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The Pacific Northwest Garden Tour: The 60 Best Gardens to Visit in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia
by Donald Olson“Your must-visit list of Northwest gardens is finally organized and illustrated.” —Sunset Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia have a wealth of top-notch public gardens. In The Pacific Northwest Garden Tour veteran travel writer Donald Olson highlights sixty of the most outstanding options and provides all the information you need to make the most of your visit. This gorgeous and useful guide includes cherished public gardens and a handful of the most groundbreaking nurseries. Packed with memorable stories and stunning photography, it is a fantastic garden tour that only the scenic Pacific Northwest can provide.
The Packing Book
by Judith GilfordFully updated for the 21st-century traveler, this definitive packing guide will empower overpackers to throw down their brick-like suitcases and become carry-on pros. The Packing Book reveals the secrets of packing efficiently, with time-saving tips, techniques, and technologies. Packing consultant Judith Gilford describes her famed Bundle Method step by step, so that every carry-on hopeful can achieve wrinkle-free, space-saving perfection. This edition also addresses new carry-on security concerns and guidelines, including what you can and cannot take on the plane. Complete with packing checklists for every kind of journey, The Packing Book will prepare you for beach vacations, business trips, European excursions, and more-without leaving you weighed down, wrinkled, and weary.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Paddler's Guide to Michigan
by Jeff CountsA travel guide for the paddling-inclined. The Paddler’s Guide to Michigan takes users to the best quiet waters in the Great Lakes state, including rivers, inland lakes, and the Great Lakes. The guide is full of helpful suggestions for how to have the best paddling trips, even at the most popular destinations. Just because a river can be paddled, it doesn’t mean the experience will be a good one, so outdoorsman and journalist Jeff Counts has researched and paddled all these waters to bring you tips and details to make your outings as enjoyable as possible. He offers comprehensive information to help those who own kayaks arrange their own trips as well as info for the more casual kayaker who wishes to work with outfitters.
The Palace of the Snow Queen: Winter Travels in Lapland and Sápmi
by Barbara SjoholmAn exploration of the winter wonders and entangled histories of Scandinavia&’s northernmost landscapes—now back in print with a new afterword by the author After many years of travel in the Nordic countries—usually preferring to visit during the warmer months—Barbara Sjoholm found herself drawn to Lapland and Sápmi one winter just as mørketid, the dark time, set in. What ensued was a wide-ranging journey that eventually spanned three winters, captivatingly recounted in The Palace of the Snow Queen. From observing the annual construction of the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, to crossing the storied Finnmark Plateau in Norway, to attending a Sámi film festival in Finland, Sjoholm dives deep into the rich traditions and vibrant creative communities of the North. She writes of past travelers to Lapland and contemporary tourists in Sápmi, as well as of her encounters with Indigenous reindeer herders, activists, and change-makers. Her new afterword bears witness to the perseverance of the Sámi in the face of tourism, development, and climate change. Written with keen insight and humor, The Palace of the Snow Queen is a vivid account of Sjoholm&’s adventures and a timely investigation of how ice and snow shape our imaginations and create a vision that continues to draw visitors to the North.
The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Heritage Research
by Emma Waterton Steve WatsonThis book explores heritage from a wide range of perspectives and disciplines and in doing so provides a distinctive and deeply relevant survey of the field as it is currently researched, understood and practiced around the world
The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies
by Richard Sharpley Philip R. Stone Leanne White Rudi Hartmann Tony SeatonThis handbook is the definitive reference text for the study of ‘dark tourism’, the contemporary commodification of death within international visitor economies. Shining a light on dark tourism and visitor sites of death or disaster allows us to better understand issues of global tourism mobilities, tourist experiences, the co-creation of touristic meaning, and ‘difficult heritage’ processes and practices. Adopting multidisciplinary perspectives from authors representing every continent, the book combines ‘real-world’ viewpoints from both industry and the media with conceptual underpinning, and offers comprehensive and grounded perspectives of ‘heritage that hurts’. The handbook adopts a progressive and thematic approach, including critical accounts of dark tourism history, dark tourism philosophy and theory, dark tourism in society and culture, dark tourism and heritage landscapes, the ‘dark tourist’ experience, and the business of dark tourism. The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies will appeal to students and scholars with an interest in aspects of memorialisation and morality in sociology, death studies, history, geography, cultural studies, philosophy, psychology, business management, museology and heritage tourism studies, politics, religious studies, and anthropology.
