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BEST OF 2011

Wild Coast

John Gimlette

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FOR THE HOLIDAYS

To the Arctic

Florian Schultz

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OUR FAVORITES

Arctic Dreams

Barry Lopez

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GLOBES

The Pioneer

Replogle

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Women Adventurers

Amazing Traveler Isabella Bird


by Evelyn Kaye

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 251 PAGES

A biography of Isabella Bird Bishop, detailing her many travels. (EXP25, $19.95)

Annapurna, A Woman's Place

Annapurna, A Woman's Place


by Arlene Blum

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 247 PAGES

This account of the historic 1978 climb celebrates the first American ascent of Annapurna by a team of 13 women. The climbers were also, notably, the first women to scale any of the world's 8,000 meter-peaks. (HML30, $19.95)

The Arabian Diaries, 1913-1914

The Arabian Diaries, 1913-1914


by Gertrude Bell | Rosemary O'Brien

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

The diaries of the extremely literate, extremely adventurous Gertrude Bell, from her days in Arabia. (ARB52, $29.95)

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia


by Rebecca West | Christopher Hitchens

  • HISTORY
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 1181 PAGES

First published in 1941, this monumental work explores the complex history of Yugoslavia, its heroes, politics and culture. It's a big, challenging book -- some call it the best ever written on the Balkans. (BLK04, $25.00)

The Cruelest Journey, Six Hundred Miles to Timbuktu

The Cruelest Journey, Six Hundred Miles to Timbuktu


by Kira Salak

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2004
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Adventurer Kira Salak's account of her journeys on the Niger River and her record-breaking 600-mile solo kayaking trip to Timbuktu. (WAF75, $26.00)

Daisy Bates in the Desert: A Woman's Life Among the Aborigines

Daisy Bates in the Desert: A Woman's Life Among the Aborigines


by Julia Blackburn

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 232 PAGES

In this wonderfully original biography, Blackburn recreates the life of Daisy Bates (1861-1951), who abandoned her comfortable surroundings in 1913 to live for 30 years in the wilderness. It opens memorably "There was once a woman who lived in the desert." (AUS37, $15.00)

The Desert and the Sown

The Desert and the Sown


by Gertrude Bell | Rosemary O'Brien

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

A fierce explorer and archaeologist, lyrical writer and cunning politician, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) spent much of her life traveling throughout present-day Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan & Israel. (MDE59, $12.95)

Desert Queen, The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell

Desert Queen, The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell


by Janet Wallach

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 419 PAGES

A lively biography of Gertrude Bell, a Middle East adventuress, and formidable personality in colonial Britain. (MDE37, $16.00)

The Flame Trees of Thika

The Flame Trees of Thika


by Elsbeth Huxley

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 280 PAGES

The classic account of a young woman's life as a pioneering settler in Thika, Kenya. Huxley looks back at her intrepid parents and the home they made together in Kenya's Highlands. (EAF24, $15.00)

I Married Adventure, The Lives of Osa and Martin Johnson

I Married Adventure, The Lives of Osa and Martin Johnson


by Osa Johnson

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES

Sweetly told, homespun and engrossing, Johnson's 1940 memoir chronicles her marriage to explorer and wildlife cinematographer Martin Johnson -- their life on a houseboat in Borneo, their encounters with cannibals, their exploits with wild animals in Kenya and their filming expeditions in the Congo. Osa Johnson also established the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum in her hometown of Chanute, Kansas. (PAC110, $19.95)

The Illustrated Virago Book of Women Travellers

The Illustrated Virago Book of Women Travellers


by Mary Morris | Larry O'Connor

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

An anthology of mostly British and American women writing around the world, with diverse selections including Mary Wollenstonecraft, Edith Wharton, Rose Macaulay, Gertrude Bell and Freya Stark. With archival and color photographs throughout. (EXP29, $24.95)

In the Arms of the Sky


by Earl Murray

  • LITERATURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

A dimestore romance about explorer Isabella Bird and her one-eyed paramour Rocky Mountain Jim Nugent. (EXP26, $6.99)

Ladies of the Field, Early Women Archaeologists and Their Search for Adventure

Ladies of the Field, Early Women Archaeologists and Their Search for Adventure


by Amanda Adams

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 228 PAGES

Adams's sprightly group biography includes the remarkable Gertrude Bell, daring Harriet Boyd-Hawes and Dame Agatha Christie along with Jane Dieulafoy, Amelia Edwards, Dorothy Garrod and Zelia Nuttall, each of these Victorian adventurers brought vividly to life. (GEN957, $17.99)

