'Tenacious, revelatory, and humane.' - Paul Theroux 'The Buried is the kind of book that you don't want to end and won't forget. With the eye of a great storyteller Peter Hessler weaves together history, reporting, memoir, and above all the lives of ordinary people in a beautiful and haunting portrait of Egypt and its Revolution.' - Ben Rhodes In 2011, while revolution swept across Egypt, Peter Hessler was reporting on the everyday lives and ancient secrets of a country in turmoil. The result is this unforgettable work of literary and documentary brilliance. In The Buried, Hessler traces the human stories alongside the broader sweep of historic events: Tahrir Square, the massacres and the coup form the background, but so too do ancient cults, buried cities in the desert and dead pharaohs with huge ambitions. Most important are the people forging their lives in this world. We follow rubbish collector Sayyid; Arabic teacher Rifaat; and Manu, a translator. There are also the Chinese immigrants who have built a lingerie empire, politicians and ingenious archaeologists. Together, they raise the question: is revolution just repetition, or can things ever really change?

A fascinating, lyrical account of an east-west walk across Britain's westernmost and most mysterious region. A distant and exotic Celtic land, domain of tin-miners, pirates, smugglers and evocatively named saints, somehow separate from the rest of our island... Few regions of Britain are as holidayed in, as well-loved or as mythologized as Cornwall. From the woodlands of the Tamar Valley to the remote peninsula of Penwith – via the wilderness of Bodmin Moor and coastal villages where tourism and fishing find an uneasy coexistence – Tim Hannigan undertakes a zigzagging journey on foot across Britain's westernmost region to discover how the real Cornwall, its landscapes, histories, communities and sense of identity, intersect with the many projections and tropes that writers, artists and others have placed upon it. Combining landscape and nature writing with deep cultural inquiry, The Granite Kingdom is a probing but highly accessible tour of one of Britain's most popular regions, juxtaposing history, myth, folklore and literary representation with the geographical and social reality of contemporary Cornwall.

One woman embarked on a dance journey around the world, finding out how each dance tells a story of its country and learning how beautiful life can be when you take the lead. If you could do anything you wanted, what would it be? Aliénor Salmon was working as a happiness researcher in Bangkok when a friend asked her the question that turned life as she knew it on its heels. A novice dancer but experienced social researcher, the Franco-British Aliénor headed west from Bangkok to dance her way through Latin America. As she learns eighteen dances, each native to the countries she visits, she engages with esoteric customs, traditions, and cultures. Through conversations and arduous studio hours, she learns that every step, pivot, and shake thrums with an undeniable spirit of place. And that in a world where we are over-connected but increasingly disconnected from one another, dance offers an authentically human experience. One that allows her to develop tolerance, kindness, truth, and love by holding the hands of a stranger and gazing into their eyes for the time of a song. With her fearless and candid approach, Aliénor will inspire you to take the reins of your own life—and have some fun along the way. In this dance-travelogue, you’ll learn the history and steps of dances like salsa, samba, and tango, enjoy a resplendent meditation on happiness and wanderlust, and receive a life-affirming answer to the question: How do I take the first step?

"This distinguished anthology presents for the first time in English travel essays by Arabic writers who have visited America in the second half of the century. The view of America which emerges from these accounts is at once fascinating and illuminating, but never monolithic. The writers hail from a variety of viewpoints, regions, and backgrounds, so their descriptions of America differently engage and revise Arab pre-conceptions of Americans and the West. The country figures as everything from the unchanging Other, the very antithesis of the Arab self, to the seductive female, to the Other who is both praiseworthy and reprehensible"--

