Before the emergence of anthropology around the middle of the nineteenth century, there was no ethnography as such. But the discipline owes its formation to certain strands that go back into the remoter past of the ancient world, as far back as Homeric epic, and range over such themes as the Greek views of non-Greeks and indeed of the boundaries of what it is to be human. These classical structural polarities have provided an enduring interpretative framework for configuring the 'other' in very different societies and places. Reaching across a remarkable time span, Mason's approach does not attempt a unified narrative, but uses case studies from the ancient world, the early modern era and the Enlightenment, many of them related to the difficulties of comprehending the cultures of the New World, to pinpoint startling continuities and changes. In this way, Mason reveals 'embedded ethnographies' in the works of a diverse set of writers, from giants of their age such as Sextus Empiricus, Columbus, Montaigne, the Marquis de Sade and Goethe, to little-known authors of the sixteenth century such as Jan Huygen van Linschoten (tales of sex and drugs in Goa) and Adriaen Coenen (encountering Eskimos in The Hague). Drawing his conclusions from a wealth of sources, the author deftly moves from travellers' accounts, encyclopaedias, cosmographies and natural history compilations, to literary works of fiction, translating them from seven languages. Many are presented here to English readers for the first time. Whether non-European peoples are demonized or idealized, the author asks, can any trace of a native voice still be found in these European texts? An outstanding work by a scholar with an eye for extraordinary case studies and unexpected cultural connections, which contribute to opening up new paths of research and reinvigorate the field. Francisco Bethencourt - Charles Boxer Professor of History, King's College London The Ways of the World is an elegant, lucid, exemplary piece of intellectual history by an author who is as much at home in philosophy and literary criticism as he is in anthropology and history. Peter Burke - Emeritus Professor of Cultural History, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge

David Livingstone, the 'missionary-explorer', has attracted more commentary than nearly any other Victorian hero. Beginning in the years following his death, he soon became the subject of a major biographical tradition. Yet out of this extensive discourse, no unified image of Livingstone emerges. Rather, he has been represented in diverse ways and in a variety of socio-political contexts. Until now, no one has explored Livingstone's posthumous reputation in full. This book meets the challenge. In approaching Livingstone's complex legacy, it adopts a metabiographical perspective: in other words, this book is a biography of biographies. Rather than trying to uncover the true nature of the subject, metabiography is concerned with the malleability of biographical representation. It does not aim to uncover Livingstone's 'real' identity, but instead asks: what has he been made to mean? Crossing disciplinary boundaries, Livingstone's 'lives' will interest scholars of imperial history, postcolonialism, life-writing, travel-writing and Victorian studies. -- .

Fishermen from New England and the Canadian Maritime Provinces once made a reputation by driving their schooners under a full press of sail in a howling gale on their run into market, fueling the popular imagination with romantic images of Captains Courageous. But by the early twentieth century, they seemed destined to go the way of workers ashore, who had been displaced by new technologies. Then fate intervened in the form of the International Fishermen's Races. Clouds of White Sail tells the story of how schoonermen were able to reignite the public's love affair with the beauty of their ships and the romance of the sea and hold onto their way of life in a way that few other workers were able. Michael Wayne Santos's narrative takes a page from the fo'c'sle traditions from which he draws; like the men whose saga he immortalizes, he not only loves a good story but also knows how to tell one.

Taking a closer look at the fundamentals of the green and wild life forms that exist around us. With a photographer's eye, viewing the very things that we take for granted and easily dismiss as an abundant source of the natural world. But could this be construed as disposable? This book does not shy away from the hard realities of, or attempt to glamorise, the climate discussion. It modulates the voices, pensive, concerned, engaged or ignoring, from which is created the colours within a silent world of nature. The Colour of Silence is about mindfulness and a clear-focused look at life on Earth, contemplating the curious truth about nature. This widely respected photographer artist, Clare Newton uses her intriguing and unusual photographs to explore the wonders of nature. "Art has a vital role to play in our sense of well-being through immersion in the natural world by enhancing our awareness of the diversity of life that abounds there." The perception of the superiority of one life form over another, and in particular of humanity over the remainder of the natural world, may well have contributed in no small way to the environmental predicament that confronts us today. Alongside Newton's images, runs another narrative: Could there be a different way of perceiving nature and our human place within it with fresh eyes, untainted by past preconceptions? Can her unassuming photographer's eye help to show life as it actually is, not as we might imagine or desire it to be? Kate Humble BBC Wildlife and Science Presenter says 'A beautiful & thought provoking book.'

