Showing results for "WILLIAM" in Travel Writing & Commentary

Here is William Dalrymple's highly praised and greatly entertaining account of his 1986 trip made while a student at Cambridge, which retraced Marco Polo's route across land from Jerusalem to Xanadu. With him, he took a phial of Holy Oil, 600 pounds and Laura until Lahore, and Louisa from there to Xanadu.

In this collection of original stories, highly acclaimed novelist and outdoor writer William Tapply shares his finest stories of bird hunting in the Northeast country. Every season for over 30 years, Tapply has hunted the fields and backcountry of New England. Tapply’s warmth and knack for evoking the subtle, telling details of the places and hunts that he loves will stir a new appreciation and excitement in every listener. With his dog Burt, Tapply takes the listener out to his best spots.

Australia has more things that can kill you than anywhere else. Nevertheless, Bill Bryson journeyed to the country and promptly fell in love with it. The people are cheerful, their cities are clean, the beer is cold, and the sun nearly always shines.

It was 1956, and Eric Newby was earning an improbable living in the chaotic family business of London haute couture. Pining for adventure, Newby sent his friend Hugh Carless the now-famous cable - CAN YOU TRAVEL NURISTAN JUNE? - setting in motion a legendary journey from Mayfair to Afghanistan, and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, northeast of Kabul. Inexperienced and ill prepared (their preparations involved nothing more than some tips from a Welsh waitress), the amateurish rogues embarked on a month of adventure and hardship in one of the most beautiful wildernesses on earth. 

In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.

In Neither Here nor There Bill Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia.

In the summer of 1773, lawyer and antiquarian William Hutchinson set out from his home in County Durham on a tour of the English Lake District. Accompanied by his brother, George Allan, he travelled by horseback from Bowes to Penrith and Keswick, down through Grasmere and Ambleside to Kendal, and back via Kirkby Stephen to County Durham. When he returned home he wrote what may be the first guidebook to the Lakes. Written in a pre-Romantic era when English writers were just beginning to discover the delights of the scenic view, Hutchinson's account vividly describes a district that would soon ...

30 sonnets by the English poet and cleric the Reverend William Lisle Bowles "written chiefly during various journeys". Published in 1789 they were received with favour, not only by the general public, but by other poets such as Coleridge and Wordsworth. The text includes other poems, but these sonnets were most suitable for the project. (Summary by Alan Mapstone)

Hardly anyone ever leaves Des Moines, Iowa. But Bill Bryson did, and after 10 years in England he decided to go home, to a foreign country. In an ageing Chevrolet Chevette, he drove nearly 14,000 miles through 38 states to compile this hilarious and perceptive state-of-the-nation report on small-town America.

A CAPTIVATING JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD FROM THE CREATOR OF JAMES BOND, BROUGH TO LIFE WITH BARNABY EDWARDS' ENGAGING NARRATION. Ian Fleming’s world travels and interests, as well as his journalism and wartime experiences, lent authority to everything he wrote. In 1959, theSunday Times...

On his 44th birthday, Eric Newby sets out on an incredible journey: to travel the 1,200-mile length of India's holy river. In a misguided attempt to keep him out of trouble, Wanda, his lifelong travel companion and wife, is to be his fellow boatwoman. Their plan is to begin in the great plain of Hardwar and finish in the Bay of Bengal, but the journey almost immediately becomes markedly slower and more treacherous than either had imagined - running aground 63 times in the first six days.

Hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing, Blue Highways is an unforgettable journey along our nation's backroads. William Least Heat-Moon set out with little more than the need to put home behind him and a sense of curiosity about "those little towns that get on the map -- if they get...

'The best non-fiction writer of her generation' THE TIMES 'When I read Flyn’s writing I would often exhale with a sense of wonder' GUARDIAN 'Fascinating and masterfully written' ALICE WINN LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRITING A lyrical exploration of the world’s...

Lydia blood is young, beautiful, intelligent and has a wonderful singing voice. She leaves her home in Massachusetts, where she lives with her grandfather and aunt, to travel to Italy to follow her dreams a singing career. On the voyage, she is the only woman, and strikes up friendships with and ignites jealousy among the other passengers. - Summary by LynneT

Bananas are the most popular fruit in the world according to the BBC. In this book we see how this fruit that is grown in limited areas of the world began its journey in agriculture and came to establish itself in the hearts and kitchens everywhere. In 1913, William Fawcett had been involved for thirty years in the development of the banana as a crop in Jamaica when he wrote this treatise on all aspects of the banana and its cultivation. - Summary by A. Gramour

In 1908-1909, Mary Blair Beebe and her husband, C. William Beebe made two private expeditions to Venezuela and British Guiana, exploring and collecting live birds for the New York Zoological Park. They then collaborated on a book about their "search for a wilderness," with Mary Blair doing the bulk of the writing. The Beebe's supplemented tropical birding with visits to gold mines in British Guiana and a lake of pitch, which was being mined in the middle of the Venezuelan jungle. Mary Blair's take on things is evident. "A word must be said here from the woman's point of view about the costume ...

In 1920, William Nutting, editor of Motor Boat Magazine and an experienced sailor, commissioned his friend, legendary naval architect William Atkin, to design a boat for an Atlantic crossing. The nominal goal of the voyage was to compete in the yacht races off Cowes, England, but Nutting and Atkin also wanted to prove that one could cross a large ocean in what was then considered a very small vessel. The result was "Typhoon," a 45-foot ketch in which Nutting and a few friends completed a three-week crossing of the North Atlantic, followed by some racing and cruising in Europe, and a return to ...

In 1983, Ma Jian turned 30 and was overwhelmed by the desire to escape the confines of his life in Beijing. Deng Xiaoping was clamping down on 'Spiritual Pollution'; young people were rebelling. With his long hair, jeans and artistic friends, Ma Jian was under surveillance. One day he bought a...

"Venedig", einer der schönsten Reiseberichte der Weltliteratur, entstammt den Aufzeichnungen des einundzwanzigjährigen William Beckford von seiner "Grand Tour", die ihn von England über Belgien, Holland, Deutschland und Österreich im Jahre 1780 nach Italien brachte. Während der zehnmonatigen Reise führte Beckford ein Tagebuch, in das er täglich verknappte, skizzenhafte Eintragungen machte; sie bilden das Rohmaterial, das er ein Jahr später einer radikalen Bearbeitung und Formung unterwarf.

Cal Flyn was very proud when she discovered that her ancestor, Angus McMillan, had been a pioneer of colonial Australia. However, when she dug deeper, she began to question her pride. McMillan had not only cut tracks through the bush, but played a dark role in Australia's bloody history. In 1837...