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Around the World in 80 Travel Books

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

National Geographic Traveler editor George Stone's discerning library of classic travel books, chosen in conjunction with writers, editors -- and Longitude.

Confederates in the Attic

Confederates in the Attic

by Tony Horwitz

  • HISTORY
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 406 PAGES

Subtitled "Dispatched from the Unfinished Civil War," this book reveals the strange world of the re-enactors, unreconstructed confederates and others whose ongoing interest and involvement in the War Between the States provide an intriguing cultural portrait of the southern and mid-Atlantic states. (USS35, $16.00)

Coming into the Country

Coming into the Country

by John McPhee

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1976
  • PAPER
  • 438 PAGES
  • BEST SELLER
  • FAVORITE

A superb introduction to the state, McPhee's lyrical portrait blends history, issues and interesting facts, including sketches of frontier life and some unforgettable Alaskan characters. (ALA04, $18.00)

Bad Land, An American Romance

Bad Land, An American Romance

by Jonathan Raban

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES

Raban captures the spirit of rural America -- and the optimism of homesteaders on the Montana Prairie -- in this lovely tale weaving history, anecdote and travel. Winner of the National Book Award. (USW408, $15.95)

The Good Rain

The Good Rain

by Timothy Egan

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 254 PAGES

A wonderfully readablet portrait of the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle journalist travels along the Columbia River in the footsteps of 1853 visionary Theodore Winthrop, focusing on the history, people and natural resources. (PNW11, $15.95)

The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America

The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America

by Bill Bryson

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 314 PAGES

Heading out from his native Des Moines, Bryson makes his way through 38 of these United States, tossing off hilarious observations of the American character and roadscapes. Forgive Bryson's cheap shots at fat people and "hicks," he's an acerbic, witty guide to the country with an irrepressible sense of the absurd. (USW180, $14.99)

Blue Highways, A Journey into America

Blue Highways, A Journey into America

by William Least Heat Moon

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 429 PAGES

On the road with Ghost Dancing (his van), William Least Heat-Moon criss-crosses the country on its backroads, discovering some pretty wonderful personalities en route in this portrait of a multi-faceted eccentric America. (USA31, $15.99)

Desert Solitaire

Desert Solitaire

by Edward Abbey

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 303 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

One of the great works on the value of the desert, eloquent and laugh-out-loud funny. Although Abbey writes specifically about his experiences as a ranger at Arches National Park outside Moab, Utah, his message is universal. (DES02, $14.95)

Travels with Charley

Travels with Charley

by John Steinbeck

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

On the road in a van with a poodle, Steinbeck sets out to discover America on a jaunt from Maine to California. Fiftieth anniversary edtion. (USA32, $16.00)

Roughing It

Roughing It

by Mark Twain

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 592 PAGES

Twain's classic work on the American West, written as he was abandoning the peripatetic life and settling down in the 1870s. Funny, irreverent, acutely observed this is vintage Twain, covering his travels in California, Nevada and Hawaii. With all 304-first edition illustrations, specially prepared maps, facsimile manuscript pages and commentary. (HWI14, $16.00)

The Innocents Abroad

The Innocents Abroad

by Mark Twain

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 523 PAGES

Mark Twain's witty and classic account of his 1867 grand tour of Europe. (MDE08, $14.95)

Road Fever, A High Speed Travelogue

by Tim Cahill

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 278 PAGES

An exhiliarating ride along with Cahill from the southernmost tip of South America to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in only 23 days. (SAM17, $14.95)

In Trouble Again

In Trouble Again

by Redmond O'Hanlon

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

As funny as he is insightful, O'Hanlon starts his comic masterpiece of a journey between the Orinoco and the Amazon with a litany of the insects, protozoa, snakes and predators that can do you harm. (AMZ04, $13.95)

The Panama Hat Trail

The Panama Hat Trail

by Tom Miller

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

An entertaining and insightful social history of Ecuador -- as told through its hat-making history. It's a classic example of travel writing, and one of the best things written on Ecuador. (EDR15, $14.00)

The Old Patagonian Express

The Old Patagonian Express

by Paul Theroux

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 404 PAGES

Combining history, anecdote and acutely observed detail on people and place, Theroux begins his journey on a Boston subway car and works his way south via rail, plane and truck to the Patagonian railroad in this enthralling narrative. (PAT08, $15.95)

In Patagonia

In Patagonia

by Bruce Chatwin

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 204 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

A masterpiece of travel, history and adventure, this award-winning book captures the spirit of the land, history, wildlife and people of Patagonia. There's no travel writer as engaging, insightful and just plain wonderful as Bruce Chatwin. (PAT01, $15.00)

