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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 EXCZH19. Buy these 4 items as a set for $82 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Blue Guide Czech and Slovak Republic

Blue Guide Czech and Slovak Republic

by Michael Jacobs

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES

A comprehensive travel guide with a focus on history, architecture and art. Michael Jacobs, a popular author of guidebooks, presents a thorough portrait of the region. (CZH18, $24.95)

The Coasts of Bohemia, A Czech History

The Coasts of Bohemia, A Czech History

by Derek Sayer

  • HISTORY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 408 PAGES

A political and cultural history of the Czech people, this intriguing book places the historically important Bohemia and Moravia regions at the center of European events. The author draws on literature, the arts, culture and politics to evoke Czech history, society and identity. (CZH10, $37.50)

Prague, A Traveler's Literary Companion

Prague, A Traveler's Literary Companion

by Paul Wilson

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

This anthology of 24 vivid stories by Czech writers, contemporary and well-known, brings the city, history history, spirit and people to life and includes a helpful map for the traveler. (CZH08, $14.95)

Czech and Slovak Republics Map

Czech and Slovak Republics Map

by Michelin Travel Publications

  • 2005
  • MAP
  • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE

Showing the route of the Danube between Regensburg and Budapest, this regional map shows Budapest, Vienna and Prague. (CEU17, $11.95)

 
Kafka's Prague, A Travel Reader

Kafka's Prague, A Travel Reader


by Klaus Wagenbach

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 1996
  • HARD COVER
  • 125 PAGES

Anyone interested in turn-of-the-century Prague will find this book a fascinating companion. (CZH03, $21.95)

Lonely Planet Czech Phrasebook

Lonely Planet Czech Phrasebook


by Lonely Planet

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

A palm-sized guide to pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary. (CZH50, $8.99)

A World Lit Only By Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance, Portrait of an Age

A World Lit Only By Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance, Portrait of an Age


by William Manchester

  • HISTORY
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 322 PAGES

Organized into sections on the Renaissance, Reformation and Discovery, Manchester's popular history evokes in vivid detail the great figures and daily life of the 16th century, including Henry VIII, Magellan, Borgia, da Vinci and Martin Luther. (EUR06, $15.99)

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, $14.95)

Historical Atlas of Central Europe

Historical Atlas of Central Europe


by Paul Mogocsi

  • HISTORY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 232 PAGES

An atlas illuminating the shifting borders and alliances in the region. (EUR33, $45.00)

Open Letters, Selected Writings: 1965 - 1990

Open Letters, Selected Writings: 1965 - 1990


by Vaclav Havel | Paul Wilson

  • HISTORY
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 405 PAGES

This inspired anthology of writings by the Czech poet-president Vaclav Havel collects 25 essays, letters and speeches written between 1965 and 1990, including those that directly influenced the Polish Solidarity movement. (CZH06, $15.95)

Plagues and Peoples

Plagues and Peoples


by William McNeill

  • HISTORY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 365 PAGES

This book traces the waves of epidemics that raged through Europe. (EUR26, $17.00)

Prague in Black and Gold, Scenes from Life in a European City

Prague in Black and Gold, Scenes from Life in a European City


by Peter Demetz

  • HISTORY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

Both a history and accessible guide to the neighborhoods and architecture of the city. (CZH09, $17.95)

Return to Diversity: A Political History of East Central Europe Since World War II

Return to Diversity: A Political History of East Central Europe Since World War II


by Joseph Rothschild

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 274 PAGES

An opinionated, well-written and clear political history of the region, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the Balkans. (EUR31, $39.95)

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)

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)

Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437

Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437


by Barb Boehm

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2005
  • HARD COVER

The extravagantly produced companion volume to the exhibition (organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art) on the art and culture of late medieval Prague. With maps, succinct introductory essays and a 200-page section of color photographs. (EUR207, $65.00)

A Time of Gifts

A Time of Gifts


by Patrick Leigh Fermor

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES
  • BEST SELLER

Fermor effortlessly interweaves anecdote, history and culture in this exuberant account of a walk from Holland, up the Rhine and down the Danube, through Germany, Prague and Austria in 1933. Written not in the moment, but 40 years later, the accumulation of time and experience give the book particular poignancy. (CEU30, $16.95)

On Foot to the Golden Horn

On Foot to the Golden Horn


by Jason Goodwin

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 278 PAGES

Goodwin interweaves history, incident and reflection in this excellent portrait of Central Europe. With chapters on Cracow, Slovakia, Budapest, Transylvania, Brasov and Bulgaria. (EUR81, $17.00)

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting


by Milan Kundera

  • LITERATURE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES

Kundera strings together loosely related short stories to form an original and entertaining look at Czech culture. (CZH17, $14.99)

The Complete Stories

The Complete Stories


by Franz Kafka

  • LITERATURE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 486 PAGES

All of Kafka's stories, including The Metamorphosis, A Hunger Artist, and In The Penal Colony. (CZH47, $17.00)

The Golem

The Golem


by Gustave Meyrink

  • LITERATURE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 190 PAGES

The famous mystical, terrifying novel of the supernatural set in Prague's Jewish Ghetto in 1890. (CZH41, $11.99)

The Good Soldier Svejk and His Fortunes in the World War

The Good Soldier Svejk and His Fortunes in the World War


by Jaroslav Hasek | Cecil Parrott

  • LITERATURE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 752 PAGES

The deeply funny story of a hapless Czech soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, dismissed for incompetence only to be pressed into service by the Russians in World War I, then captured by his own troops. (CZH11, $16.00)

Utz

Utz


by Bruce Chatwin

  • LITERATURE
  • 1988
  • PAPER
  • 154 PAGES

That gallivanting Bruce Chatwin introduces us to Kaspar Utz, an obsessive collector of Meissen porcelain, in this short novel memorably set in Prague under the Iron Curtain. (CZH31, $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.