For over 20 years Bradt Travel Guides has been running an annual travel-writing competition which now attracts hundreds of entrants each year. Thanks to Bradt's status as the largest remaining independently owned travel publisher in the UK and one of the most respected travel publishing brands in the world, it is uniquely placed to champion good writing, bringing to the written word the same calibre of high expectations that it looks for in the travel experience itself. Now for the first time, Bradt is delighted to release a select anthology of the best pieces of writing to pass in front of the judges' eyes over the past 20 years. In keeping with the spirit of the competition, both new and previously published writers are included, young and old, based in countries across the globe and offering a collection of true stories that reflect our endless appetite for travel, adventure and connection. All of these tales paint vivid pictures through the power of their writing - and they do it in under 800 words each (one of the conditions of entry). Six themed chapters include remarkable places, extraordinary people, encounters with wildlife; real terror; history; and learning and reflection. All in all, 95 stories cover everything from border guard mix-ups, wild animals and dodgy navigation to a day trip to Iceland and being seduced by a goat in a French market. From soothing, familiar scenes in some of our favourite destinations to unrepeatable and uncomfortable exploits in obscure corners of the world, these stories offer the perfect chance for virtual travel. You might even be inspired for your next trip. So, sit back, relax and let us tell you our stories.

The British Empire drew on the talents of many remarkable figures, whose lives reveal a wonderfully rich involvement with the crucial issues of the period. In many cases they left a legacy of travel writing, novels, biography and ethnography which made important contributions to our knowledge of other cultures."Writing, Travel and Empire" explores the lives and writings of eight such figures, including Sir George Grey, Gertrude Bell, Sir Hugh Clifford, and Roger Casement. All travelled the Empire - from Grey, the renowned colonial governor who undertook dangerous journeys to the interior of Australia, to Tom Harrisson, the emaciated polymath, war hero and Arctic explorer, whose time in the New Hebrides embraced both cannibalistic rituals and a meeting with film legend Douglas Fairbanks Sr, who sought Harrisson out for a Hollywood feature about savage life.All saw themselves as writers, despite their very different approaches and interests, and each was writing against a backdrop of the impending disappearance of indigenous cultures around the world. Writing from the margins of what was shortly to become the more formalised discipline of anthropology, their work yields interesting insights into both the issues of empire and the ways in which academic disciplines define the boundaries of their subject. Embracing themes such as gender and travel, racial science, the globalisation of 'native management' and the internal colonies, and with a geographical coverage that extends from South America to Russia via Africa and the South Seas, "Writing Travel and Empire" will engage all those with an interest in cultural geography, anthropology, history, postcolonial studies, biography and travel writing.

On the first morning of Rome's Covid-19 lockdown Matthew Kneale felt an urge to connect with friends and acquaintances and began writing an email, describing where he was, what was happening and what it felt like, and sent it to everyone he could think of. He was soon composing daily reports as he tried to comprehend a period of time, when everyone's lives suddenly changed and Italy struggled against an epidemic, that was so strange, so troubling and so fascinating that he found it impossible to think about anything else. Having lived in Rome for eighteen years, Matthew has grown to know the capital and its citizens well and this collection of brilliant diary pieces connects what he has learned about the city with this extraordinary, anxious moment, revealing the Romans through the intense prism of the coronavirus crisis.

Readers familiar with Randy Wayne White's "Out There" column in Outside magazine will relish this first collection of his best work; those new to White's delectable blend of adventure, hilarity, and spirit can only be envied for the satisfaction of that first encounter. Whether it's `This Dog Is Legend," in which he tells of his cinder-block-retrieving Chesapeake Bay retriever named Gator, or "Coming To America," about the stirring-and sometimes terrifying-Mariel boat lift, White never fails to engross us in a life of sun, boats, work, and sport.

A young gay man bewildered and lost on the highways of Los Angeles; a gay Muslim in Berlin; a rent boy in Shanghai; a holiday romance in Mexico; a man from Dakar in a bathhouse in Paris; a love hotel in Tokyo; a darkroom in Rio; a hamam in Syria; the burning ghats on the Ganges; Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto and atheist; legal and illegal blazing through 17 countries on six continents, Homo Odyssey is an explicit, upfront, edgy, often funny, travel adventure that will leave you seeing the world and yourself with different eyes. How do men sexually attracted to other men live in different parts of the world? How do they see themselves? How have they survived over the centuries, mostly in places hostile to them?"