The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris

The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris

by Edmund White

  • LITERATURE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

The gifted novelist reveals his favorite haunts in this glittering portrait of Paris and its pleasures, taking in neighborhoods, bookshops and boutiques, monuments and palaces, eateries and, naturally, the history behind it all. (FRN259, $15.00)

Brazilian Adventure

Brazilian Adventure

by Peter Fleming

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

A classic and very entertaining account of a 3,000-mile quest through the Amazon in search of a missing English colonel, first published in 1933. (AMZ55, $16.95)

In Tuscany

by Bob Krist | Frances Mayes

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2000
  • HARD COVER
  • 269 PAGES

An edition of Maye's warm, anecdotal account of life on her now-restored Tuscan estate, much enhanced by Bob Krist's color photographs. (ITL348, $35.00)

Bella Tuscany, The Sweet Life in Italy

Bella Tuscany, The Sweet Life in Italy

by Frances Mayes

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 286 PAGES

In this sequel to "Under the Tuscan Sun," best-selling author Frances Mayes goes out in search of Italian Life in the small town of Cortona. (ITL224, $15.00)

Under the Tuscan Sun

Under the Tuscan Sun

by Frances Mayes

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

In this best-selling memoir of buying, renovating and living in an abandoned villa in Tuscany, Mayes reveals the sensual pleasures found in rural Italy. (ITL85, $15.00)

London, The Biography

London, The Biography

by Peter Ackroyd

  • HISTORY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 864 PAGES

A big thematic history of London from Celtic settlement to Roman outpost and world power, much focused on the life of the city. A popular biographer and novelist, Ackroyd leavens the centuries with anecdote, personality and great affection. (GBR248, $22.00)

Bury Me Standing

Bury Me Standing

by Isabel Fonseca

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 322 PAGES

This marvelous portrait of the Roma, also known as the Gypsies, offers insight into their music, foods, religions and folk traditions, and also examines their influential but complex relationship with Eastern Europe. (EUR09, $16.00)

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)

Turkish Reflections, A Biography of a Place

Turkish Reflections, A Biography of a Place

by Mary Lee Settle

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 253 PAGES

Settle's captivating travelogue is a richly detailed portrait of contemporary Turkey, its people, monasteries, myths, archaeological treasures and living traditions. Exemplary. (TKY08, $16.99)

Danube

Danube

by Claudio Magris

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES

Mixing history, personalities and literature, Magris traces the course of the Danube from its source in the heart of the Austro-Hungarian empire through the Balkans to the Black Sea in this anything but conventional travelogue, first published in 1986. (EUR58, $17.00)

A Moveable Feast

A Moveable Feast

by Ernest Hemingway

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 211 PAGES

A treasure for anyone interested in Parisian cafe society and its luminaries circa 1925. Hemingway includes sharp portraits of Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others who idled on their way to greatness. (FRN26, $15.00)

Two Towns in Provence

Two Towns in Provence

by M. F. K. Fisher

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1983
  • PAPER
  • 208 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Celebrated food writer M.F.K. Fisher contrasts village life in Aix-en-Provence with bustling Marseilles, evoking these two favorite places with anecdote and loving description. (FRN27, $18.95)

The Colossus of Maroussi

The Colossus of Maroussi

by Henry Miller

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 223 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Miller captures the spirit and warmth of the resilient Greek people in this inspired tale of a wartime journey from Athens to Crete, Corfu and Delphi with his friend Lawrence Durrell. (GRE05, $12.95)

Homage to Catalonia

Homage to Catalonia

by George Orwell

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1987
  • PAPER
  • 234 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Orwell's portrait of the Barcelona uprising and the spirit of a city at war is a classic, an observant and heartfelt report from the streets. (SPN03, $14.95)

Sea and Sardinia

Sea and Sardinia

by D.H. Lawrence

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 211 PAGES

A marvelous account of a trip to Sardinia, evoking both the charms and travails of the then-remote island, and the personality of the author. It's a pleasingly exaggerated, accessible portrait of life on the island, circa 1921. (ITL349, $16.00)

Honeymoon in Purdah, An Iranian Journey

Honeymoon in Purdah, An Iranian Journey

by Alison Wearing

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

A delightfully insane jaunt through contemporary Iran. The author dives into the personalities and charm of the Iranian people in this entertaining, insightful account. (IRN24, $19.00)

An Unexpected Light, Travels in Afghanistan

An Unexpected Light, Travels in Afghanistan

by Jason Elliot

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 512 PAGES

A vividly reported account of travels in Afghanistan. (CAS74, $18.00)

Sahara Unveiled, A Journey across the Desert

Sahara Unveiled, A Journey across the Desert

by William Langewiesche

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 302 PAGES

Traveling across the Sahara from Algiers to Dakar, Langeweische has written an uncommonly good memoir of the desert, with meditations on its history, inhabitants and allure. (NAF05, $16.00)

