January 2012 Longitude News | For Customers, Friends and Partners of Longitude THIS MONTH'S FEATURE: YUNNAN 1. New and Noteworthy: Venice, Sicily, Myths 2. New in 2012: Cuba, Burma, Floriade 3. New in Paper: Tiger's Wife, Mahfouz, Walkabout 4. Birding Guides: India, New Zealand, Tubenoses 5. New Maps: National Geographic Adventure 6. A Favorite Spot: Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Dear Traveler, Happy Chinese New Year, celebrated from January 22 to 28 this year. Goodbye, Year of the Rabbit. Hello, Year of the Dragon! This month we're featuring Yunnan, along with other emerging destinations (Cuba, Burma, Panama) and our usual mix of new and noteworthy, including National Geographic Adventure Maps. Everybody likes a quick winter escape. Daniel is heading to Vieques, PR and Darrel is looking around for an easy dive destination. What are you planning? Warm regards, Daniel Kaizer and Darrel Schoeling www.longitudebooks.com 800-342-2164   1. NEW & NOTEWORTHY: VENICE, KINGDOMS, SICILY, MYTHS City of Fortune, How Venice Ruled the Seas (MED185, $32.00) In this latest history-that-reads-like-a-novel, Roger Crowley spins tales of three centuries of plunder and plague, conquest and piracy, during which a tiny city of lagoon dwellers (Venice) grew into the richest place on earth. Crowley's third book on the Mediterranean, City of Fortune is a natural sequel, or rather prequel, to 1453, The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West (TKY114, $15.99), marking the fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks. "...Venice always looked to Constantinople. This was the great city of the world, the gateway to the East. Through its warehouses on the Golden Horn flowed the wealth of the wider world: Russian furs, wax, slaves, and caviar; spices from India and China; ivory, silk, precious stones and gold. Out of these materials, Byzantine craftsman fashioned extraordinary objects, both sacred and profane -- reliquaries, mosaics, chalices chased with emeralds, costumes of shot silk -- that formed the taste of Venice. The astonishing Basilica of Saint Mark, reconsecrated in 1094, was designed by Greek architects on the pattern of the Church of Holy Apostles in Constantinople; its artisans recounted the story of Saint Mark, stone by stone, in imitation of the styles of Saint Sophia (Hagia Sophia); its goldsmiths and enamellers created the Pala d'Oro, the golden altarpiece, a miraculous expression of Byzantine devotion to art. The whiff of spices on the quays of Venice had been carried a thousand miles from the godowns of the Golden Horn. Constantinople was Venice's souk, where its merchants gathered to make (and lose) fortunes." Vanished Kingdoms, How Nations Rise and Fall (EUR404, $40.00) Oxford professor Norman Davies presents the stories of 14 all-but-forgotten European states, including Aragon, Galicia, Etruria and Burgundia, in this eye-opening tale of lost civilizations and the shifting fate of nations. Not just an intriguing take on history, these tales incite wanderlust. Tsernagora (AKA Montenegro) has long been on our list of places to visit. Seeking Sicily, A Cultural Journey Through Myth and Reality in the Heart of the Mediterranean (ITA274, $27.99) John Kehey explores the food, history and pure pleasure of Sicily, using his heroes Giuseppe di Lampedusa, Leonardo Sciascia and other of Sicily's literary greats as a his guide, in this ode to a favorite place. Oh My Gods, A Modern Retelling of Greek and Roman Myths (MED188, $27.00) A professor of classics, Philip Freeman offers a lively, contemporary interpretation of the classic Greek and Roman myths, preserving all the gore, mystery and delight of the original stories. 2. 2012 TRIPS: BURMA, CUBA, PANAMA, YUNNAN, FLORIADE Travel & Leisure's January issue names the 12 Hottest Destinations of 2012, an old magazine canard (magazines love lists!), including places we've noticed too on the rise like Panama, Yunnan (see featured destination below) and Mozambique. North Korea we admit is a stretch but Cuba has been very popular at Longitude, and interest in Burma, oddly unmentioned by T&L, is growing. After two decades of house arrest, beloved opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is running in the upcoming election. The River of Lost Footsteps, Histories of Burma (BMA51, $15.00) Myint-U (historian and grandson of the late UN Secretary General U Thant) uses Burmese history as a lens for understanding the country today in this essential portrait. We also suggest Myint-U's most recent book, Where China Meets India (BMA70, $27.00), which tackles current geo-politics in the region. Essential Reading Burma. The Brilliant Disaster (CBA162, $32.00) Jim Rasenberger's gripping, revisionist account of the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the misguided adventure, draws on newly available information from the CIA and his own family history; a young lawyer, Rasenberger senior was recruited to join Robert Kennedy and the effort to bring home more than a thousand men who had been taken prisoner by Fidel Castro during the debacle. Essential Reading Cuba. The Tulip Anthology (NTH135, $40.00) Holland's North Limburg (once the Duchy of Limburg) hosts the 2012 Floriade, the once-a-decade World Horticultural Exposition. Presented in an oversized deluxe