The Silver Invicta is a stream of impressions from a fishing life, in its varying moods, coloured with plenty of whisky and eccentric company. Join Tom Harland on his light-hearted journeys with his fly rod; take part in his triumphs and disasters on rough, wild camping trips and share his encounters with the wildlife of Scotland's rivers and lochs. The 'Silver Invicta' was the traditional fly which was taken by Tom's first salmon and is also a nod to the spirit of Scotland's embattled migratory fish. Tom has fished throughout his local Scottish Borders, England, the Western Isles and New Zealand (a country he lived and worked in for two years), but his real passion is for the brown trout of the hill lochs of Assynt in the North-west Highlands. Open this treasure trove of a book to share the pleasure the author finds through fishing respectfully in magical, wild, and seldom-visited places.

Sihle Khumalo loves a challenge. He likes to think on his feet and prefers to depart from what can only be called a wish list.

The plans for his trip to West Africa were lean on practical detail but grand in concept: 'to visit Five World Heritage Sites listed by UNESCO for their historical and cultural significance'. He had never set foot in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin or Togo, but not to worry, he would inform himself about Francophone Africa as he went along, and conclude in an English speaking country.

Had he informed himself more thoroughly beforehand, pondered the implications of having next-to-no French in a part of the world where it is the lingua franca, or what public transport may be like in a country with no infrastructure to speak of, he might have set off less bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. But Sihle is not one to be deterred by setbacks and dead-ends.

His flexibility, irrepressible optimism and robust sense of humour, coupled with an unexpected sensitivity towards his host countries, see him reach all but one - no, two of his goals.

Since childhood, Oliver Sacks has been fascinated by ferns: an ancient class of plants able to survive and adapt in many climates. Along with a delightful group of fellow fern aficionados--mathematicians, poets, artists, and assorted botanists and birders--he embarks on an exploration of Southern Mexico, a region that is also rich in human history and culture. He muses on the origins of chocolate and mescal, pre-Columbian culture and hallucinogens, the vibrant sights and sounds of the marketplace, and the peculiar passions of botanists. What other species would comb ancient Zapotec ruins on their hands and knees, searching for a new type of fern? Combining Sacks's enthusiasm for natural history and the richness of humanity with his sharp and observant eye for detail, Oaxaca Journal is a rare treat.

'It would be hard to imagine a more thoughtful, intelligent and companionable person to go to sea with than Paul Heiney.' Bill Bryson 'High comedy on the high seas. Informative and warm and freezing. It's quite a combination.' Griff Rhys Jones The writer and broadcaster Paul Heiney set sail from the east coast of England bound for Iceland, propelled by a desire to breathe the cool, clear air of the high latitudes, and to follow in the wake of generations of sailors who have made this often treacherous journey since the 13th century. In almost every harbour he tripped over maritime history and anecdote, and came face to face with his own past as he sailed north along his childhood coastline of east Yorkshire towards the Arctic Circle. But there was one major thing missing from this voyage - the sight of puffins. They are remarkable birds, uplifting as a ray of sunshine after a storm. To see them and share their waters was also part of Heiney's ambition. Imagine then his disappointment when, first, no puffins appeared off the Farne Islands, then none to be seen on puffin hotspots like Orkney. When he failed to see puffins on Iceland, Heiney still held out the hope that he would see the 'joker of the seas'. With inspiring travel writing, social and maritime history, and good-humoured reflections on his sailing journey, Heiney brings us this delightful book - a love letter to the puffin, to Iceland and the north, and to the pure pleasure of being at sea.

Human encounters with the natural world are inseparable from the history of travel. Nature, as fearsome obstacle, a wonder to behold or a source of therapeutic refuge, is bound up with the story of human mobility. Stories of this mobility give readers a sense of the diversity of the natural world, how they might interpret and respond to it and how human preoccupations are a help or a hindrance in maintaining bio-cultural diversity. Travel writing has constantly shaped how humans view the environment from foreign adventures to flight-shaming. If much of modern travel writing has been based on ready access to environmentally damaging forms of transport how do travel writers deal with a practice that is destroying the world they claim to cherish? This Element explores human travel encounters with the environment over the centuries and asks, what is the future for travel writing in the age of the Anthropocene?