In An Antique Land

In An Antique Land

by Amitav Ghosh

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 393 PAGES

In this heady book, the author-historian recreates the life of a slave who lived along the ancient Nile. Not exactly historical fiction, this book artfully interweaves personal history, travel writing and philosophical meditation. (EGY18, $18.00)

Motoring with Mohammed, Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea

Motoring with Mohammed, Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea

by Eric Hansen

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Shipwrecked en route from the Maldives, rescued with his buddies by Eritrean goat smugglers, and an accidental tourist in Sana'a, Hansen's misadventures make a terrific story. Even better, he provides a rich portrait of a little-known region. (ARB11, $16.00)

Lords of the Atlas

Lords of the Atlas

by Gavin Maxwell

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 316 PAGES
  • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE

Set in the medieval city of Marrakech and the majestic kasbahs of the High Atlas mountains, this rousing history vividly portrays life in French colonial Morocco. Maxwell (Ring of Bright Water) follows the fate of the despotic Glaoui clan from 1893 to independence. (MRC35, $33.95)

Arabian Sands

Arabian Sands

by Wilfred Thesiger

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

The last of the great British traveler-explorers, Thesiger (1910-2003) journeyed among the nomadic camel-breeding peoples of Southern Arabia in the late 1940s, falling in love with the desert and ways of life of the Bedouin. This eloquent book is his tribute to them. (ARB15, $16.00)

West with the Night

West with the Night

by Beryl Markham | Sara Wheeler

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 294 PAGES
  • BEST SELLER
  • FAVORITE

Beryl Markham evokes the landscapes, people and wildlife of East Africa in engrossing detail in this classic memoir of amazing adventures as a bush pilot in 1930s Kenya. A Longitude favorite. This new edition includes an introduction by the daring Sara Wheeler. If you haven't read this book, whether or not you are ghoing on Safari, you are in for a treat. (EAF10, $16.00)

Out of Africa

Out of Africa

by Isak Dinesen

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1985
  • PAPER
  • 466 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

The perennially best-selling tale of a naive young woman who leaves Denmark for East Africa, Dinesen's (AKA Karen Blixen) autobiography draws us into life on a struggling coffee plantation. It's a moving story inspired by a love for Kenya and its people. Includes the novella Shadows on the Grass. (EAF22, $15.00)

The Valleys of the Assassins, and Other Persian Travels

by Freya Stark

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 292 PAGES

A remarkable account of adventures in remote Persia by the intrepid Freya Stark, originally published in 1934. Her expedition discovered the site of Lammassar, the second of the great fortresses to be discovered in the remote Alamut Valley (MDE53, $15.00)

South Southeast

South Southeast

by Steve McCurry

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2001
  • HARD COVER
  • 160 PAGES

A remarkable portfolio of striking photographs taken in and around Afghanistan, Burma, India, Pakistan and other sites in South and Southeast Asia over a long career. Saturated with color, light and evocative of daily life. (ASA34, $65.00)

In Siberia

In Siberia

by Colin Thubron

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Thubron captures the beauty, personality, contradictions and harsh nature of this huge land in this classic account of a 15,000-mile, cross-continental odyssey from the Yenisei to Baikal, Khabarovsk and Magadan. (SIB14, $14.99)

The River at the Center of the World

The River at the Center of the World

by Simon Winchester

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 410 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Winchester writes about the character of the Yangtze and the people and places along its banks with easy grace in this absorbing portrait of the great river flowing through the heart of China. (CHN31, $17.00)

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

by Jan Morris

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

A wonderful portrait of Hong Kong by one of our favorite travel writers. Morris enumerates the many personal pleasures of the city, deftly interweaving reportage, history and culture. (HKG02, $17.00)

Video Night in Kathmandu, and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East

Video Night in Kathmandu, and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East

by Pico Iyer

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 376 PAGES

Iyer brings enormous wit and humor to these classic essays on travel to places including Bali, Hong Kong and Bangkok. (ASA02, $14.95)

Iron and Silk

by Mark Salzman

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 211 PAGES

Salzman gets himself to Changsha in the mid-1980s on the pretext of teaching English to Chinese doctors. His real mission, however, is to become a kung fu master. In this wonderfully readable travelogue he conveys a sense of contemporary life. (CHN52, $15.00)

The Roads to Sata, A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan

The Roads to Sata, A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan

by Alan Booth

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 281 PAGES

A revealing, humorous account of the author's 2,000-mile walk north to south from Hokkaido to Kyushu by a wonderfully eccentric British expatriate. Booth is a disarming writer, chronicling his encounters along the byways of rural Japan with farmers, misfits, tramps and others who crossed his path. (JPN11, $16.00)

