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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 EXEUR669. Buy these 5 items as a set for $84 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Every Pilgrim's Guide to Oberammergau and Its Passion Play

Every Pilgrim's Guide to Oberammergau and Its Passion Play

by Michael Counsell

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

Organizer of the Welcome Center during the 1990 and 2000 play seasons, Michael Counsell includes an outline of the play, prayers, relevant readings from the bible and hymns in this handy shirt pocket guide. Performed since the Middle Ages, the 2010 play, which opens May 15, is again directed by Christian Stuckl, a Munich theater director, originally from Oberammergau. (GER240, $19.99)

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)

Cathedrals and Castles, The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages

Cathedrals and Castles, The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages

by Alain Erlande-Brandenburg

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 175 PAGES

This pocket-size encyclopedia of the art, architecture and culture of the Middle Ages features hundreds of drawings, color illustrations and a brief chronology. (MED07, $15.95)

Mozart

Mozart

by Peter Gay

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 177 PAGES

This concise, entertaining portrait delves into Mozart's complex relationship with his father, his daunting role as a child prodigy and his exploration of new musical territory. (AST43, $14.00)

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)

 
Lonely Planet Munich, Bavaria & the Black Forest

Lonely Planet Munich, Bavaria & the Black Forest


by Andrea Schulte-Peevers

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 360 PAGES

This practical guide to Bavaria and the Romantic Road includes maps, an overview of culture and history, and a good deal of nuts-and-bolts information on getting around and sightseeing. (GER150, $19.99)

Michelin Green Guide Alsace, Lorraine, Champagne

Michelin Green Guide Alsace, Lorraine, Champagne


by Michelin Travel Publications

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 480 PAGES

A guide to Alsace, Champagne and Vosges in the classic Michelin style. (FRN157, $21.99)

Prost! The Story of German Beer

Prost! The Story of German Beer


by Horst D. Dornbusch

  • FOOD
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

The Munich-based aficionado weaves history and culture with the marvels and mysteries of German beer in this brief, authoritative guide. (GER99, $14.95)

Oberammergau, The Troubling Story of the World's Most Famous Passion Play

Oberammergau, The Troubling Story of the World's Most Famous Passion Play


by James Shapiro

  • HISTORY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

A cultural history of Oberammergau and the monumental influence its Passion Play has had on its development. (GER67, $13.00)

The Burgermeister's Daughter, Scandal in a Sixteenth-Century German Town

The Burgermeister's Daughter, Scandal in a Sixteenth-Century German Town


by Steven Ozment

  • HISTORY
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

Meticulously researched and absorbing, this narrative by a Harvard historian traces the legal battle of the daughter of a well-to-do family who was thrown out of her home and disinherited in 1525. (GER25, $13.99)

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)

The Rhine, Culture and Landscape at the Heart of Europe

The Rhine, Culture and Landscape at the Heart of Europe


by Roland Recht

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2001
  • HARD COVER
  • 360 PAGES

This beautifully illustrated, oversized survey of the history, geography and culture of the Rhine shows cities, villages and sights along the river from its source in the Alps to the North Sea. (GER120, $75.00)

Baroque and Rococo Art

Baroque and Rococo Art


by Germain Bazin

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1985
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

An excellent illustrated survey of Baroque and Rococo art and architecture, this volume in the acclaimed "World of Art" series is a good companion to the golden age of Middle Europe. (EUR53, $21.95)

A Tramp Abroad

A Tramp Abroad


by Mark Twain | David Eggers | Kerry Driscoll

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

Written 11 years after Innocents Abroad, this is Twain's second foray into European travel. Filled with his characteristic wit and humorous observations, it documents his journeys through Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy. Now with an introduction by Dave Eggers. (EUR78, $14.95)

Lola Montez, A Life

Lola Montez, A Life


by Bruce Seymour

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 480 PAGES

The life of the powerful paramour of King Ludwig. (EUR89, $45.00)

Ludwig


by Luchino Visconti

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2008
  • DVD

Director Luchino Visconti brings his famed majestic style to this lavish and operatic portrait of Ludwig II, the 19th-century 'mad king' of Bavaria (GER237, $39.98)

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers


by Maria von Trapp

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES
  • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE

The true story of the von Trapp family singers, as remembered by Maria von Trapp herself. Maria was indeed a novice nun, but there ends her resemblance to the Julie Andrews character in the Sound of Music. (AST47, $13.99)

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)

Stones from the River, A Novel

Stones from the River, A Novel


by Ursula Hegi

  • LITERATURE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 525 PAGES

Rich in details of daily life in Germany in the first half of the 20th century, this ambitious novel illuminates the impact of Nazism and complicity of townsfolk through the eyes of Trudi Montag, librarian, storyteller and testimony to difference (she's a Zwerg or dwarf). (GER213, $16.00)

The Blue Flower

The Blue Flower


by Penelope Fitzgerald

  • LITERATURE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 225 PAGES

Set in the Age of Goethe, this exquisitely written short novel is a fictional account of the life of the Romantic poet Novalis. It paints a vivid picture of German intellectual and mercantile life in the late 1700s. (GER21, $13.00)

The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm

The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm


by Lore Segal | Maurice Sendak

  • LITERATURE
  • 2003
  • HARD COVER
  • 368 PAGES
  • FAMILY

A new edition of a revered classic (hard-bound with dust jacket and built-in bookmark), distinguished by the choice of tales, sharp translation and, of course, Sendak's haunting illustrations. (GER144, $28.00)

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.