This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

BLACK TENTS OF ARABIA, by Carl Raswan, has been praised as a love story, as an adventure story, as a travel book, and as an insider's vision of a much-misunderstood people. It is all of those things, and if Raswan had been given a free hand it would also have been a definitive study of the Arabian Horse; but the editors of Little, Brown, and Company were not horsemen, and in 1934 Raswan was not yet famous enough to override them. They made him condense the story of his first year in Arabia to a single chapter, and rearrange the other material to keep the love-story up front. "I suppose it made a better book," Raswan commented wistfully, "though they made me leave out enough for several more." It made a book that has been loved in all its incarnations for sixty-seven years; but horse-lovers have always wished there were more about horses in it, and Mrs. Carl Raswan has expanded this edition to include a selection of her husband's early articles. Readers can learn more about his first trip to Arabia in his adventure book Drinkers of The Wind, and more about Arabian-breeding in The Arab and His Horse and The RASWAN INDEX. All three are available from Mrs. Carl Raswan, 16002 Walnut Creek, San Antonio, TX 78247.

A stunningly illustrated history of Venice, from its beginnings as 'La Serenissima' – 'the Most Serene Republic' – to the Italian city that continues to enchant visitors today. 'Everything about Venice,' observed Lord Byron, 'is, or was, extraordinary – her aspect is like a dream, and her history is like a romance.' Dream and romance have conditioned myriad encounters with Venice across the centuries, but the city's story embodies another kind of experience altogether – the hard reality of an independent state built on conquest, profit and entitlement and on the toughness and resilience of a free people. Masters of the sea, the Venetians raised an empire through an ethos of service and loyalty to a republic that lasted a thousand years. In this new and beautifully illustrated study of key moments in Venice's history, from its half-legendary founding amid the collapse of the Roman empire to its modern survival as a fragile city of the arts menaced by saturation tourism and rising sea levels, Jonathan Keates shows us just how much this remarkable place has contributed to world culture and explains how it endures as an object of desire and inspiration for so many.

'Judah paints another Europe with tense and dramatic detail' - Andrey Kurkov 'Will make you lurch between fascination, laughter and tears' - Sophy Roberts _____ What does it now mean to call yourself European? Who makes up this population of some 750 million, sprawled from Ireland to Ukraine, from Sweden to Turkey? Who has always called it home, and who has newly arrived from elsewhere? Who are the people who drive our long-distance lorries, steward our criss-crossing planes, lovingly craft our legacy wines, fish our depleted waters, and risk life itself in search of safety and a new start? In a series of vivid, ambitious, darkly visceral but always empathetic portraits of other people’s lives, journalist Ben Judah invites us to meet them. Drawn from hours of painstaking interviews, these vital stories reveal a frenetic and vibrant continent which has been transformed by diversity, migration, the internet, climate change, Covid, war and the quest for freedom. Laid dramatically bare, it may not always be a Europe we recognize – but this is Europe. _____ Praise for Ben Judah’s This Is London: ‘An epic work of reportage’ -The Guardian ‘Eye-opening’ - The Sunday Times ‘Opens readers’ eyes to the hardships experienced by many and ignored by most’ - Independent ‘Shares Orwell’s appetite for documenting parts of society that are easily overlooked’ - Spectator ‘Full of nuggets of unexpected information about the lives of others’ - Financial Times

The absolutely inspiring true tale of a young couple who gave up the "good life" in England to start a new life in the wilderness of the Yukon Dorian Amos--a painter from Cornwall--and his wife decided that they were in need of adventure, so they gave up their comfortable life and traveled to Yukon Territory in the remote Canadian wilderness. Told by Dorian with warmth and humor, this is the compelling account of their adventures. Buying a piece of land in the forest just outside Dawson City, they revel in the stark beauty of the landscape and the liberation they feel from the mundanity of their former home--crossing frozen rivers just to buy food, hunting caribou, coming face to face with bears, and building their own log cabin. The perfect tale for anyone feeling that there must be more to life, their story will convince readers to stop putting their dreams on hold.

'Bracingly original' Kathryn Hughes, Guardian From Romney Marsh to the Danube Delta, North Carolina to the Bay of Bengal, Tom Blass explores swamps, marshes and wetlands - and the people who have made these twilit worlds their homes. Oozing with bad airs, boggarts and other spirits, the world's marshes and swamps are often seen as sinister, permanently twilit - and only partly of this earth. For centuries, they - and their inhabitants - have been the object of our distrust. We have tried to drain away their demons and tame them, destroying their fragile beauty, botany and birdlife, along with the carefully calibrated lives of those who have come to understand and thrive in them. In Swamp Songs, Tom Blass journeys through a series of such watery landscapes, from Romney Marsh to North Carolina, from Lapland to the Danube Delta and on to the Bay of Bengal, encountering those whose very existence has been shaped by wetlands, their myths and hidden histories. Here are tales of shepherds, smugglers and salt-gatherers; of mangroves and machismo, frogs and fishermen. And of carp soup, tiger gods, flamingos and floods. A dazzling exploration of lives lived on the fringes of civilisation, Swamp Songs is a vital reappraisal and vibrant celebration of people and environments closely intertwined.