The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Tourism
by Kevin Walby Jacqueline Z. Wilson Sarah Hodgkinson Justin PichéThis extensive Handbook addresses a range of contemporary issues related to Prison Tourism across the world. It is divided into seven sections: Ethics, Human Rights and Penal Spectatorship; Carceral Retasking, Curation and Commodification of Punishment; Meanings of Prison Life and Representations of Punishment in Tourism Sites; Death and Torture in Prison Museums; Colonialism, Relics of Empire and Prison Museums; Tourism and Operational Prisons; and Visitor Consumption and Experiences of Prison Tourism. The Handbook explores global debates within the field of Prison Tourism inquiry; spanning a diverse range of topics from political imprisonment and persecution in Taiwan to interpretive programming in Alcatraz, and the representation of incarcerated Indigenous peoples to prison graffiti. This Handbook is the first to present a thorough examination of Prison Tourism that is truly global in scope. With contributions from both well-renowned scholars and up-and-coming researchers in the field, from a wide variety of disciplines, the Handbook comprises an international collection at the cutting edge of Prison Tourism studies. Students and teachers from disciplines ranging from Criminology to Cultural Studies will find the text invaluable as the definitive work in the field of Prison Tourism.
The Parable Book
by Per Olov Enquist"The love that dare not speak its name . . ." Sweden, 1949. A boy of 15, cutting across a garden, chances upon a woman of 51. What ensues is cataclysmic, life-altering. All the more because it cannot be spoken of. Can it never be spoken of?Looking back in late old age at an encounter that transformed him suddenly yet utterly, P.O. Enquist, a titan of Swedish letters, has decided to "come out" - but in ways entirely novel and unexpected. He has written the book that smoldered unwritten within him his entire life. The book he had always seen as the one he could not write.This poignant memoir of love as a religious experience - as a modern form of the Resurrection - is also a deeply felt reflection on the transitoriness of friendship, the fraught nature of family relationships, and the importance of giving voice to what cannot be forgotten. A parable as hauntingly intense as any Bergman film.Translated from the Swedish by Deborah Bragan-Turner
The Paris Connection: Escape to Paris with the most romantic and uplifting love story of 2021!
by Lorraine Brown'Fresh, charming and wonderfully escapist' BETH O'LEARY, author of The Flatshare'A wonderfully engaging tale of love and self-discovery' MIKE GAYLE, author of Half a World Away'A charming, romantic read, which gave me a real hankering for croissants!' SOPHIE COUSENS, author of This Time Next Year'The lovely descriptions made me want to take the first post-lockdown Eurostar to Paris!' KATE EBERLEN, author of Miss YouCould one split second change her life forever?Hannah and Si are in love and on the same track - that is, until their train divides on the way to a wedding. The next morning, Hannah wakes up in Paris and realises that her boyfriend (and her ticket) are 300 miles away in Amsterdam!But then Hannah meets Léo on the station platform, and he's everything Si isn't. Spending the day with him in Paris forces Hannah to question how well she really knows herself - and whether, sometimes, you need to go in the wrong direction to find everything you've been looking for...Praise for The Paris Connection:'Utterly charming, you'll be yearning to hotfoot it to Paris!' NINA POTTELL, PRIMA'A magical modern love story, I've fallen head over heels for Paris again!' HELLY ACTON, author of The Shelf'Fresh, funny and just the tonic for dark winter nights!' ZOE FOLBIGG, author of The Note'A gorgeous, romantic book packed full of joy. I mean, who doesn't need to be whisked away to Paris' LAURA PEARSON, author of I Wanted You to Know'Fresh and romantic. This is feel-good fiction at its best' NICOLA GILL, author of We Are Family**Previously published as Uncoupling**
The Paris Sketch Book
by William Makepeace Thackeray"The Paris Sketch Book" is a look at France shortly after the time of Napoleon. The author William Makepeace Thackeray is famous for his dry wit and for his other classic books "Vanity Fair" and "Barry Lyndon". He is also credited with inventing a new word 'snob' in his novel "The Book of Snobs, by One of Themselves"
