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British Isles

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Item EXGBR184. Buy these 5 items as a set for $101 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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The British Isles, A History of Four Nations

by Hugh Kearney

• HISTORY
• 2006
• PAPER
• 324 PAGES

The Celts, Romans, Vikings, Normans and modern immigrants all make an appearance in Kearney's elegant and revisionist history of not just the English but also of the Scots, Welsh and Irish. (GBR88, $39.99)

Seamanship, A Voyage Along the Wild Coasts of the British Isles

by Adam Nicolson

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2007
• PAPER
• 192 PAGES

Nicolson offers an engrossing account of a coastal voyage from Cornwall, along the western coast of Ireland, out to the Faeroes and to Orkney in this brief hymn to the sea. (GBR561, $13.95)

The Mother Tongue, English and How it Got That Way

by Bill Bryson

• CULTURAL PORTRAIT
• 1996
• PAPER
• 270 PAGES

An indispensable guide to the language that divides us, this book is an informative linguistic history that showcases Bryson's wry wit. (GBR15, $14.99)

Eyewitness Guide Great Britain

by Eyewitness Guides

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2011
• PAPER
• 720 PAGES

With 1,400 photos, maps and excellent introductory chapters, this guide is both a general introduction to Great Britain and a region-by-region look at its attractions. (GBR01, $30.00)

Great Britain and Ireland Map

by HEMA Maps

• MAP

A nicely detailed map showing both Great Britain and Ireland at a scale of 1:750,000. (GBR31, $10.95)

 

Also Recommended

Fodor's Exploring Scotland

by Gilbert Summers

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2007
• PAPER
• 288 PAGES

With its many photographs, detailed descriptions and practical information, this compact guide covers Scotland in style. (SCT09, $22.00)

Fodor's London's 25 Best

by Fodor's

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2012
• PAPER
• 176 PAGES

This slim guide to London (with handy full-color maps) has everything you need to know for a short visit to the city, including recommended sightseeing, restaurants, hotels and shops. (GBR08, $12.99)

Knopf Mapguide Edinburgh

by Knopf Guides

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2008
• PAPER
• 48 PAGES

A handy set of full color, ingeniously folded maps, each indicating favorite sites, shops, restaurants and attractions. (SCT105, $9.95)

A History of the Vikings

by Gwyn Jones

• HISTORY
• 2001
• PAPER
• 504 PAGES

Jones integrates history and archaeology in this classic portrait of the Vikings. (VIK20, $18.95)

A Short History of England, The Glorious Story of a Rowdy Nation

by Simon Jenkins

• HISTORY
• 2011
• HARD COVER
• 384 PAGES

Jenkins relates the exhilarating tale from the Dark Ages -- when the Angles arrived from Germany, lending their name to England -- to the modern day in this concise, very readable and illustrated history. (GRB40, $35.00)

Arthur's Britain

by Leslie Alcock

• HISTORY
• 2002
• PAPER
• 496 PAGES

Drawing on the archaeological record, Alcock searches for a historical basis of Arthurian legend while painting a vivid portrait of early medieval Briton life. (GBR701, $16.00)

London Perceived

by Evelyn Hofer | V. S. Pritchett

• CULTURAL PORTRAIT
• 2002
• PAPER
• 214 PAGES

A classic, lyrical celebration of the palaces, parks, people and everyday experience of London. Pritchett's eloquent riffs on the character of the city are accompanied by evocative black-and-white photographs by the superb Evelyn Hofer. (GBR310, $19.95)

Scotland, A Concise History

by Fitzroy MacLean | Magnus Linklater

• HISTORY
• 2001
• PAPER
• 248 PAGES

With 250 well-integrated illustrations, this lively and authoritative history covers the romantic figures and bloody battles from the early clans up to the present. (SCT15, $19.95)

The Druids

by Stuart Pigott

• HISTORY
• 1985
• PAPER

An illustrated history of the ancient Celtic priesthood. (GBR565, $18.95)

