ATP32, $17.00)

Still Life, Inside the Antarctic Huts of Scott and Shackleton

Still Life, Inside the Antarctic Huts of Scott and Shackleton

by Jane Ussher

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 224 PAGES

Handsomely bound in cloth, this striking collection of photographs showcases Jane Ussher's rich color portraits of interiors and surroundings of the historic Antarctic headquarters at Cape Evans and Cape Royds. With an eye for exquisite detail, Ussher captures the decayed splendor of the huts, untouched by time, showing, for example, one wall with a portrait of King Edward VII hanging amidst seal blubber and mutton, a jar of pickles, penguin eggs, cufflinks and a pair of trousers. (ANT361, $50.00)

Chasing Venus, The Race to Measure the Heavens

Chasing Venus, The Race to Measure the Heavens

by Andrea Wulf

  • SCIENCE
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 324 PAGES

Andrea Wulf masterfully sets the global scene for unprecedented international scientific cooperation in the mid 18th century, capturing the politics, science and thrill of the 1761 Transit of Venus. She traces the teams of astronomers dispatched from Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Sweden and the American colonies, even in the midst of war, to far-flung corners of the Earth, where they eagerly awaited the Day of Transit, 6 June 1761. Occurring roughly every 105 years, there was no Transit of Venus in the 20th century but in the 21st century we have two (they occur in pairs): June 8, 2004 -- and June 6, 2012. (SCI307, $16.00)

 
Wildlife Photography, On Safari With Your DSLR

Wildlife Photography, On Safari With Your DSLR


by Uwe Skrzypczak

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

Skrzypczak includes chapters on equipment, technique, composition and wildlife in this practical, beautifully illustrated guide, loaded with striking images of the wildlife of Ngorongoro, the Serengeti and the Masai Mara. (EAF379, $39.95)

Born in Africa

Born in Africa


by Martin Meredith

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

Martin Meredith (The Fate of Africa) turns to human origins and the riveting tale of rival anthropologists, archaeologists and scientists who have struggled to unravel the story of the evolution of humankind on the plains of Africa. (AFR286, $14.99)

Empires of the Silk Road

Empires of the Silk Road


by Christopher I. Beckwith

  • HISTORY
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 504 PAGES
  • NEW

Beckwith rescues Central Asia from the periphery of world affairs with flair and scholarship, showing the sweep of empire, trade and cultural life over the millennia. (CAS171, $16.95)

Naples Declared

Naples Declared


by Benjamin Taylor

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

Subtitled A Walk Along the Bay, Taylor takes in the all the splendor and grit of ancient Naples from street level, mixing his travels with history, quotes from storied visitors over the ages and indelible portraits of the characters he meets. (ITA315, $17.00)

Vanished Kingdoms, How Nations Rise and Fall

Vanished Kingdoms, How Nations Rise and Fall


by Norman Davies

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 720 PAGES

In this marvelously tale of lost civilizations and the shifting fate of nations, historian Norrman Davies presents the stories of 14 now all-but-forgotten European states, including Aragon, Etruria and the Two Burgundies. Not just an intiguing look at history, these tales will also incite wanderlust. (EUR404, $25.00)

Alaskan Travels, Far-Flung Tales of Love and Adventure

Alaskan Travels, Far-Flung Tales of Love and Adventure


by Edward Hoagland

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 208 PAGES

From the Arctic Ocean to the Kenai Peninsula, backstreet bars of Anchorage and a 500-mile adventure on the Yukon, Edward Hoagland traveled the "real" Alaska on a grand journey some thirty years ago. Drawing on his journals of the time, Hoagland commemorates the lives of an astonishing and unforgettable array of prospectors, trappers, millionaire freebooters, drifters, oilmen, Inuits and others he enountered along the way. In the tradition of Twain's Life on the Mississippi and Jonathon Rabin's Old Glory, Alaskan Travels is a love song with a love story at its heart. The remarkably kind and competent frontier nurse Linda got him to Alaska in the first place. (ALA364, $22.95)

The Sugar King of Havana

The Sugar King of Havana


by John Paul Rathbone

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

John Paul Rathbone recounts ""elegant, decadent and whirligig years" of pre-revolutionary Havana and the dramatic life of Julio Lobo, the richest man in Cuba (until Castro's revolution did away with such men). Surviving assassin's bullets and making and losing two fortunes, Cuba's last tycoon went from glittering man about town in pre-Revolutionary Havana -- and one of the world's richest men -- to solitary exile in Spain. With a mother that traveled in those same circles in Havana, Rathbone brings depth and the prespective of an insider to this fantastic story. (CBA170, $16.00)

The Tao of Travel, Enlightenments from Lives on the Road

The Tao of Travel, Enlightenments from Lives on the Road


by Paul Theroux

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

Theroux celebrates 50 years of wandering with this inspired miscellany of meditations, excerpts from his many books and quotes from favorite writers from Nabokov and Twain to McPhee, Waugh, Chatwin and Matthiessen. No one who loves travel writing should be without it! (TVL513, $14.95)

To a Mountain in Tibet

To a Mountain in Tibet


by Colin Thubron

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

The intrepid, soulful Colin Thubron journeys from Nepal to Kailas, the revered mountain, "source of the universe, created from cosmic waters and the mind of Brahma" in his most revealing book yet. A New York Times Notable Book and Longitude favorite of 2011. (TBT134, $15.99)

Central Park, An Anthology

Central Park, An Anthology


by Andrew Blauner

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

This collection, with a introduction by Parks Commissionar Adrian Benape, features a host of great writers -- Francine Prose's memories of a Nino Simone concert at the height of the sixties civil rights fervor -- as well as some memorable excerpts from fiction, including a scene from Paul Auster's Moon Palace in which the narrator sleeps rough in the park. (NYC243, $17.00)

A Rich Spot of Earth, Thomas Jefferson's Revolutionary Garden at Monticello

A Rich Spot of Earth, Thomas Jefferson's Revolutionary Garden at Monticello


by Peter J. Hatch

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 288 PAGES

Director of Gardens and Grounds at Monticello since 1977, Peter Hatch showcases Jefferson's magnificently restored vegetable garden in this richly detailed, beautifully illustrated guide and history. Hatch covers not just garden design and restoration but also discusses Jefferson's favorite vegetables and the Virginian, French-inflected cuisine he developed, and gardening traditions he adapted from other lands. Alice Waters provides the foreword. (USE549, $35.00)

Bird Sense

Bird Sense


by Tim Birkhead

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 265 PAGES

From eagle-eyed birds of prey to the magnetic sense of migrating Bar-tailed Godwits, tTim Birhead meditates on what it's like to be a bird. An animal behaviorist and avid birder, he draws on examples from throughout the world of birds. With original illustrations by the artist Katrina van Grouw. (BRD111, $26.00)

Why Size Matters, From Bacteria to Blue Whales

Why Size Matters, From Bacteria to Blue Whales


by John Tyler Bonner

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 176 PAGES

Bonner considers the role of physical size and its relation to function, evolution, behavior, and longevity of in this classic essay. (NAT108, $16.95)

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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.