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains


by Isabella Bird

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

Isabella Bird was an inspiring -- and intrepid -- Victorian traveler. This book collects her letters home to her sister Henrietta during travels through the Colorado Rockies in 1873, a side-trip she made on the way home from Hawaii. (USW44, $7.95)

Letters to Henrietta

Letters to Henrietta


by Lisa Chubbuck | Isabella Bird

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 356 PAGES

This extremely enjoyable collection of letters back home capture the verve and spirit of the globe-trotting spinster from the Isle of Mull. (WLD39, $24.95)

Libby

Libby


by Libby Beaman | Betty John

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 206 PAGES
  • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE

From her storm-bound arrival in Alaska's Pribilof Islands to her reception by the local population, tales of fur seals and her near-death of cold and malnutrition, Libby Beaman's tale of a year in St. Paul in 1879 is a great story, brought to life by her granddaughter Betty John. (ARC07, $16.95)

Life in Mexico


by Frances Calderon De La Barca

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1982
  • PAPER
  • 548 PAGES

A wonderfully insightful, celebrated series of letters written by the Scottish wife of the Spanish Ambassador from Mexico, 1839-1842. (MEX36, $28.95)

Life in the Treetops, Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology

Life in the Treetops, Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology


by Margaret Lowman

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 219 PAGES

The sprightly memoir of an ecologist who climbs, studies and sleeps in trees for a living, balancing multiple roles of scientist, wife and mom. Margaret Lowman, a pioneer in the ecology of forest tree canopies, continues her story in a second memoir (written with her now-grown sons). (AMZ57, $13.95)

Maiden Voyage


by Tania Aebi

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 302 PAGES

Challenged by her father, the inexperienced 18-year-old New York City bicycle messenger becomes the first American woman -- and the youngest person ever -- to sail alone around the world. (EXP95, $14.95)

Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar

Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar


by Emily Ruete

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 244 PAGES

Born Princess Salme in the Sultan's court on Zanzibar, the author wrote this book in the 1800s as a tribute to the island for her children. It is rich in details of a long-lost way of life, recalling the time when the sultans reigned on Zanzibar. (EAF44, $9.95)

My Journey to Lhasa

My Journey to Lhasa


by Alexandra David-Neel

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 317 PAGES

Dressed as a humble pilgrim and traveling under the cover of night, the indomitable 55-year-old David-Neel and her young companion climbed mountains and tricked soldiers to ultimately reach Tibet's forbidden capital. Originally published in 1923, her account stands as a riveting portrait of early 20th-century Tibet. (TBT26, $14.99)

North to the Orient

North to the Orient


by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1966
  • PAPER
  • 168 PAGES

A classic account of pioneering aviation, this wonderfully written memoir includes adventures in Petropavlovsk and the Russian Far East, Japan and the Yangtze. (ARC36, $12.95)

Off the Beaten Track. Three Centuries of Women Travellers

Off the Beaten Track. Three Centuries of Women Travellers


by Dea Birkett | Jan Morris

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2004
  • HARD COVER
  • 144 PAGES

A marvelous selection of portraits of raveling women, with 120 illustrations, 100 in color. (TVL39, $40.00)

Passionate Nomad, the Life of Freya Stark

Passionate Nomad, the Life of Freya Stark


by Jane Fletcher Geniesse

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

A biography of the legendary female "poet of travel," Freya Stark. (MDE28, $15.95)

Quiet Odyssey, A Pioneer Korean Woman in America


by Mary Paik Lee | Sucheng Chan

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1990
  • PAPER

Mary Paik Lee was an authentic pioneer -- one of the first Korean-Americans and a crusader for civil rights. (USW397, $18.95)

Recollections of a Happy Life, Being the Autobiography of Marianne North

Recollections of a Happy Life, Being the Autobiography of Marianne North


by Marianne North

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

An illustrated account of the intrepid Victorian traveler, botanist and painter Marianne North. (GBR328, $25.00)

The Southern Gates of Arabia, a Journey in the Hadhramaut

The Southern Gates of Arabia, a Journey in the Hadhramaut


by Freya Stark

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 270 PAGES

An account of Stark's quest to find the ancient city of Shabwa, the heretofore unexplored oasis on Yemen's frankincense route. Witty, rapturous and full of incident. (MDE52, $15.00)

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)

The Thong Also Rises

The Thong Also Rises


by Jennifer Leo

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 223 PAGES

More outrageous stories of traveling women versus the unexpected, by the entertaining, well-traveled (and delightful) editor of Sand in My Bra and Whose Panties are These? (TVL89, $14.95)