The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England

by Antonia Fraser

• HISTORY
• 2000
• PAPER
• 384 PAGES

Lady Fraser gathers eight British historians for this engaging, illustrated history of the monarchy from 1066 to the House of Windsor, chock full of personality, incident and scandal. (GBR160, $34.95)

The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History

by Colin McEvedy

• HISTORY
• 1992
• PAPER
• 112 PAGES

McEvedy deftly sketches the culture, history and society of Medieval Europe in this slim historical atlas. (EUR240, $15.00)

The Penguin Illustrated History of Britain and Ireland, From Earliest Times to the Present Day

by Barry Cunliffe

• HISTORY
• 2006
• PAPER
• 320 PAGES

A wonderfully rich and comprehensive guide to the history of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland -- from the arrival of the first humans half a million years ago right up to the present. (GBR624, $35.00)

The Secret History of MI6, 1909-1949

by Keith Jeffery

• HISTORY
• 2011
• PAPER
• 810 PAGES

Jeffrey was given unprecedented access to MI6's archives for this thrilling, balanced history of Britain's Special Intelligence Service, which essentially created the modern craft of spying. (GRB50, $20.00)

The Story of England

by Christopher Hibbert

• HISTORY
• 1992
• PAPER
• 224 PAGES

Beautifully illustrated with color pictures, chronological charts, royal genealogies and maps, this popular history of English politics, economics and culture from the Neolithic age to the 1990s is an excellent traveler's companion. (GBR02, $19.95)

England, Oxford Archaeological Guide

by Timothy Darvill

• ARCHAEOLOGY
• 2002
• PAPER
• 492 PAGES

An overview and catalog of prehistoric, Roman, and medieval sites from Stonehenge and Hadrian's Wall to sites in London and York. With sketch maps, 200 photographs, travel information, and site diagrams. (GBR724, $36.50)

Pagan Celtic Ireland, The Enigma of the Irish Iron Age

by Barry Raftery

• ARCHAEOLOGY
• 1993
• PAPER
• 232 PAGES

An illustrated, authoritative overview of Iron Age Ireland, its culture and history. (IRE153, $29.95)

Stonehenge

by Rosemary Hill

• ART & ARCHITECTURE
• 2008
• HARD COVER
• 224 PAGES

Hill captures the enduring mystery and allure of Stonehenge in this witty meditation on the myth and meaning of the most famous prehistoric site in all Europe. (GBR795, $19.95)

The Book of Kells

by Bernard Meehan

• ART & ARCHITECTURE
• 1995
• PAPER
• 95 PAGES

Written by the keeper of manuscripts at Trinity College, this book features 110 color illustrations, including enlargements, of some of the more spectacular decorations in this most famous of medieval manuscripts. (IRE09, $19.95)

A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides

by Samuel Johnson | James Boswell

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 1984
• PAPER
• 429 PAGES

Written when Johnson was 63 and Boswell 32 in 1773 (when they had been friends for ten years), these travel journals were the result of a three-month trip to Scotland. Johnson observed Scotland, and Boswell observed Johnson. (SCT07, $18.00)

A Writer's House in Wales

by Jan Morris

• BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
• 2002
• HARD COVER
• 192 PAGES

In this extended essay, Morris uses her much-loved 18th-century house as a point of departure for a meditation on Welsh identity. (GBR325, $20.00)

Coasting, A Private Journey

by Jonathan Raban

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2003
• PAPER
• 302 PAGES

Raban's eloquent, anecdotal account of a solo circumnavigation of the British Isles in a 30-foot ketch, his first experience in a boat. It's an engaging account of the experience of the sea, and the people and places he encounters. (GBR591, $13.00)

In Search of England

by H.V. Morton | James Morris

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2002
• PAPER
• 274 PAGES

The much-beloved, enduring account of Morton's ramblings through the English countryside in the early days of the motorcar. Morton charmingly mixes a deep appreciation of the art, culture and history of the place with his own keen observations. (GBR368, $16.00)