The Paris Style Guide: Shop, Eat, Sleep
by Elodie RambaudA Parisian Stylist's Guide to the Best Shopping in the City of Light In this sophisticated insider's guide to the best of Paris shopping, stylist and interior decorator Elodie Rambaud provides a personal tour of the city, pointing out choice boutiques of every kind, mapping out the best shopping routes, and listing not-to-be-missed destinations in every quarter. With this book in hand, every dimension of Parisian shopping and the best of daily life is at your fingertips, from flea markets to artisan workshops, from bustling cafés to little-known gardens.Inside you'll find: An extensive list of more than 200 shopping destinations of every kind: trendsetting décor and antiques sellers, local green markets and gourmet food shops, craft suppliers and couture ateliers, and everything in between The address, telephone number, and Web site for every listing, as well as the closest metro station Valuable travel advice, including recommendations for hotels, cafés, bars, patisseries, festivals, salons, and markets Beautiful full-color photographs of every shop or location and comprehensive illustrated maps of the city, along with suggested itinerariesWhether you're traveling to Paris or exploring it from home, this gorgeous volume enables you to experience the city like a native.
The Park and the People: A History of Central Park
by Roy Rosenzweig Elizabeth BlackmarThis exemplary social history is the first full-scale account of Central Park ever published. In rich detail, Elizabeth Blackmar and Roy Rosenzweig tell the story of Central Park's people--the merchants and landowners who launched the project; the immigrant and African-American residents who were displaced by the park; the politicians, gentlemen, and artists who disputed its design and operation; the German gardeners, Irish laborers, and Yankee engineers who built it; and the generations of New Yorkers for whom Central Park was their only backyard.
The Parthenon: Revised Edition (Wonders of the World)
by Mary Beard“Wry and imaginative, this gem of a book deconstructs the most famous building in Western history.”—Benjamin Schwarz, The Atlantic“In her brief but compendious volume [Beard] says that the more we find out about this mysterious structure, the less we know. Her book is especially valuable because it is up to date on the restoration the Parthenon has been undergoing since 1986.”—Gary Wills, New York Review of BooksAt once an entrancing cultural history and a congenial guide for tourists, armchair travelers, and amateur archaeologists alike, this book conducts readers through the storied past and towering presence of the most famous building in the world. In the revised version of her classic study, Mary Beard now includes the story of the long-awaited new museum opened in 2009 to display the sculptures from the building that still remain in Greece, as well as the controversies that have surrounded it, and asks whether it makes a difference to the “Elgin Marble debate.”
The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans
by Matthew LevenduskyAs Washington elites drifted toward ideological poles over the past few decades, did ordinary Americans follow their lead? In The Partisan Sort, Matthew Levendusky reveals that we have responded to this trend- but not, for the most part, by becoming more extreme ourselves. While polarization has filtered down to a small minority of voters, it also has had the more significant effect of reconfiguring the way we sort ourselves into political parties. In a marked realignment since the 1970s-when partisan affiliation did not depend on ideology and both major parties had strong liberal and conservative factions- liberals today overwhelmingly identify with Democrats, as conservatives do with Republicans. This "sorting," Levendusky contends, results directly from the increasingly polarized terms in which political leaders define their parties. Exploring its far-reaching implications for the American political landscape, he demonstrates that sorting makes voters more loyally partisan, allowing campaigns to focus more attention on mobilizing committed supporters. Ultimately, Levendusky concludes, this new link between party and ideology represents a sea change in American politics.
