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Ancient Roads of Syria & Jordan

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 EXMDE94. Buy these 4 items as a set for $61 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Syria, A Historical and Architectural Guide

Syria, A Historical and Architectural Guide

by Warwick Ball

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 254 PAGES

With site plans, maps and a section of color photographs, Ball's compact handbook covers Syria's wealth of archaeological sites in authoritative detail. (SYR06, $19.95)

Petra, The Rose-Red City

Petra, The Rose-Red City

by Christian Auge | Jean-Marie Dentzer

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

Jam-packed with color illustrations, archival material, maps and site plans, this shirt-pocket encyclopedia is our best-selling book on Petra. (JRD13, $15.95)

The Bread of Angels

The Bread of Angels

by Stephanie Saldana

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Ostensibly in Syria on a Fulbright, the 26-year-old Stephanie Saldana seeks solace at a desert monastery, reads the Qur'an with a prominent woman scholar (a chic Sheikha), teaches at a madras -- and falls in love. Full of memorable characters, this illuminating memoir is also a delightful portrait of life in the old Christian district in Damascus. (SYR20, $15.00)

Jordan & Syria Map

Jordan & Syria Map

by International Travel Maps

  • 2010
  • MAP

This double-sided regional map (1:700,000) shows not only Jordan & Syria, but also all of Israel. (MDE14, $12.95)

 
Rough Guide Jordan

Rough Guide Jordan


by Matthew Teller

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 432 PAGES

Teller's no-nonsense voice rings true, both in the concise background information about Jordan's highlights and in his encouragement to get off the beaten path. (JRD10, $24.99)

A History of Jordan

A History of Jordan


by Philip Robins

  • HISTORY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 243 PAGES

An informative, brief history of Jordan and its king from the 1920s to the present by a professor of politics at Oxford. Robins was previously a Jordan-based correspondent for the BBC and The Guardian. (JRD17, $31.99)

Live from Jordan, Letters Home from My Journey through the Middle East


by Benjamin Orbach

  • HISTORY
  • 2007
  • HARD COVER
  • 304 PAGES

Orbach's down-to-earth, eyewitness report of daily life, attitudes and politics in Jordan. (JRD25, $22.00)

Roman Arabia

Roman Arabia


by G.W. Bowersock

  • HISTORY
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

A remarkable history of the Romans in the Arab world. For the traveler with scholarly inclinations, this lucid book provides essential background to the Roman archaeological sites in the Middle East. (MDE12, $29.00)

Petra, Splendors of the Nabataean Civilization

Petra, Splendors of the Nabataean Civilization


by Francesca Arianna Ossorio | Barbara A. Porter

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER
  • 303 PAGES

With color photographs of the temples, tombs and elaborate buildings, along with archival photographs and accompanying text. (JRD34, $60.00)

Eothen

Eothen


by Alexander William Kinglake

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 242 PAGES

Originally published in 1844, this sly account of journeys throughout the Middle East and Asia Minor, including Constantinople, Smyrna, Cairo, Damascus and Petra takes the form and tone of a letter to a good friend: conversational, ironic, hugely funny and personal. (MDE24, $21.00)

Lawrence of Arabia


by Liddell Hart

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 405 PAGES

A lively biography of T. E. Shaw (a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia), long the standard. With 17 photos and ten maps. (JRD07, $18.95)

Married to a Bedouin

Married to a Bedouin


by Marguerite Van Geldermalsen

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 279 PAGES

"Where you staying?" the Bedouin asked. "Why you not stay with me tonight -- in my cave?" Thus begins the fascinating odyssey of a young nurse from New Zealand who would marry and raise her family among the community of 100 Bedouin families living in the ancient city of Petra. (JRD35, $16.95)

Seven Pillars of Wisdom, A Triumph

Seven Pillars of Wisdom, A Triumph


by T.E. Lawrence

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 672 PAGES

The monumental story of Lawrence of Arabia, as colorful and long as the famous movie which it inspired. Some of the action is set around Wadi Rum in Jordan. (MDE20, $21.00)

The Language of Baklava

The Language of Baklava


by Diana Abu-Jaber

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 330 PAGES

In this evocative culinary memoir, the Jordanian-American novelist recalls growing up with her gregarious, homesick Jordanian father, who cooked to remember the place he came from and to pass that connection to his children. With one recipe per chapter. (JRD22, $14.95)

Walking the Bible, A Journey by Land through the Five Books of Moses

Walking the Bible, A Journey by Land through the Five Books of Moses


by Bruce Feiler

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES

An account of a 10,000-mile trek through the Biblical lands of the Middle East in the company of an Israeli archaeologist. It's part travelogue, part pilgrimage, and part quest for religious meaning. (MDE50, $14.99)

Appointment with Death

Appointment with Death


by Agatha Christie

  • MYSTERY
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

Hercule Poirot steps into the story when an American tourist on a grand tour of the Holy Land is found murdered in Petra. (JRD02, $12.99)

Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist

Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist


by Dorothy Gilman

  • MYSTERY
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

Mrs. Pollifax must smuggle a manuscript out of Jordan, a document that encodes the shocking truth of Saddam Hussein's reign. (JRD32, $7.99)

In a Desert Land, Photographs of Israel, Egypt and Jordan

In a Desert Land, Photographs of Israel, Egypt and Jordan


by Neil Folberg

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1998
  • HARD COVER
  • 204 PAGES

A stunning collection of photographs of the desert Middle East, including the Sinai, Petra and Jerusalem. (JRD06, $49.95)

Birds of the Middle East

Birds of the Middle East


by Richard Porter | Simon Aspinall

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

An outstanding guide to 700 species of the birds in the region from the Arabian peninsula to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Cyprus. Second edition. (MDE17, $39.95)

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.