Kingdom by the Sea

by Paul Theroux

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2006
• PAPER
• 361 PAGES

This time, the prolific writer recounts a coastal journey around the British Isles in 1982, displaying his occasional ill temper alongside his celebrated ability to combine social history with a good old-fashioned traveler's tale. (GBR09, $14.95)

Mary Queen of Scots

by Antonia Fraser

• BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
• 1993
• PAPER
• 613 PAGES

This richly readable biography, the story of a legend who was loved even en route to her death, illuminates Mary's age as well as the figure herself. (SCT01, $20.00)

Nature's Engraver, A Life of Thomas Bewick

by Jennifer S. Uglow

• BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
• 2009
• PAPER
• 458 PAGES

Born to a farming family in Northumberland in 1753, Bewick eventually published his own History of British Birds, the first field guide intended for a general audience. Uglow's engrossing illustrated biography includes an array of the great engraver's vignettes depicting rural life and the natural world. (NAT249, $18.00)

Outposts, Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire

by Simon Winchester

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2004
• PAPER
• 362 PAGES

Winchester's fascinating, globe-trotting account of scattered, mostly oceanic, outposts of the British Empire shows his usual flair for anecdote in describing Hong Kong, Diego Garcia, Tristan de Cunha, St. Helena, As-cension, Pitcairn, Antarctica and the Falkland Islands. (GBR569, $13.99)

The Wild Places

by Robert Macfarlane

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2008
• PAPER
• 340 PAGES

MacFarlane climbs, walks and swims by day, and spends his nights sleeping on cliff-tops and in ancient meadows and wildwoods, in this marvelous exploration of the nature of the British Isles. (GBR893, $15.00)

Angry Island, Hunting the English

by A. Gill

• ANTHOLOGY
• 2008
• PAPER
• 240 PAGES

A comic manual to the English by a splendidly irreverent London critic. Gill includes scathing chapters on voice, humor, drink, animals, garden, sport and class. (GBR715, $14.00)

Celtic Prayers and Incantations

by Alexander Carmichael

• LITERATURE
• 2007
• PAPER
• 142 PAGES

An authoritative edition of poems and blessings as collected by folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832 - 1912) over 40 years, when Gaelic was still widely spoken in the Skye, Uist, Oban and other islands of the Hebrides. (CLT4, $7.95)

Irish Fairy and Folk Tales

by W.B. Yeats

• LITERATURE
• 2004
• PAPER
• 380 PAGES

Edited by the Nobel Prize-winning poet who spearheaded the Celtic Renaissance in the early 20th century, these enchanting stories introduce a cast of changelings, ghosts, mermaids, demons, saints, priests and fairies. (IRE04, $16.00)

Orkneyinga Saga, The History of the Earls of Orkney

by Hermann Palssom | Paul Edwards

• LITERATURE
• 1981
• PAPER
• 253 PAGES

A fusion of myth and legend, circa A.D. 1200, by an unnamed Icelandic author. The medieval chronicle has its center of action among the Orkney Islands, describing their conquest by Norwegian kings during the Viking expansion of the ninth century. (VIK07, $16.00)

The Flight of Gemma Hardy

by Margot Livesey

• LITERATURE
• 2012
• HARD COVER
• 447 PAGES

In this updated version of Jane Eyre by a leading Scottish writer, a desolute young woman from Iceland travels to the remote Orkney Islands to become an au pair. (SCT181, $26.99)

Wildlife of the North Atlantic, A Cruising Guide

by Tony Soper | Dan Powell

• FIELD GUIDE
• 2008
• PAPER
• 176 PAGES

This compact, illustrated guide covers the many petrels, ducks, gulls, terns and other seabirds, as well as the rich abundance of life existing under the waves, that populate the vast Atlantic region from the British Isles to Newfoundland. (ATL26, $25.99)

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