Travels in West Africa

Travels in West Africa


by Mary Kingsley | Anthony Brandt

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Kingsley writes with a self-deprecating wit and deadpan humor of her collecting expeditions throughout West Africa, first published to much acclaim in 1897. (WAF05, $14.95)

The Turkish Embassy Letters

The Turkish Embassy Letters


by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 190 PAGES

The unconventional wife of the British ambassador, Lady Montagu delights in Turkish life and society in these lively letters. (TKY45, $16.95)

Two in the Far North

Two in the Far North


by Margaret Murie | Olaus Murie

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 369 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Murie's field biologist husband supplies not only fodder for the stories, but also the illustrations for this tale of life on the Alaskan frontier. (ALA57, $16.95)

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan


by Isabella Bird

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

Bird's narrative of her travels in Japan in 1878, just after the country re-opened its doors to the world. She spent little time on the cities, heading straight out to meet the peasants in their fields. (JPN94, $12.95)

Uncommon Traveler, Mary Kingsley in Africa


by Don Brown

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2000
  • HARD COVER
  • 30 PAGES
  • YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8)

A biography of the intrepid Victorian traveler for younger readers. (WAF57, $16.00)

Unsuitable for Ladies, An Anthology of Women Travellers

Unsuitable for Ladies, An Anthology of Women Travellers


by Jane Robinson

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 471 PAGES

A choice sampling of the writing of 200 remarkable women, organized geographically. From the Victorian-era derring-do of Mary Kingsley to Florence Nightingale's war diaries, Karen Blixen on her farm in Africa and recent adventures of the indomitable Dervla Murphy, these are inspiring and wonderfully written accounts of travel. (EXP18, $24.95)

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)

Venus in Transit, Australian Women Travellers 1788-1930


by Douglas Sellick

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

A collection of women's writing about Australia and Australian travel from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. (AUS157, $24.95)

Victorian Lady Travellers

Victorian Lady Travellers


by Dorothy Middleton

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 182 PAGES

An inspiring account of seven terrific women and their adventures in heretofore unexplored lands. (EXP15, $15.95)

West with the Night

West with the Night


by Beryl Markham

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

Markham evokes the landscapes, people and wildlife of East Africa in engrossing detail in this memoir of adventures as a bush pilot in 1930s Kenya. A Longitude favorite. (EAF10, $16.00)

The Wilder Shores of Love

The Wilder Shores of Love


by Leslie Blanch

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

A new edition of Lesley Blanch's spirited tale of the lives and loves of four uncommonly adventurous 19th-century European women in Arabia: Isabel Burton, Aimee Dubucq de Rivery, Jane Digby and Isabelle Eberhardt. Originally published in 1954, this is the best known of Blanch's many books (Marianne Faithfull has a song of the same name). As unconventional as her heroines, Lesley Blanch died in 2007, at age 102. (EXP28, $15.00)

With the Armies of the Tsar, A Nurse at the Russian Front in War and Revolution, 1914-1918


by Frances Farmborough

  • HISTORY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 422 PAGES

A WWI memoir by a witness to the Russian revoltuion. (RUS139, $19.95)

A Woman's Asia

A Woman's Asia


by Marybeth Bond

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 310 PAGES

These thirty-five personal, often hilarious accounts of women's adventures from China to Sri Lanka to Turkey to Bhutan, not only illuminating the everyday, oft-overlooked cultural practices of Asia, but also giving a glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of the female traveller. (ASA49, $17.95)

Women Aviators

Women Aviators


by Bernard Marck

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER
  • 240 PAGES

From Amelia Earhart to Sally Ride, these remarkable women defied tradition and took to the air in planes, rockets and spaceships. With hundreds of archival photographs, these profiles capture the thrill and derring-do of early flight. (GEN522, $45.00)

Women into the Unknown, A Sourcebook on Women Explorers and Travelers


by Marion Tinglin

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1989
  • HARD COVER
  • 382 PAGES

A library-style reference to female travelers of the 19th and 20th centuries. (EXP20, $110.95)

Women of the Four Winds

Women of the Four Winds


by Elizabeth Olds

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

A collection of four lively biographies of four 20th-century American explorers. (EXP19, $21.95)

Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey

Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey


by Lillian Schlissel

  • HISTORY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 278 PAGES

A fascinating, well researched selection of women's diaries and journals from the Wild West, including vivid accounts of buffalo hunts, Indian raids, childbirth under difficult circumstances, geological wonders and a telling amount of inward trepidation. With black-and-white photographs throughout. (USW395, $16.95)

 

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.