The Passenger: Berlin (The Passenger)
by The PassengerThe best new writing, photography, art, and reportage from and about Berlin—in the series that’s “like a literary vacation” (Publishers Weekly).In 1990s Berlin, the scars of a century of war were still visible everywhere: coal stoves, crumbling buildings, desolate minimarts, not a working buzzer or elevator. To visit the city then was a hallucinatory experience, a simultaneous journey into the past and into the future.The abandoned ruins, the hidden gems found at the flea market, the illegal basement raves are a thing of the past. The era of Berlin as a site of urban archeology is over. Almost all the damaged buildings have been repaired, squatters have been removed, the shops selling East German furniture have closed down. Without its wounds, the landscape of the city is perhaps less striking but more solid, stronger. Even the city’s inhabitants have lost some of their melancholia, their romantic and self-destructive streak: today you can even find people who come to Berlin to actually work, not just to “create” or idle their days away. Yet, Berlin remains a youthful city and retains its aura as “the capital of cool.” Its only sacrosanct principles are an uncompromising multiculturalism and the belief that its future is yet to be written. This volume of the series includes:The Greatest Show in Town: The Resurrection of Potsdamer Platz by Peter Schneider · Berlin Suite by Cees Nooteboom · Tempelhof: A Field of Dreams by Vincenzo Latronico · Plus: the controversial reconstruction of a Prussian castle, Berlin’s most transgressive sex club and its disappearing traditional pubs, a green urban oasis, suburban neo-Nazis, North Vietnamese in the East, South Vietnamese in the West, techno everywhere and much more . . . “These books are so rich and engrossing that it is rewarding to read them even when one is stuck at home.” —The Times Literary Supplement
The Passenger: Brazil (The Passenger)
by The PassengerAn in-depth look at Brazilian culture in the series that collects the best new writing, photography, art, and reportage from around the world.In the second half of the twentieth century Brazil made extraordinary contributions to music, sport, architecture. From bossa nova to acrobatic soccer to the daring architecture of Oscar Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa, the country seemed to embody a new, original vision of modernity, at once fluid, agile, and complex.Seen from abroad, the victory of the far right in the 2018 elections was a rude awakening that suddenly turned the Brazilian dream into a nightmare. For locals, however, illusions had started fading long ago, amid paralyzing corruption, environmental degradation, racial discrimination, and escalating violence. Luckily Brazilians have not lost their desire to fight, minorities are still determined to assert their rights, and, now that the glorious past is dead and buried, a desire to rebuild for the future is emerging. Today the challenge of telling the story of this extraordinary country consists in finding its enduring vitality amid the apparent melancholy.“The Passenger readers will find none of the typical travel guide sections on where to eat or what sights to see. Consider the books, rather, more like a literary vacation.” —Publishers Weekly“Much more than a travel guide, The Passenger is indispensable for any reader who is curious about the world.” —Il VenerdìIn this volume: Order and Progress? by Jon Lee Anderson Funk, Pride and Prejudice by Alberto Riva On the River, I Was King by Eliane Brum Also: the road that dissects the Amazon; the TV tycoon who shaped Brazilian history; the neo-Pentecostal community that is winning the hearts (and wallets) of Brazilians; politicized samba dancers, idealist gangsters, and much more . . .