Young couple, four children, husband agriculturalist British Government Kenya; S. Nyanza province. Tea, coffee, pyrethrum. Photographic safaris birds/animals. Many adventures, Kenya/Tanzania/ Uganda/ Ethiopia. Diaries from 1958 (20 years).

Over the years, authors, artists and amblers aplenty have felt the pull of the Thames, and now travel writer Tom Chesshyre is following in their footsteps. He's walking the length of the river from the Cotswolds to the North Sea - a winding journey of over two hundred miles. Join him for an illuminating stroll past meadows, churches and palaces, country estates and council estates, factories and dockyards. Setting forth in the summer of Brexit, and meeting a host of interesting characters along the way, Chesshyre explores the living present and remarkable past of England's longest and most iconic river.

Celebrating Fifty Years of Picador Books In this acclaimed travel memoir Jamaica Kincaid chronicles a spectacular and exotic three-week trek through the Himalayan land of Nepal, where she and her companions are gathering seeds for planting at home. The natural world and, in particular, plants and gardening are central to Kincaid's work. Among Flowers intertwines meditations on nature and stunning descriptions of the Himalayan landscape with observations on the ironies, difficulties and dangers of this magnificent journey. For Kincaid and three botanist friends, Nepal is a paradise, a place where a single day's hike can traverse climate zones, from subtropical to alpine, encompassing flora suitable for growing at their homes, from Wales to Vermont. Yet as she makes clear, there is far more to this foreign world than rhododendrons that grow thirty feet high. Danger, too, is a constant companion - and the leeches are the least of their worries. Unpredictable Maoist guerrillas live in these perilous mountains, and when they do appear - as they do more than once - their enigmatic presence lingers long after they have melted back into the landscape. And Kincaid, who writes of the looming, lasting effects of colonialism in her works, necessarily explores the irony of her status as memsahib with Sherpas and bearers. A wonderful blend of introspective insight and beautifully rendered description, Among Flowers is a vivid, engrossing, and characteristically frank memoir from one of the most striking voices in contemporary literature. Part of the Picador Collection, a new series showcasing the best in modern literature.

To what extent do best-selling travel books, such as those by Paul Theroux, Bill Bryson, Bruce Chatwin and Michael Palin, tell us as much about world politics as newspaper articles, policy documents and press releases? Debbie Lisle argues that the formulations of genre, identity, geopolitics and history at work in contemporary travel writing are increasingly at odds with a cosmopolitan and multicultural world in which 'everybody travels'. Despite the forces of globalization, common stereotypes about 'foreignness' continue to shape the experience of modern travel. The Global Politics of Contemporary Travel Writing is concerned with the way contemporary travelogues engage with, and try to resolve, familiar struggles about global politics such as the protection of human rights, the promotion of democracy, the management of equality within multiculturalism and the reduction of inequality. This is a thoroughly interdisciplinary book that draws from international relations, literary theory, political theory, geography, anthropology and history.

