In early March 1867, Muir was injured while working at a wagon wheels factory: a tool he was using slipped and struck him in the eye. This accident changed the course of his life. He was confined to a darkened room for six weeks, worried he'd lost his sight forever. When he did recover, the world looked completely different and life had taken on a new meaning for him. Muir later said, "This affliction has driven me to the sweet fields. God has to...

A Septuagenarian Odyssey Simon Gandolfi has never been one to grow old gracefully and following two heart attacks he decides not to rest up, as many might, but to ride the length of Hispanic America on a 125cc motorbike. And why not? His wife may have plenty of reasons why not, but used to the intrepid septuagenarian's determination to complete any plan he comes up with, she shrugs her shoulders and waves him goodbye. At 73 years old, Simon Gandolfi...

The color of one's skin and passport have long dictated the conditions of travel. For Shahnaz Habib, travel and travel writing have always been complicated pleasures. Habib threads the history of travel with her personal story as a child on family vacations in India, an adult curious about the world, and an immigrant for whom roundtrips are an annual fact of life. Tracing the power dynamics that underlie tourism, this ... debut parses who gets to...

Vernon Lee was the pseudonym of the Franco-British writer Violet Paget (1856-1935). For over 50-years, Paget churned out works of both fiction and nonfiction at the rate of nearly a book a year. Perhaps best remembered today for her supernatural short stories, Paget produced a number of books with essays about travel and place. Genius Loci: Notes on Places (1899) was her first. Genius Loci is not a guidebook or a novel, but an intimate diary or,...

Africa is a complicated place, and the Peace Corps Volunteers who have worked in 43 African nations have seen it all: from public executions to public celebrations to life in a time of AIDS. This heartfelt collection is the first of its kind to chronicle 50 years of Peace Corps service. Stories range from poignant to hilarious, involve political intrigue and cultural missteps, illuminating the joys and agony of volunteering abroad and representing...

Paris is one city that you should endeavor to know over the course of a lifetime, and not just in one or two visits. It is the center of the civilized universe, and it belongs to everyone-even to those who see it only in their dreams. The City of Light has bestowed on millions the gift of the incandescent present, an image or experience into which all life is condensed and reflected upon for years to come. Travelers' Tales Paris captures the romance...

What would you do if you were desperate to travel around the world, but you had little or no money to finance your trip? You could stay home feeling sorry for yourself, keep putting it off until you could afford it, or just pack a bag and go, hoping to be able to live on your wits and find work along the way. That's what Pat Bensky did in her early twenties, and it led to a three-year adventure as she worked her way around Europe, North Africa, the...

Our modern day, multimedia, information-obsessed culture has fundamentally altered much of what we do day-to-day. The way we shop and pay bills. The way we communicate. The way we research, study, and learn. In the realm of travel we have more tools than ever telling us where to go, how to get there, what it will look like, what to do, and why we should go in the first place. This proliferation of constantly updated data has changed the way we go...

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 two years later, it was the first circumpolar...

This collection of 27 travel essays written over the last decade is based on Julie Hills journeys to far-flung destinations of the world. Often welcomed by her hosts not as a customer or a trader but as a confessor and a friend, Julie Hill vindicates their trust and repays their kindness by bringing their stories to life in this book. She goes where most others cannot or would not, emerging with priceless observations and insights on places and lifestyles...