The Passenger: California (The Passenger)
by The PassengerThe best new writing, photography, art, and reportage from and about California—in the “rich and engrossing” series for travelers and armchair travelers (Times Literary Supplement).From the Gold Rush to Hollywood’s golden age to the rise of Silicon Valley, California has long stood as the brightest symbol of the American dream. In recent years, however, the country’s mainstream media has been declaring with increasing frequency—and thinly veiled schadenfreude—the “end of California as we know it.”The pessimists point to rising inequality, racial tensions, and the impact of climate change as evidence that the Californian dream has been shattered. Between extreme heat, months-long droughts, devastating wildfires, and rising sea levels, looking at California is like watching the trailer for what awaits the world if we don’t act to reduce global warming. Faced with these pressures, more and more Californians are leaving the state, leading to an unprecedented decline in population that could change the cultural and political balance of power in the country at large.That said, demographic decline and climate disasters don’t tell the whole story of one of the most dynamic and diverse states in the Union—one that continues to drive technological and political innovation and define the evolution of work, food, entertainment, and social relations. This volume offers a fascinating picture of California in all its complexity and contradictions—an attempt to understand the laboratory where much of the world’s future continues to be written—with pieces including:Growing Uncertainty in the Central Valley by Anna Wiener • How Does It Feel to Be a Solution? by Vanessa Hua • The Burning of Paradise by Mark Arax • Plus: direct democracy and unsustainable development, the rise of the “land back” movement, the cultural renaissance of Los Angeles in defiance of rampant gentrification, and much more . . . “The Passenger readers will find none of the typical travel guide sections on where to eat or what sights to see. Consider the books, rather, more like a literary vacation.” —Publishers Weekly
The Passenger: Greece (The Passenger)
by The PassengerA vivid portrait of life in Greece, in the series that collects the best new writing, photography, art and reportage from around the world.Many have impressions and opinions about Greece based on superficial headlines or pop culture stereotypes. This volume of The Passenger offers instead a wide-ranging, thoughtful, and lively picture of the country in all its nuance and diversity—its people, its problems, its art, its athletes, and much, much more.“The Passenger readers will find none of the typical travel guide sections on where to eat or what sights to see. Consider the books, rather, more like a literary vacation.” —Publishers WeeklyIn this volume:Once Upon A Time: The Greek Taverna by Petros Markaris Land of Migration by Matteo Nucci The Lost Generation by Christos Ikonomou Plus: Yorgos Lanthimos and the “Weird Wave” of Greek cinema, the island where people forget to die, the NBA’s most valuable player, the mayor who balanced the books but enraged the nationalists, abandoned buildings, oligarchs on the rise, the rebellious rhythm of rebetiko and much more . . .
The Passenger: India (The Passenger)
by The PassengerA journey into today’s India through essays, photography, and more, shortlisted for a 2022 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award.Since its earliest interactions with the West, India has been the object of a gross misinterpretation, a vague association with ideas of peace, spiritualism, the magic of the fakirs. Constantly reframed and mythologized by Westerners fleeing their supposedly rationalist societies, India continues to fascinate with its millennia-old history, shrines on every street corner, ancient beliefs and rituals, and unique linguistic and cultural diversity.Today this picture is mixed with that of a society changing at a frenetic pace and at the forefront of the digital revolution—a “shining India” of dynamic, fast-expanding megalopolises. Yet these success stories coexist with the daily plight of the large section of its population without access to drinking water or a toilet, with a rural economy (still employing the majority of its over 1.3 billion inhabitants) that depends on monsoons for irrigation and is threatened by climate change. The greatest democratic experiment ever attempted, India remains plagued by one of the vilest forms of class and racial discrimination, the caste system, exacerbated by the Hindu nationalist regime.All things considered, though, it’s hard to find a more dynamic and optimistic country or, as Arundhati Roy puts it, “a more