Running in the Family

Running in the Family

by Michael Ondaatje

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 207 PAGES

Award-winning author Ondaatje returns to his native Sri Lanka in this hypnotic travelogue. His lovingly traced family memoirs are interspersed with poetry and ruminations on the island's post-colonial history. (SRL04, $15.00)

The Snow Leopard

The Snow Leopard

by Peter Matthiessen

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

The most perceptive, acutely observed and personal of all his books, Matthiessen's account of a five-week journey through Nepal with naturalist George Schaller combines their quest for the elusive cat with a moving introduction to Buddhism and the people and culture of the Himalayas. (NPL03, $16.00)

Seven Years in Tibet

Seven Years in Tibet

by Heinrich Harrer

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

First published in 1953, this is the riveting account of a young Austrian adventurer and mountaineer who became tutor to the Dalai Lama. (TBT02, $14.95)

30 Days in Sydney, A Wildly Distorted Account

by Peter Carey

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

An impressionistic account of Carey's native city, the result of his return visit (with a tape recorder) after an absence of 17 years. (AUS123, $13.00)

In a Sunburned Country

In a Sunburned Country

by Bill Bryson

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 335 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

The intrepid, ever-resourceful Bryson revels in Australia's eccentric characters, dangerous flora and fauna, and other oddities in this wildly funny, effortlessly informative travelogue. (AUS83, $15.99)

The Edge of Paradise, America in Micronesia

The Edge of Paradise, America in Micronesia

by P. K. Kluge

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 244 PAGES

The insightful, personal memoir of a Peace Corps volunteer in the American possessions in the Mariana, Caroline and Marshall Islands of Micronesia in 1967, including Truk and Ponape. (PAC33, $21.00)

Stranger in the Forest

Stranger in the Forest

by Eric Hansen

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Hansen's absorbing account of a trek across Sarawak in the company of the nomadic Penan is an entertaining portrait of a little-visited world and vanishing way of life. (BRN16, $16.00)

The Songlines

The Songlines

by Bruce Chatwin

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Rory Stewart provides the introduction to this 25th anniversary edition of Bruce Chatwin's celebrated travelogue, which is as much about its gifted author -- and the meaning of travel -- as about the Aboriginal people and their ways of life. Chatwin transforms a journey through the Outback into an exhilarating, semi-fictional meditation on our place in the world. (AUS01, $16.00)

Tracks, A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback

Tracks, A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback

by Robyn Davidson

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

The true-life story of a woman's trek across the Australian outback -- an adventurous tale shot through with a feel for the landscape and empathy for the Aborigines she meets along the way. (AUS15, $15.95)

A House in Bali

A House in Bali

by Colin McPhee

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 213 PAGES

A warm tribute to the people, culture and, especially, the music of Bali of the 1930s. It's a literary classic, originally published in 1944. (BAL15, $20.00)

This Cold Heaven

This Cold Heaven

by Gretel Ehrlich

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Ehrlich spent seven seasons in Greenland, mostly alone, traveling by boat, helicopter, plane and dogsled. This exhilarating book reflects her insight, knowledge and deep appreciation of the people and barren landscapes of the north. (ARC107, $18.95)

Terra Incognita, Travels in Antarctica

Terra Incognita, Travels in Antarctica

by Sara Wheeler

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

A fine portrait of modern Antarctic scientists (and cooks and truck drivers), Wheeler's book weaves stories of modern adventure with commentary on the heroic age of exploration. A thoroughly enjoyable, anecdotal tribute. (ANT45, $15.00)

Arctic Dreams

Arctic Dreams

by Barry Lopez

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 417 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

A dazzling meditation on the Arctic, breathtaking in scope. Lopez draws on his travels throughout the North, including Baffin Island, the Chukchi and Bering seas, Alaska, the Yukon and Greenland, interweaving natural history, accounts of early exploration, anecdote and lore into an indelible portrait of place. (ARC11, $16.00)

 
Slowly Down the Ganges

Slowly Down the Ganges


by Eric Newby

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

In 1963, the author and his wife set out an a 1,200-mile voyage down the Ganges River. The title could apply as easily to the ruminative attitude Newby takes towards his journey as to the many mishaps which bedevil the quest. (IDA179, $18.95)

Madagascar, The Eighth Continent

Madagascar, The Eighth Continent


by Peter Tyson

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 375 PAGES

Peter Tyson tags along with several researchers, interweaving an account of their work with travelogue, history and ecology for this far-ranging, journalistic report on the cultural and natural history of Madagascar. (MAD22, $19.99)

More Recommendations

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

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