ryruwi PENTHOUSE of the GODS A Pilgrimage into the Heart of Tibet and the Sacred City of Lhasa By THEOS BERNARD CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNERS SONS LTD LONDON To VIOLA CONTENTS. I. ECSTASY I II. THE QUEST 28 III. GYANTSft 62 IV. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE 91 V. FROM GYANTSfi TO LHASA 124 VI. THE FORBIDDEN CITY 161 VII. SHRINES, AND MORE SHRINES 185 VIII. I AM INITIATED 204 IX. I ESCAPE WITH MY LIFE 221 X. FURTHER EDUCATION OF A LAMA 243 XI. MORE SIGHTS, MORE CEREMONIES 267 XII. SIDELIGHTS AND INSIGHTS 289 XIII. GATHERING UP THE LAST THREADS 310 INDEX 339 ILLUSTRATIONS The white Lama Theos Bernard Frontispiece FACING PAGE Temple worship 6 Worship in the Temple of the Dalai Lama 7 Great mesh screens protect gold images 8 A Deity in the Chamber of Horrois 9 Under the Tibetan Plateau 36 lake among the clouds 37 Head lama of the Kaigyupa Monastery 42 A Tibetan mendicant with his teapot 42 It never pays to poison 43 Asking for alms 43 The author crossing a trail through a cliff 46 My transport winding its way up the Lhasa Valley 47 Resting at the foot of Chumolhari 50 Crossing a i6, ooo-fbot pass 51 One of the guardians at the Gyants6 Monastery 64 Temple carvings and paintings by Lama artists 65 Mural painting of the late Dalai Lama 66 A mural painting of one of their Goddesses 67 fix Illustrations FACING PAGE The Kigu Banner hangs one hour once a year 72 The famous black hat dance 73 Jewelled headdress worn by noblewomen from Tsang province 80 Back view of same headdress 80 Tsarong Lacham of Lhasa 80 Rear view of headdress worn by noblewomen of Central Tibet 80 Jigme 8 Tenna Rajah 81 Tsarong Shap6 8 1 Mary 8x Tibetan children 108 Tibetan children 109 Crossing those mountainousplateaus of solitude 132 A small Tibetan village where author spent the night 133 The Penthouse of the Gods taken from Chakpori 146 Stairways leading into the temple of the Penthouse of the Goda 147 The author before the Holy of Holies 1 50 A street scene in Lhasa 1 51 Presents sent by the government on my arrival 1 66 The author with two of his Tibetan lady friends 167 The author with the Prime Minister of Tibet 167 A Tibetan artist at work 172 A young carver 173 I Illustrations FACING PAGE Lamas reading proof 173 The Dalais printing establishment at the Potala 174 Stacks where wood blocks are kept at the Dalai Lamas printing establishment 175 The golden gargoyle on the roof over the late Dalai Lamas tomb 1 86 A door handle 186 Temple decorations 186 Incense burner and ornaments 187 The author photographing among the Lamas 190 Coppcrwarc made by native craftsmen 191 The author with the King Regent of Tibet 194 Bodyguard of the King Regent 195 The author next to the glowing altar of thousand lights 200 Ceremony at tomb of the late Dalai Lama 201 Trail leading around old Chakpori 214 Shrine of the thousand Buddhas 2x5 The author examining Tibetan manuscripts A Tibetan scholar A Tibetan beggar A moments pause a 37 A daily news bulletin hanging in the bazaar at Lhasa 250 Sounding trumpets from top of the Potala 251 Drcpung Monastery, the largest in the world 256 xi Illustrations FACING PAGE Sunrise service at Drepung Monastery 257 Sera Monastery, second largest in Tibet 278 The four head Lamas of Sera Monastery 279 The author with the lay and Lama officials of the Dalai Lama 316 The author visiting with the Rakasha family 317 Yaks used for transport in Tibet 330 A Tibetan Burial 331Crossing a river m a Tibetan Yak-skin boat 33 x Ganden Monastery, third largest in Tibet 334 A Lama debating 335 The golden image of the coming Buddha 336 A golden image of Buddha 337 A PENTHOUSE OF THE GODS CHAPTER I ECSTASY EE began to stir in the middle of the night, as preparations were being made for the great ceremony. With the dawn I was awakened by the rhythmic beating of drums, the ceaseless drone of sixteen-foot trumpets and the vibrant chant ing of thousands of Lamas, as they filed their way to the slab paved courtyard of the famous temple...

John Betjeman (1906-1984) was not only one of the best-loved Englishmen of the twentieth century, he was also the people's favourite poet and champion of many causes linked to the preservation of Britain's heritage. Whether those causes concerned buildings, bridges or railway branch lines, Betjeman was a feared adversary of bureaucratic excesses. This delightful little book is a celebration of his love of railways and rail travel. Ten letters selected by his daughter, Candida Lycett Green, each describe a journey that he made or that he planned to make or that he planned for a friend or relative. Jonathan Glancey has added his own words to each letter; words that set the scene, bring the letters to life, that describe Betjeman's moods - humorous, mischievous, brisk for business - and above all, remind us of the age of the steam locomotive in Britain and the many stations closed and track miles lost during the sixties and seventies.

In 1937, the Scottish writer, Neil Gunn, gave up his job in the civil service, sold his house in Inverness, and bought a boat. With his wife and his brother John, he set off on a three-month voyage around Inner Hebrides. The boat had outlived its first youth, and its engine was somewhat cranky; she went tolerably under sail. These are not high recommendations, but for Gunn, and at times his fellow voyagers, the vessel was an argosy of freedom, of adventure and misadventure-for they were fairly inexperienced sailors, and the waters of the region are by no means placid. Gunn was a Scots nationalist in a sense that goes far beyond the political, even though he thought that an independent Scotland was the only proper basis for a reasonable civilization. He was by nature poetic, uplifted or cast down by changing skies, seascapes, and shores. His descriptions of those things, including their moods, are remarkably evocative. And he is also a passionate historian of his country, exalting its possibilities, anathematizing its shortcomings. The book is illustrated with Daisy Gunn's photographs taken on the voyage, which are palpably amateur but wonderfully telling.

From comical misunderstandings and hilarious mishaps to the sheer terror of a near-death experience, these are the true-life global adventures and keen observations of one American traveler.

During his forty years of international travel, Edward Gray journeyed through the old Communist regimes of the USSR, Western Europe, the Americas, and the Far East. He lived through coup attempts in Portugal, Peru, and France; skyjacking incidents in the Middle East and the United States; and his family's extended stay at the JFK Airport in the blizzard of 1993.

At once a personal memoir, an intriguing international travelogue, and a fascinating blend of history and sociology, "Call a Bomb a Rifle" includes Gray's most entertaining, lively, and insightful anecdotes about life among strangers. Whether he's witnessing the purchase of a bushel of cherries in Istanbul, skiing in the Italian Alps, or watching the pilot and his fellow passengers perish in a major airplane crash, Gray is forever changed by his worldly excursions.

This remarkable memoir chronicles a lifetime of exploration into the various cultures, languages, and idiosyncrasies that divide us as a species-and the underlying humanity that unites us.