irredeemably chaotic people.” This volume aims to depict India’s chaos and its contradictions, its terror and its joy, from the struggle of the Kashmiris to that of non-believers (hated by all religious sects), from the dances of the hijra in Koovagam to the success of the wrestler Vinesh Phogat, a symbol of the women who seek to free themselves from the oppressive patriarchal mores. Despite the obstacles and steps back, India continues its journey on the long path toward freedom and toward ending poverty for some of the world’s most destitute. Included are writings on:Caste: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow by Arundhati Roy · The Invention of Hindu Nationalism by Prem Shankar Jha · No Country for Women by Tishani Doshi · Plus: the grand ambitions of the world’s most underrated space program, Bollywood’s obsession with Swiss landscapes, an ode to Bengali food, eagerly awaiting the monsoon, the wrestler tackling stereotypes and much more . . . “These books are so rich and engrossing that it is rewarding to read them even when one is stuck at home.” —The Times Literary Supplement
The Passenger: Ireland (The Passenger)
by The PassengerThe best new writing, photography, art, and reportage from and about Ireland—in the series that’s “like a literary vacation” (Publishers Weekly).Ireland is a land full of charm and conflict, a country that in just a few decades has gone from being a poor, semi-theocratic society to a thriving economy free from the influence of the Catholic Church. With the 1998 peace agreements, the conflict between nationalists and unionists seemed, if not resolved, at least dormant. But Brexit—with the ambiguous position it leaves Northern Ireland in—caused old tensions to resurface, with ramifications in politics, society, culture, and sport.Meanwhile, south of the border, epochal transformation has seen a deeply patriarchal, conservative society give space to diversity, the only country in the world to enshrine gay marriage in law through a referendum. And there’s a whole other Ireland abroad, an Irish diaspora that looks to the old country with newfound pride but doesn’t forget the ugliness it fled from.Memory and identity intertwine with the transformations—from globalization to climate change—that are remodeling the Irish landscape, from the coastal communities under threat of disappearing along with the Irish language fishermen use to talk about the sea, inland the peat bogs, until recently important sources of energy and jobs, are being abandoned. Pieces in this collection include:The mass is ended by Catherine Dunne and Caelainn Hogan · The Way Back by Colum McCann · A Trip to Westeros by Mark O’Connell · Plus: life on the margins of two unions and right in the middle of Brexit, making war on each other for thirty years while playing on the same national rugby team, emigrating to the great enemy or transforming the country one referendum at a time, digging peat bogs and building cottages, talking of the sea in Gaelic, and much more . . . “These books are so rich and engrossing that it is rewarding to read them even when one is stuck at home.” —The Times Literary Supplement
The Passenger: Japan (The Passenger)
by The PassengerExplore Japanese society in the lively series that collects the best new writing, photography, art, and reportage from around the world.Visitors from the West look with amazement, and sometimes concern, at Japan’s social structures and unique, complex culture industry; the gigantic scale of its tech corporations and the resilience of its traditions; the extraordinary diversity of the subcultures that flourish in its “post-human” megacities. The country nonetheless remains an intricate and complicated jigsaw puzzle, an inexhaustible source of inspiration for stories, reflections, and reportage. Caught between an aging population and extreme post-modernity, Japan is an ideal observation point from which to understand our era and the one to come. The subjects in this volume form a portrait of the country that ranges from the Japanese veneration of the dead to the Tokyo music scene, from urban alienation to cinema, from sumo to toxic masculinity.“The Passenger readers will find none of the typical travel guide sections on where to eat or what sights to see. Consider the books, rather, more like a literary vacation.” —Publishers WeeklyIn this volume:Ghosts of the Tsumani by Richard Lloyd Parry Living in Shimokitazawa by Yoshimoto Banana Why Japan Has Avoided Populism by Ian Buruma Plus: a Shinto sect in the shadow of power, fleeing debts by disappearing into thin air, the decline of sexual desire, the obsession with American blues, the strongest sumo wrestler of all time (who isn’t Japanese), the revenge of the Ainu and much more . . .