Cairo contains the greatest concentration of Islamic monuments in the world, and its mosques, mausolea, religious schools, baths, and caravanserais, built by prominent patrons between the seventh and nineteenth centuries, are among the finest in existence. Jim Antoniou takes his readers on a guided walk through the very heart of historic Cairo, among many of its greatest architectural treasures. Illustrated throughout with the author's own detailed maps and plans and lively sketches, the walk begins at the monumental gates in the north walls of the Fatimid city, follows the ancient thoroughfare of al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah south past Khan al Khalili and al-Ghuriya to the Street of the Tentmakers, turns left along the famous Darb al-Ahmar of the Arabian Nights, and ends at the magnificent mosque of Sultan Hasan at the foot of the Citadel. Over ninety historic buildings along the way are identified and described, many of them open to visitors.

When her husband was appointed by President Barack Obama to be U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Andorra, Susan Solomont uprooted herself. She left her career, her friends and family, and a life she loved to join her husband for a three-and-a-half-year tour overseas. Part memoir and part travelogue, Solomont learns the rules of a diplomatic household; goes on a culinary adventure with some of Spain's greatest chefs; finds her place in the Madrid Jewish community; and discovers her own voice to create new meaning in her role as a spouse, a community member, and a 21st century woman.

In the face of widespread misinformation and misunderstanding, a climate scientist ventures into the vast heart of America's new oil country on just two wheels. Recently recovered from his epic bicycle journey that took him from the Delaware shore to the Oregon coast, distinguished climate scientist David Goodrich sets out on his bike again to traverse the Western Interior Seaway-an ancient ocean that once spread across half of North America. When the waters cleared a geologic age ago, what was left behind was vast, flat prairie, otherworldly rock formations, and oil shale deposits. As Goodrich journeys through the Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park and across the prairies of the upper Midwest and Canada, we get a raw and ground-level view of where the tar sands and oil reserves are being opened up at an incredible and unprecedented pace. Extraordinary and unregulated, this "black goldrush" is boom and bust in every sense. In a manner reminiscent of John McPhee and Rachel Carson, combined with Goodrich's wry self-deprecation and scientific expertise, A Voyage Across an Ancient Ocean is a galvanizing and adventure-filled read that gets to the heart of drilling on our continent.

For its twenty-fifth anniversary, a new edition of Bruce Chatwin's classic work with a new introduction by Rory Stewart

Part adventure, part novel of ideas, part spiritual autobiography, "The Songlines" is one of Bruce Chatwin's most famous books. Set in the desolate lands of the Australian Outback, it tells the story of Chatwin's search for the source and meaning of the ancient "dreaming tracks" of the Aborigines--the labyrinth of invisible pathways by which their ancestors "sang" the world into existence. This singular book, which was a "New York Times" bestseller when it was published in 1987, engages all of Chatwin's lifelong passions, including his obsession with travel, his interest in the nomadic way of life, and his hunger to understand man's origins and nature.

Despues de vivir momentos extenuantes en su vida, un joven toma la mas importante de sus decisiones: Vivir una gran aventura que comienza en la ciudad de Roma, Italia. Su intencion sera recorrer toda la costa Mediterranea hacia Francia, conociendo su gastronomia y cultura asi como interesantes personajes. Seducido por la belleza de los paisajes, el joven recorre mas de mil kilometros a pie, dia tras dia, experiencia tras experiencia. Pero las situaciones se complican mientras se acerca a su destino, la frontera francesa. La primera parte de un gran viaje que lo llevara a Paris y de ahi, tomara una de las rutas mas famosas del planeta, el famoso "Camino de Santiago" en su ruta norte; aventuras, romance, intriga y muchas emociones, llevan al joven a vivir los momentos mas dificiles y emotivos de su existencia antes de llegar a su ultimo destino, la ciudad de Santiago de Compostela.

The first book by up-and-coming photographer Simon Eeles (born 1983), named Harper Bazaar's Young Photographer of the Year in 2009, Australiana is the result of a cross-continental road trip Eeles undertook in his homeland after years of working in the US and abroad. Featuring beachside portraits, images of his nieces and nephews playing in his mother's backyard on a small dairy farm in Tasmania, as well as landscape images of the country's vegetation, the volume aims to paint a portrait of a place and a culture geographically separated. Having worked under renowned British fashion photographer Craig McDean, Eeles creates images with sharp, fashion-world glamour, even as he captures a relaxing day on an Australian beach. It is this rich and unusual combination of sensibilities--the outback hardness with New York glitz--that informs this first monograph, an homage to the diverse landscapes and hard light of the faraway continent.

