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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 EXMED628. Buy these 4 items as a set for $68 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Ancient Rome: Art, Architecture, and History

Ancient Rome: Art, Architecture, and History

by Ada Gabucci

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

This lively, illustrated survey of Ancient Rome's monuments, history and art is a terrific introduction. (ITL419, $19.95)

The Venetian Empire, A Sea Voyage

The Venetian Empire, A Sea Voyage

by Jan Morris

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 200 PAGES

Morris reconstructs the whole of the glittering dominion of the Venetian Republic in this evocative account of a journey by sea along historic trade routes to the Adriatic and beyond. (ITL70, $24.95)

Pompeii, The Day a City Died

Pompeii, The Day a City Died

by Robert Etienne

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 215 PAGES

This indispensable pocket guide illustrates daily life in the city as told by its evocative frescoes, mosaics and treasures. (ITL01, $15.95)

Mediterranean Explorer Map

Mediterranean Explorer Map

by Ocean Explorer Maps

  • 2006
  • MAP

This handy color map of the Mediterranean from Spain to the Black Sea and the Levant puts ancient sites and historic ports into context. With notable people, a timeline and descriptions of dozens of places across the classical world, this map serves equally well for Mediterranean and Black Sea cruises. (MED89, $11.95)

 
Blue Guide Sicily

Blue Guide Sicily


by Ellen Grady

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 500 PAGES

This in-depth guide to Sicily's ancient history and archaeology features detailed maps and site plans. (ITL125, $26.95)

Eyewitness Guide Croatia

Eyewitness Guide Croatia


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 296 PAGES
  • BEST SELLER

Gorgeously illustrated and filled with excellent maps, this compact book offers a thorough overview of Croatia's history, traditions, cultures and sights. (BLK39, $23.00)

Fodor's Rome's 25 Best

Fodor's Rome's 25 Best


by Fodor's

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 176 PAGES

This shirt-pocket guide includes a map of the city and essential information on its highlights. (ITL112, $12.99)

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best


by Citypack

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 176 PAGES

This shirt-pocket guide includes an excellent map of the city center and essential information. (ITL106, $12.99)

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)

Dubrovnik, A History

Dubrovnik, A History


by Robin Harris

  • HISTORY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 503 PAGES

Harris, a journalist who writes frequently on the Balkans, presents a comprehensive portrait of the historically important maritime city-state in this nicely illustrated, scholarly and readable history of Dubrovnik. (BLK56, $26.95)

Rome

Rome


by Robert Hughes

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 512 PAGES

Opening with his arrival in Rome in 1958 as a wide-eyed young Australian, Hughes takes in the art, architecture, sculpture and life of Rome, past and present, in this splendidly written, sweeping tale of the beloved city, including memorable portraits of important characters from Caesar to Cicero, Mussolini and Fellini. (ITA267, $18.95)

Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic

Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic


by Tom Holland

  • HISTORY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 464 PAGES

A riveting popular history of the fall of the Roman empire, written with the flare of a novelist and with a sharp focus on imperial folly. (ITL677, $16.95)

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 Balkans, A Short History

The Balkans, A Short History


by Mark Mazower

  • HISTORY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 188 PAGES

A brief, provocative survey of the complex and often contentious history of the Balkans. With eloquence and insight, Mazower addresses the issues of geography, nationalism and modern nation-building in the region. (BLK28, $15.00)

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 Sicilian Vespers, A History of the Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century

The Sicilian Vespers, A History of the Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century


by Steven Runciman

  • HISTORY
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 355 PAGES

A spellbinding history of the 13th-century Kingdom of Sicily. The massacre of the French at Palermo, known as the Sicilian Vespers, is the springboard for the author's sweeping depiction of the Mediterranean in the late 1200s. (ITL295, $25.00)

Vesuvius

Vesuvius


by Gillian Darley

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 144 PAGES

Gillian Darley unveils the human responses to Vesuvius, both feared and celebrated, from a cast of characters as far-flung as Pliny the Younger and David Hockney in this entry in Harvard University Press's excellent Wonders of the World series, a perfect introduction for travelers to Pompeii and Herculaneum. (ITA275, $22.95)

Italy, Monuments Past and Present

Italy, Monuments Past and Present


by R.A. Staccioli

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2003
  • FLEXI-BOUND
  • 78 PAGES

This informative volume shows Italy's most important monuments as they look today and, via overlaid illustrations, as they were once upon a time. The book surveys the history and archeological highlights of Pompeii, Rome and Sicily. (ITL455, $25.00)

The Colosseum

The Colosseum


by Keith Hopkins | Mary Beard

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

This engaging overview of the history of the Colosseum deconstructs Hollywood-perpetrated misconceptions of gladiator-eating lions, Nero fiddling and other myths. (ITL654, $14.95)

The Fires of Vesuvius, Pompeii Lost and Found

The Fires of Vesuvius, Pompeii Lost and Found


by Mary Beard

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

With the panache of a gifted classicist, Mary Beard (Wonders of the World) conjures daily life in celebrated Pompeii, not only demolishing with particular relish the many myths that have grown up around the place but also emphasizing the limits of our knowledge. Some things we simply shall never know for certain. (ITA46, $18.50)

The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily

The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily


by Fausto Longo | Lorena Jannelli | Luca Cerchiai

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2004
  • HARD COVER
  • 288 PAGES

An engaging history of the Western Greek colonies in Sicily and southern Italy in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., featuring 240 magnificent color illustrations, maps and a site-by-site review of major archaeological sites. (ITL751, $45.00)

Balkan Ghosts, A Journey through History

Balkan Ghosts, A Journey through History


by Robert D. Kaplan

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 307 PAGES

Kaplan interweaves the history, art and culture of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece with his travels in this portrait of the region. (BLK02, $17.00)

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)

Venice Is a Fish

Venice Is a Fish


by Tiziano Scarpa

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

The hugely popular Venetian novelist, poet and playwright makes his English-language debut with these marvelously digressive essays on the many moods and pleasures of La Serenissima. (ITL964, $12.00)

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, $14.99)

Ironfire, A Novel of the Knights of Malta and the Last Battle of the Crusades

Ironfire, A Novel of the Knights of Malta and the Last Battle of the Crusades


by David Ball

  • LITERATURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 688 PAGES

In this rousing historical novel the fates of a young boy, his sister, one of the Knights of Malta and an inquisitor play out against the backdrop of the 16th-century Ottoman assault on Malta, the formidable citadel of the Knights of St. John. (MLT18, $15.00)

The Bridge on the Drina

The Bridge on the Drina


by Ivo Andric | Lovette F. Edwards

  • LITERATURE
  • 1977
  • PAPER
  • 318 PAGES

These linked stories by the Nobel-prize winning author capture the history and complexity of Christian and Muslim relations during Ottoman occupation. Hewn of stone, the bridge dividing the town of Visegrad was Andric's inspiration. (BLK59, $15.00)

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.