Category Archives: Travel Guides
America, Empire And Liberty
In “America, Empire of Liberty” David Reynolds unlocks both its grandeur and its paradoxes. He examines how the anti-empire of 1776 became the greatest superpower the world has seen, how the country that offered liberty and opportunity on a scale unmatched in Europe nevertheless founded its prosperity on the labour of black slaves and the
Wild Abandon
The last day on earth is coming. Bring your own booze. Kate and Albert, sister and brother, are not yet the last two human beings on earth, but Albert has high hopes. The secluded communal farm they grew up on is – after twenty years – disintegrating, along with their parents` marriage. They both try
Three Cups of Tea
This is the story of one man’s mission to promote peace’ฆone school at a time. In 1993, after a disastrous attempt to climb K2, Greg Mortenson drifted, cold and dehydrated, into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the kindness he was shown by local inhabitants, he promised to return and build
The Candy Machine
The cocaine industry is getting bigger and bigger. Having been propelled to the position of drug of choice in the west, just how did the international cocaine market grow so large? And who`s responsible for maintaining it? In The Candy Machine, Tom Feiling travels the cocaine trade routes from Columbia and onwards to Kingston, Miami,
Rivers of Gold – The Rise of the Spanish Empire
In this epic history from award-winning author Hugh Thomas, “Rivers of Gold” brings the early years of Spain`s imperial achievement vividly to life.250 years after Columbus launched the most important expedition of conquest in history, Magellan, sailing with a Spanish fleet, followed in his wake. The Spanish adventurers convinced themselves an Earthly Paradise existed in
Cuba – A History
First published in 1971, “Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom” is still the most important and authoritative book on this complex and often geopolitically significant country, marrying Hugh Thomas` unique skills as arguably the world`s leading historian of Spanish-speaking peoples with an intricate and absorbing subject. This book explores the whole sweep of Cuban history, from
Berlin – The Downfall 1945
Berlin: the Downfall, 1945, is Antony Beevor`s account of the bloody Gรถtterdรคmmerung that brought the Second World War in Europe to an end, and in which he has fused the large and the small scale effects of war. Beevor paints the broad picture of Marshals Zhukov and Konev, competing for glory and Stalin`s attention, as
Savage Continent
Keith Lowe`s “Savage Continent” is an awe-inspiring portrait of how Europe emerged from the ashes of WWII. The end of the Second World War saw a terrible explosion of violence across Europe. Prisoners murdered jailers. Soldiers visited atrocities on civilians. Resistance fighters killed and pilloried collaborators. Ethnic cleansing, civil war, rape and murder were rife
Paris after the Liberation
Paris ‘“ After the Liberation explores the world of post-liberation Paris, an epoch charged with political and conflicting emotions for Parisians. Liberation was greeted with joy but marked by recriminations and the trauma of purges. Antony Beevor and Artemis Cooper cover all aspects of life in Paris including diplomacy, strategy, rationing, politics and politicking, the
The Penguin History of Latin America
Now fully updated to 2009, the Penguin History of Latin America this acclaimed history of Latin America tells its turbulent story from Columbus to Chavez.Beginning with the Spanish and Portugese conquests of the New World, it takes in centuries of upheaval, revolution and modernization up to the present day, looking in detail at Argentina, Mexico,
A South Indian Journey – The Smile of Murugan
Inspired by a temple astrologer (who had accurately predicted his marriage and the birth of his two daughters), in A South India Journey, the writer and broadcaster Michael Wood travelled on a magical journey through south-east India. He makes a pilgrimage to the temples of southern India, exploring the remnants of antiquity amidst the present-day
Political Animal
Jeremy Paxman knows every maneouvre a politician will make to avoid answering a difficult question, but in “The Political Animal” he seeks an answer to just one: What makes politicians tick? Embarking on a journey in which he encounters movers and shakers past and present, he discovers: that Prime Ministers have often lost a parent
I Dreamed of Africa
Kuki Gallmann’s I Dreamed of Africa is a haunting memoir of bringing up a family in Kenya in the 1970s first with her husband Paulo, and then alone; and is part elegiac celebration, tragedy and love letter to the magical spirit of Africa. Kuki engages the reader with tales of elephants in her garden and
The Beautiful and the Damned – A Portrait of the New India
India is a country where you take a nap and someone has stolen your job, where you buy a BMW but still have to idle for cows crossing your path. In his dazzling new book Siddhartha Deb leads us into the new India through the lives of an unforgettable group of Indians: a Gatsby-like mogul
God`s Own Country
In one of the most celebrated debut novels of recent years, Ross Raisin tells the story of solitary young farmer, Sam Marsdyke, and his extraordinary battle with the world. Expelled from school and cut off from the town, mistrusted by his parents and avoided by city incomers, Marsdyke is a loner until he meets rebellious
Thinking, Fast and Slow
The “New York Times” Bestseller, acclaimed by author such as Freakonomics co-author Steven D. Levitt, Black Swan author Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Nudge co-author Richard Thaler, “Thinking Fast and Slow” offers a whole new look at the way our minds work, and how we make decisions. Why is there more chance we`ll believe something if
The English and Their History
In `The English and their History`, the first full-length account to appear in one volume for many decades, Robert Tombs gives us the history of the English people, and of how the stories they have told about themselves have shaped them, from the prehistoric `dreamtime` through to the present day. If a nation is a
The Tesseract
In less than an hour, Sean has a meeting with a mestizo gangster. On the other side of town, Rosa listens for her husband`s car, and thirteen-year-old Vincente is watching for the man who pays money for street-kids` dreams. Tonight, these disparate lives will violently collide…
A Fraction of the Whole
From his prison cell, Jasper Dean tells the unlikely story of his scheming father Martin, his crazy Uncle Terry and how the three of them upset – mostly unintentionally – an entire continent. Incorporating death, parenting (good and bad kinds), one labyrinth, first love, a handbook for criminals, a scheme to make everyone rich and
The Elephanta Suite
This fabulous, far-reaching book breathtakingly captures the tumult, ambition, hardship and serenity that mark modern India. Theroux`s characters risk venturing far beyond its well-worn paths to discover woe or truth or peace. A holidaying middle-aged couple veer heedlessly from idyll to chaos. A buttoned-up Boston lawyer finds relief in Mumbai`s reeking slums. A young woman