hardcover, Ron van Dongen's lush color portraits of dozens of species of exotic tulips (which he also grows) make an excellent companion to the Floriade for any flower lover, offered at $20 off the $60 retail price. The festival runs from April 5 to October 7, 2012. No word on the availability of Limburger cheese in Limburg! Essential Waterways of Holland and Belgium. The Cleanest Race, How North Koreans See Themselves, and Why It Matters (KOR54, $20.00) B.R. Myers turns North Korea's slogans, myths and propaganda upside-down in this engaging overview of a very strange place. Essential North Korea. Nature of the Rainforest, Costa Rica and Beyond (CRC67, $29.95) Panama and other destinations in Central America are included in this photographic overview of the natural history of the region. Biologist Adrian Forsyth, author of Tropical Nature (GPS13, $16.00), uses anecdote and example from his many decades in the tropics to illuminate ecology, evolution and conservation. One hundred and ninety-one magnificent photographs of rare and wonderful birds, mammals and other creatures of the forest by Michael and Patricia Fogden complement the text. Essential Panama. 3. NEW IN PAPER: ANNIVERSARIES, TIGER'S WIFE, WALKABOUT Palace Walk (EGY04, $16.00) In celebration of the centenary of the birth of the great Egyptian writer and Nobel laureate, Naguib Mahfouz's monumental family saga has been re-issued. Set in post-WWI Egypt, The Cairo Trilogy continues with Palace of Desire (EGY16, $16.00) and Sugar Street (EGY17, $16.00). The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature was awarded this year not to an individual but to the “revolutionary literary creativity of the Egyptian people during the popular uprising that began on 25 January 2011.” During the award ceremony on the campus of the AUC Press in Cairo, the Mahfouz family was presented the complete set of the Naguib Mahfouz Centennial Library, a limited edition of twenty hardbound volumes of all the Nobel laureate's works that have been translated into English, including all his novels, three collections of short stories, his Dreams, and his autobiographical writings.   Palmento, A Sicilian Wine Odyssey (ITA205, $18.95) Robert Camuto visits vineyards and vintners from Palermo to Marsala and Etna in this year-long celebration of the culture and spirit of Italy's largest and oldest wine region. An American journalist living in France (his previous book Corkscrewed was about the new French winemakers), Camuto is an astute, entertaining guide to the diversity of Sicily itself. Silent Spring (USA168, $14.95) The 50th anniversary edition of Rachel Carson's touchstone of the modern environmental movement.   The Tiger's Wife, A Novel (BLK159, $15.00)) Tea Obrecht deftly combines folklore and realism to capture the complex history, legends and conflicts of the Balkans in this Orange Prize-winning novel, a Longitude Best of 2011. Walkabout (AUS258, $12.95) Based on a series of articles on the people, flora, and fauna of the outback by James Vance Marshall, this haunting short novel beautifully evokes the vast Northern Territories, also captured in the classic film by Nicholas Roeg. Back in print thanks to the good folks at NYRB. The Quiet World, Saving Alaska's Wilderness Kingdom, 1879-1960 (ALA349, $18.99) Douglas Brinkley documents the personalities and heroic campaigns to preserve wild Alaska in this terrific history of conservation, covering Denali, the Tongass and Chugach National Forests, Gates of the Arctic and Glacier Bay. The Descendants (HWI255, $15.00) Kaui Hart Hemmings' bittersweet novel of a storied Hawaiian family in crisis was adapted for the Alexander Payne movie starring George Clooney, nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Much of the book, like the movie, is set in and around Hanalei on the north coast of Kauai, where Hemmings suggests stopping by the Tahiti Nui Restaurant and Lounge. 4. NEW & NOTEWORTHY: FIELD GUIDES Three more Princeton Field Guides: a compact photo guide to New Zealand, handbook to those confounding tubenoses (which belongs in every expedition ship library) and a new edition of the definitive Birds of India. A Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand (NZL116, $24.95) Comprehensive and compact, this Princeton Pocket Guide features 600 color photographs. Author Julian Fitter, who makes his home on the Bay of Plenty Coast on the North Island, calls Waipoua Forest “New Zealand in a Nutshell.” “It's a land of birds, mountains, glaciers, geysers, braided rivers, surfing beaches, unbelievable sunrises and sunsets, but above all a land of trees. New Zealand's native trees, particularly the podocarps and other coniferous trees are the true glory of the country.” The gentlemanly Fitter is also the author of Bradt New Zealand Wildlife (NZL97, $25.99) and Wildlife of the Galapagos (GPS47, $19.95). Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America, A Photographic Guide (BRD99, $45.00) A natural teacher and popular tour leader, the California-based field ornithologist Steve N. G. Howell includes detailed species accounts and hundreds of color photographs of birds in flight to help you sort out all the confusing tubenoses in this essential reference. Useful for all the world's oceans, it is a worthy successor to Peter Harrison's fantastic but long out of print Seabirds of the World. We hope for a field edition! Birds of India (FG43, $39.50) The best field guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent is now even better. Thoroughly revised, with 73 new plates, this second edition of Birds of India now features all maps and text opposite the plates for quicker and easier reference. The guide covers India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. 