Having captivated millions during his tenure as The New York Times's "Frugal Traveler", Seth Kugel is one of our most internationally beloved travel writers. With the initial publication of Rediscovering Travel, he took the corporate modern travel industry to task, determined to reignite an age-old sense of adventure that has virtually been vanquished by the spontaneity-obliterating likes of Google Maps, TripAdvisor and Starwood points. Now in travel-friendly paperback, this "funny, inspiring and well-crafted" companion (Associated Press) reveals how to make the most of new apps and other digital technologies without being shackled to them. Writing for the tight-belted tourists and the first-class flyer, the eager student and the comfort-seeking retiree, Kugel shows all readers "not only where to look, but how" (Samantha Brown) and promises that we too can rediscover the joy of discovery.

Malachy Tallack has been passionate about fishing since he was young. Growing up in Shetland, with its myriad lochs, he and his brother would roam the island in search of trout, and in so doing discovered a sense of freedom, of wonder, and an abiding passion. But why is it that catching a fish - or simply contemplating catching a fish - can be so thrilling, so captivating? Why is it that time spent beside water can be imprinted so sharply in the memory? Why is it that what seems such a simple act - that of casting a line and hoping - can feel so rich in mystery? Illuminated by Water is Malachy's personal attempt to understand that freedom, and to trace the origins and sources of that sense of wonder. He shares the appeal of fishing, its intense joys and frustrations, the steadying effect it has both at water's edge and in the memory, and the contemplation of nature and landscape that comes with being an angler. He writes about fishing expeditions, from English canals and Scottish lochs to lakes in Canada and New Zealand, and he reflects on other aspects of angling, from its cultural significance and the emerging moral complexities to the intricacies of tying a fly. Beautifully written and hugely engaging, this book both articulates the inexplicable lure of the river and the endless desire to return to it, and illuminates a passion that has shaped the way so many see and think about the natural world.

"Seeking Sanctuary" is a rich and detailed journey into Sudan, a country that crystallizes present fears and prejudices about Islam, extremism and borderless global terrorism. It is told through the eyes of convertspeople intimately familiar with the western world but who have chosen Sudan and its apparent discomfort over their former existence. The result is not the cliched clash of cultures, or a narrative of awkwardness, but an uplifting account of joyful assimilation. The book provides an extraordinary insight into the religious journey to conversion. Its focus on the individual stories reveals the enormous complexity of motive, the subtlety of the experience, and the need for sensitivity rather than commonplace suspicion. It explains how the concerts have molded their own belief systems out of a common set of values to create an existence that allows them to feel comfortable about themselves and their environment for the first time. It contains a fascinating collection of intimate portraits, and individual discoveries."

Noo Saro-Wiwa was brought up in England but spent her childhood summers in Nigeria - a country she considered an unglamorous parallel universe, devoid of all creature comforts. After her father, activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, was murdered there in 1995, Noo rarely returned to the land of her birth. More than a decade later, she decided to come to terms with Nigeria. From the exuberant chaos of Lagos, to the calm beauty of the eastern mountains; the eccentricity of a Nigerian dog show to the empty Transwonderland Amusement Park, Noo combines travelogue with an exploration of corruption, identity and religion. Looking for Transwonderland is the first major non-fiction narrative of modern Nigeria; an engaging portrait of a country whose beauty and variety few of us will experience, depicted with wit and insight by a refreshing new voice in contemporary travel writing.

'Compelling, insightful, often sombrely beautiful’ Sunday Telegraph

Moving beyond travelogue, V. S. Naipaul’s The Masque of Africa considers the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of African civilization. Beginning in Uganda, at the centre of the continent, Naipaul’s journey takes in Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and ends, as the country does, in South Africa.

Focusing upon the theme of belief – though sometimes the political or economical realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account – Naipaul examines the fragile but enduring quality of the old world of magic. To witness the ubiquity of such ancient ritual, to be given some idea of its power, was to be taken far back to the beginning of things. To reach that beginning was the purpose of this book.