FINANCIAL TIMES BEST HISTORY BOOKS OF 2022 For centuries, Ferdinand Magellan has been celebrated as a hero: a noble adventurer who circumnavigated the globe in an extraordinary feat of human bravery; a paragon of daring and chivalry. Now historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto draws on extensive and meticulous research to conduct a dazzling investigation into Magellan's life, his character and his ill-fated voyage. He reveals that Magellan did not attempt - much less accomplish - a journey around the globe, and that in his own lifetime, the explorer was abhorred as a traitor, reviled as a tyrant and dismissed as a failure. Fernandez-Armesto probes the passions and tensions that drove Magellan to adventure and drew him to disaster: the pride that became arrogance, audacity that became recklessness, determination that became ruthlessness, romanticism that became irresponsibility, and superficial piety that became, in adversity, irrational exaltation. And as the real Magellan emerges, so too do his true ambitions, focused less on circumnavigating the world or cornering the global spice market than on exploiting Filipino gold. Offering up a stranger, darker and even more compelling narrative than the fictional version that has been glorified for half a millennium, Straits untangles the myths that made Magellan a hero.

This is a study of the nature and role of science in the exploration of the Canadian Arctic. It covers the century that began with the British Royal Naval expeditions of 1818 and ended with the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-18. Professor Levere focuses on the imperialistic dimensions and nationalistic aspirations that informed arctic science, and situates its rise in the context of economic and military history of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe and North America. Accessibly written and prodigiously researched, Science and the Canadian Arctic is of interest to an audience of historians, environmental scientists and anyone interested in the Arctic.

Thailand is known for its picturesque beaches and famous temples, but there's much more to this popular holiday destination than many realize. A Brief History of Thailand offers an engaging look at the country's last 250 years--from coups and violent massacres to the invention of Pad Thai in the 1930's. Readers will learn the vibrant story of Thailand's emergence as a prosperous Buddhist state, its transformation from traditional kingdom to democratic constitutional monarchy and its subsequent rise to prominence in Southeast Asian affairs. Thailand's dramatic history spans centuries of conflict, and this book recounts many of these fascinating episodes, including: The true story of Anna Leonowens, the British governess hired to teach the children of King Mongkut, fictionalized in Margaret Landon's bestselling novel Anna and the King of Siam and turned into a hit Rodgers and Hammerstein musical and film, The King and I The bloodless Siamese Revolution of 1932 that established overnight the first constitutional monarchy in Asia, ending almost eight centuries of absolute rule and creating a democratic system of parliamentary government The Japanese invasion of Thailand and construction of the "Bridge Over the River Kwai" made famous by the novel and Oscar-winning film The mysterious death of King Ananda Mahidol, murdered in his bed in 1946, and a source of controversy ever since The development of Thailand as an international playground during the Vietnam War, when American military used it as rowdy destination for servicemen on furlough The 70-year reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-serving monarch, who was born in the U.S., educated in Switzerland, loved to play the saxophone and was idolized by his people With this book, historian and professor Richard A. Ruth has skillfully crafted an accessible cultural and political history of an understudied nation. Covering events through the King's death in 2016, A Brief History of Thailand will be of interest to students, travelers and anyone hoping to learn more about this part of the world.