5. MAPS: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ADVENTUREMAPS New to the growing series of detailed, double-sided maps to the world's great adventure destinations are these recently released titles. Panama AdventureMap (PNM33, $11.95) With good topographic detail, this sturdy traveler's map at a scale of 1:475,000 shows parks and preserves throughout the country. Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador AdventureMap (CAM149, $11.95) A durable, folded map at 1:710,000. Nicaragua covers the back side of the map, and its detail includes diverse points of interest from museums and historical sites in Managua and Granada to areas noted for windsurfing, fishing, and observing the country's unique wildlife. Unfolds to 26 x 38 inches. Slovenia AdventureMap (CEU13, $11.95) A full-color traveler's map of the region, with index, at a scale of 1:205,000.   New Zealand AdventureMap (NZL09, $11.95) This handy, double-sided map includes an index and insets of the Sub-Antarctic islands.   Ecuador, Galapagos Islands Map (EDR22, $11.95) This excellent double-sided, waterproof map, a product of the World Mapping Project and National Geographic, covers not just Ecuador in splendid detail (1:750,000), it also includes a large inset of the Galapagos Islands (1:1 million). Two Sides. 27 X 39 inches. 6. A FAVORITE SPOT: YUNNAN We're good at geography but who has ever heard of Xishuangbanna (pronounced she-shwang-ban-na) or, for that matter, the Tea-Horse Road? Long known for its concentration of ethnic minorities, biodiversity and great rivers, China's Yunnan province is full of surprises. The Yangtze, Mekong and Nu all traverse the region, which ranges from tropical forest and rice fields to the Tibetan highlands. The photo of the prayer flags above Zhongdian (AKA Shangri-La) is courtesy of intrepid traveler Kathy Dragon. See too Essential Reading Yunnan. Chinese Lessons, Five Classmates and the Story of the New China (CHN382, $16.99) John Pomfret chronicles the lives and fates of his classmates from the University of Nanjing, where he was an exchange student in 1981, in this dramatic account of tumultuous change. The Washington Post journalist is not coincidentally the husband of Zhang Mei, founder of WildChina and he knows China well. John writes: “Head to the northwest corner of Yunnan province in October. Visit Dali, Lijiang and Zhongdian. Take warm clothes because it's chilly at night and sunscreen because the mountain sun will burn you to a crisp. Visit Tibetan and Daoist temples in this alpine part of China; hike the many mountain trails. And whatever you do make it to the Shibaoshan grottoes outside of Dali. These grottoes date from the Nanzhao kingdom from the 7th to the 11th century AD. They represent a stunning fusion of Tibetan and Han styles "multiculturalism at its best before there was a word for it." Tea Horse Road, China's Ancient Trade Road to Tibet (CHN699, $65.00) Starting in tea forests in the mountains of southern Yunnan, through Tibet and into India, this lavishly illustrated book documents the rich cultural practices and biological diversity of the communities along the Tea Horse Road. A joint project photographer Michael Freeman and ethnobotanist Selena Ahmed. For 13 centuries, the rugged paths of the Tea and Horse Caravan Road across Yunnan linked China with Tibet, Southeast Asia and India, resulting not just the exchange of tea for horses (hence the name) but also of customs and culture. Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River (CHN708, $21.95) Trekking across Yunnan, Kunming-based Ed Grumbine visits with fellow conservationists, villagers and policy makers in this wide-ranging report from the field on the complex issues surrounding China's plans to build 13 dams on the China's last wild river. Yunnan's three parallel rivers, the Yangtze, Mekong and Nujiang ("Angry River" in Mandarin) flow through a protected area twice the size of Yellowstone. Though the controversy continues, Chinese regulators recently vetoed controversial plans to dam the Nu River and the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Odyssey Guide Yunnan (CHN44, $29.95) Jim Goodman's comprehensive guide to the history, culture and attractions of the Yunnan features 200 color photographs and 29 maps.     The Rough Guide to Southwest China (CHN701, $25.99) Just published, this guide in the British series covers cities, traditional communities and travel in Yunnan and the Southwest region, along with the Tibetans, Miao, Dong, Yi, Bai, Dai and other ethnic minorities of the Tibetan plateau. Please send suggestions, comments, kudos and complaints to darrel@longitudebooks.com. We like to hear from our customers! Longitude, Recommended Reading for Travelers 115 West 30th Street, Suite 1206, New York, NY 10001 longitudebooks.com info@longitudebooks.com 800-342-2164 Happy New Year! EOM