The Passenger: Paris (The Passenger)
by The PassengerThe best new writing, photography, art, and reportage from and about Paris—in the “rich and engrossing” series for literary travelers (Times Literary Supplement).Paris’s postcard image has suffered multiple blows in recent years: the November 2015 terrorist attacks, the demonstrations of the yellow vests, the riots in the suburbs, Notre-Dame in flames, record heatwaves and the coronavirus. Meanwhile, soaring living costs are forcing many Parisians to leave the city.Yet these are not just a series of unfortunate events. They are phenomena—from increasing population density to climate change, from immigration to the repercussions of globalization and geopolitics—that all metropolises in the world must face. And in Paris, today, the mood is not one of defeat but of renewal: from the city’s ongoing environmental and urbanistic transformation to the fight by a new generation of chefs against the traditionalism of starred restaurants; from the children of immigrants who take to the streets for the right to feel French to the women determined to break the sexism and stereotypes that dominate the fashion industry. Is there anyone who seriously thinks they can teach Parisians how to make a revolution? This volume includes:Out of the Shadows by Tash Aw · Against the Stars by Tommaso Melilli · Afraid of Being Free by Samar Yazbek · Plus: the Champs-Elysées between luxury and riots, the French Republic between anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, the most elegant Congolese dandies of all time, one Parisian woman you will not encounter, the city’s legendary football team that is not the PSG, and much more . . . “The Passenger readers will find none of the typical travel guide sections on where to eat or what sights to see. Consider the books, rather, more like a literary vacation.” —Publishers Weekly
The Passenger: Rome (The Passenger)
by The PassengerThe best new writing, photography, art, and reportage from and about Rome—in the series that’s “like a literary vacation” (Publishers Weekly).If you believe recent chatter about Rome—in the media and by its residents—the city is on the verge of collapse. Each year, it slips further down the ranking of the world’s most livable cities. To the problems faced by all large capitals—hit-and-run tourism, traffic, the divide between elegant, Airbnb-dominated city centers and run-down suburbs—in recent years Rome seems to have added a list of calamities of its own: a string of failing administrations, widespread corruption, the resurgence of fascist movements, rampant crime. A seemingly hopeless situation, perfectly symbolized by the fact that Rome currently leads the world in the number of self-combusting public buses.One might expect mass migration in the face of problems like these—yet the vast majority of Romans don’t think for a second of “betraying” their hometown, and the many newcomers who’ve populated it in recent decades resemble the natives in the profound love that binds them to the city.The largest metropolis in Europe is a place of contradictions and opposites. We think of it as ancient, but it is profoundly modern—it was founded almost three millennia ago, but 92 per cent of its buildings have been built after 1945. To understand Rome and fix its problems, we should start considering it a normal city, not unlike Chicago or Manchester . . . just incomparably more beautiful. This volume is filled with portraits of Rome and thoughts not just on its famous past but its present and future, including:Rome doesn’t judge you by Nicola Lagioia · The soul of the city by Matteo Nucci · 39 memos for a book about Rome by Francesco Piccolo · Plus: a guide to the sounds of Rome by Letizia Muratori; the feigned unrest and real malaise of the suburbs; the influence of the Vatican; the excessive power of real estate speculators and the rule of gangs; disillusioned trappers; football fans of every age, and much more . . . “A pleasure to read.” —La Repubblica
The Passenger: Turkey (The Passenger)
by The PassengerTurkish culture and history is explored in the wide-ranging series that is “like a literary vacation” (Publishers Weekly).The birth of the “New Turkey,” as the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called his own creation, is an exemplary story of the rise of “illiberal democracies” through the erosion of civil liberties, press freedom, and the independence of the judicial system. Turkey was a complex country long before the rise of its new sultan: Born out of the ashes of a vast multi-ethnic and multi-religious empire, Turkey has grappled through its relatively short history with the definition of its own identity. Poised between competing ideologies, secularism and piousness, a militaristic nationalism and exceptional openness to foreigners, Turkey defies easy labels and categories.Through the voices of some of its best writers and journalists—many of them in self-imposed exile—The Passenger: Turkey tries to make sense of this fascinating, maddening country, analyzing how it got to where it is now, and finding the bright spots of hope that allow its always resourceful, often frustrated population to continue living, and thriving.In this volume:The Big Dig by Elif Batuman A Story of Dust and Light by Burhan Sönmez An Author Recommends by Elif Shafak Plus: the thirty-year coup and the dam that is washing away 12,000 years of history, and more.