“Pam spurned conventional rewards, entrusted her dream to eight powerful huskies, and set out alone to cross the Arctic. . . . a most extraordinary journey.� —Sir Ranulph Fiennes, renowned adventurer  Eight sled dogs and one woman set out from Barrow, Alaska, to mush 2,500 miles. Alone Across the Artic chronicles this astounding expedition. For an entire year, Pam Flowers and her dogs made this epic journey across North America arctic coast. The first woman to make this trip solo, Pam endures and deals with intense blizzards, melting pack ice, and a polar bear. Yet in the midst of such danger, Pam also relishes the time alone with her beloved team. Their survival—-her survival—-hinges on that mutual trust and love. 

This book features some of the greatest travellers in human history - people who undertook long journeys to places they knew little or nothing about. From Roman tourists, to the establishment of the Silk Road; an epic trek round China and India in the seventh century, to Marco Polo and through to the first speculations on space travel, Premodern Travel in World History provides an overview of long-distance travel in Afro-Eurasia from around 400BCE to 1500.

This survey uses succinct accounts of the most epic journeys in the premodern world as lenses through which to examine the development of early travel, trade and cultural interchange between China, central Asia, India and southeast Asia, while also discussing themes such as the growth of empires and the spread of world religions.

Complete with maps, this concise and interesting study analyzes how travel pushed and shaped the boundaries of political, geographical and cultural frontiers.

Winner of the People's Literature Award, WINTER PASTURE has been a bestselling book in China for several years. Li Juan has been widely lauded in the international literary community for her unique contribution to the narrative non-fiction genre. WINTER PASTURE is her crowning achievement, shattering the boundaries between nature writing and personal memoir. Li Juan and her mother own a small convenience store in the Altai Mountains in Northwestern China, where she writes about her life among grasslands and snowy peaks. To her neighbors' surprise, Li decides to join a family of Kazakh herders as they take their 30 boisterous camels, 500 sheep and over 100 cattle and horses to pasture for the winter. The so-called "winter pasture" occurs in a remote region that stretches from the Ulungur River to the Heavenly Mountains. As she journeys across the vast, seemingly endless sand dunes, she helps herd sheep, rides horses, chases after camels, builds an underground home using manure, gathers snow for water, and more. With a keen eye for the understated elegance of the natural world, and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor, Li vividly captures both the extraordinary hardships and the ordinary preoccupations of the day-to-day of the men and women struggling to get by in this desolate landscape. Her companions include Cuma, the often drunk but mostly responsible father; his teenage daughter, Kama, who feels the burden of the world on her shoulders and dreams of going to college; his reticent wife, a paragon of decorum against all odds, who is simply known as "sister-in-law." In bringing this faraway world to English language readers here for the first time, Li creates an intimate bond with the rugged people, the remote places and the nomadic lifestyle. In the signature style that made her an international sensation, Li Juan transcends the travel memoir genre to deliver an indelible and immersive reading experience on every page.

Lowell Thomas Jr. is a famed Alaskan who made his mark as a Bush pilot and by serving in state government, but who also has had a lifetime’s worth of adventures that have taken him around the world. Thomas, now eighty-nine, and living in Anchorage, is the son of one of the most widely known Americans of the twentieth century, and his connection to Lowell Thomas Sr. (1892-1981) enabled him to jump-start his life of adventure at a very early age. From the time he was fifteen, Lowell Thomas Jr. has been involved in a series of journeys that have seen him cross paths with many famous lives and take part in many historic events.

A New Scientist Book of the Year Prehistory is all around us. We just need to know where to look. Juan Jose Millas has always felt like he doesn't quite fit into human society. Sometimes he wonders if he is even a Homo sapiens at all. Perhaps he is a Neanderthal who somehow survived? So he turns to Juan Luis Arsuaga, one of the world's leading palaeontologists and a super-smart sapiens, to explain why we are the way we are and where we come from. Over the course of many months the two visit different places, many of them common scenes of our daily lives, and others unique archaeological sites. Arsuaga tries to teach the Neanderthal how to think like a sapiens and, above all, that prehistory is not a thing of the past: that traces of humanity through the millennia can be found anywhere, from a cave or a landscape to a children's playground or a toy shop. Millas and Arsuaga invite you on a journey of wonder that unites scientific discovery with the greatest human invention of all: the art of storytelling.

This book explores the early history of the Pitt Rivers Museum and its collections. Many thousands of people collected objects for the Museum between its foundation in 1884 and 1945, and together they and the objects they collected provide a series of insights into the early history of archaeology and anthropology. The volume also includes individual biographies and group histories of the people originally making and using the objects, as well as a snapshot of the British empire. The main focus for the book derives from the computerized catalogues of the Museum and attendant archival information. Together these provide a unique insight into the growth of a well-known institution and its place within broader intellectual frameworks of the Victorian period and early twentieth century. It also explores current ideas on the nature of relationships, particularly those between people and things.

Ranulph Fiennes has entered the public imagination as the intrepid explorer par excellance. Taunted by his wife over the challenge of the never-before attempted circumpolar navigation of the globe, he set off in 1979 on a gruelling 52,000 mile adventure. Together with fellow members of 21 SAS regiment, Fiennes left from Greenwich, travelling over land, passing through both ends of the polar axis. Completed over three years later, it was the first circumpolar navigation of the globe, and justifiably entered Fiennes into the record books. TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH is the record of that journey. It captures the natural beauty of the landscapes they passed through, and the cameraderie that necessarily grows between men who had served in the British forces' elite regiment and were now throwing themselves into danger of a different sort. Time and again, the expedition found themselves in life-threatening situations, weaving through the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean or sharing a single sleeping bag to ward off the -40 degrees celsius Arctic night. The calm and measured approach which made Fiennes such a great expedition leader shines through TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, deftly recreating the last unexplored regions on earth. It is also a book which lays the foundations for what was to come for Fiennes, confirming a need to exist outside the comfortable norms the rest of us inhabit. As the expedition progresses, there is also a mounting sense of tension as attainment of the final goal also spells the end of the adventure. TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH is a compelling account of one journey and Fiennes' drive to push himself to ever further extremes.

The Gold Rush era was an amazing time in our country's history. California had just been occupied during the Mexican-American War and wasn't officially a U.S. territory yet when gold was discovered in 1848. Suddenly the whole world was electrified by the news and tales of men digging vast amounts of wealth out of the ground, even finding gold nuggets just lying around. Within five years, 250,000 miners dug up more than $200 million in gold--about $600 billion in today's dollars."Gold "offers a feel for what it was like to live through the heady days of the discovery and exploitation of gold in California in the mid-1800s through firsthand accounts, short stories, and tall tales written by the people who were there. These eyewitness accounts offer an immediacy that brings the events to life.

First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A wondrous story of scientific endeavor-probing the great ice sheets of Antarctica From the moment explorers set foot on the ice of Antarctica in the early nineteenth century, they desired to learn what lay beneath. David J. Drewry provides an insider's account of the ambitious and often hazardous radar mapping expeditions that he and fellow glaciologists undertook during the height of the Cold War, when concerns about global climate change were first emerging and scientists were finally able to peer into the Antarctic ice and take its measure. In this panoramic book, Drewry charts the history and breakthrough science of radio-echo sounding, a revolutionary technique that has enabled researchers to measure the thickness and properties of ice continuously from the air-transforming our understanding of the world's great ice sheets. To those involved in this epic fieldwork, it was evident that our planet is rapidly changing, and its future depends on the stability and behavior of these colossal ice masses. Drewry describes how bad weather, downed aircraft, and human frailty disrupt the most meticulously laid plans, and how success, built on remarkable international cooperation, can spawn institutional rivalries. The Land Beneath the Ice captures the excitement and innovative spirit of a pioneering era in Antarctic geophysical exploration, recounting its perils and scientific challenges, and showing how its discoveries are helping us to tackle environmental challenges of global significance.