The Amazon is not what it seems. As Hugh Raffles shows us in this captivating & innovative book, the world`s last great wilderness has been transformed again & again by human activity. In Amazonia brings to life an Amazon whose allure & reality lie as much, or more, in what people have made from it as in what nature has wrought. It casts new light on centuries of encounter while describing the dramatic remaking of a sweeping landscape by residents of one small community in the Brazilian Amazon. Combining richly textured ethnographic research & lively historical analysis, Raffles weaves a fascinating story that changes our understanding of this region & challenges us to rethink what we mean by ”nature.” Raffles draws from a wide range of material to demonstrate--in contrast to the tendency to downplay human agency in the Amazon--that the region is an outcome of the intimately intertwined histories of humans & nonhumans. He moves between a detailed narrative that analyzes the production of scientific knowledge about Amazonia over the centuries & an absorbing account of the extraordinary transformations to the fluvial landscape carried out over the past forty years by the inhabitants of Igarap Guariba, four hours downstream from the nearest city. Engagingly written, theoretically inventive, & vividly illustrated, the book introduces a diverse range of characters--from sixteenth-century explorers & their native rivals to nineteenth-century naturalists & contemporary ecologists, logging company executives, & river-traders. A natural history of a different kind, In Amazonia shows how humans, animals, rivers, & forests all participate in the making of a region that remains today at the center of debates in environmental politics. ...

A true modern classic, Susan Sontag`s ” In America” is inspired by the emigration to America in 1876 of Helena Modrzejewska, Poland`s most celebrated actress, accompanied by her husb&, Count Karol Chlapowski, her fifteen-year-old son, Rudolf, the young journalist & future author of Quo Vadis, Henryk Sienkiewicz, & a few friends; their brief sojourn in Anaheim, California; & Modrzejewska`s subsequent triumphant career on the American stage under the name Helena Modjeska. ...

In 1960 John Steinbeck & his dog Charley set out in their green pickup truck to rediscover the soul of America, visiting small towns & cities from New York to New Orleans. As Steinbeck said to a friend: `I must see how the country looks & smells & sounds.` The trip became Travels With Charley, one of his best-loved books. Half a century on, Geert Mak sets off from Steinbeck`s home with his wife & his sat-nav Sandy. Mile after mile, as he retraces Steinbeck`s footsteps through the potato fields of Maine to the endless prairies of the Midwest, sits down to eat with farmers, workers, fishermen & teachers, stumbles across glistening suburbs & boarded-up stores, he searches for the roots of America & what remains of the world Steinbeck describes. Part biography, part cultural history, In America asks how America has changed in the last fifty years; what`s happened to Main Street, USA, & the American dream; & what do we, Europe & America, have in common in the twenty-first century? ...

In an Antique Land is a wonderfully subversive biography of Egypt from the Crusades to Operation Desert Storm. In the 1980s Amitav Ghosh moved into a converted chicken coop. It was on the roof of a house in Lataifa, a tiny village in Egypt. During the day he poured over medieval letters sent to India from Cairo by Arab merchants. In the evenings he shut out the bellowing of his fat landlord by turning up the volume of his transistor radio & wrote stories based on what he had seen in the village. The story of Khamees the Rat, the notorious impotent (already twice married); of Zaghloul the weaver determined to travel to India on a donkey; of one-eyed Mohammad, so obsessed with a girl that he spent nights kneeling outside her window to listen to the sound of her breathing; of Amm ' Taha, part-time witch, always ready to cast a spell for a little extra money; &, of course, the story of Amitav Ghosh himself, known in the village as the Indian doctor, the uncircumcised, cow-worshipping kaffir who would not convert to Islam. This book is the story of Amitav Ghosh's decade of intimacy with the village community. Mixing conversation & research, imagination & scholarship, it is also a charged, eccentric history of the special relationship between two countires, Egypt & India, through nearly ten centuries of parochialism & sympathy, bigotry & affection. ...

” In an Antique Land” is a wonderfully subversive biography of Egypt from the Crusades to Operation Desert Storm. In the 1980s Amitav Ghosh moved into a converted chicken coop. It was on the roof of a house in Lataifa, a tiny village in Egypt. During the day he poured over medieval letters sent to India from Cairo by Arab merchants. In the evenings he shut out the bellowing of his fat landlord by turning up the volume of his transistor radio & wrote stories based on what he had seen in the village. The story of Khamees the Rat, the notorious impotent (already twice married); of Zaghloul the weaver determined to travel to India on a donkey; of one-eyed Mohammad, so obsessed with a girl that he spent nights kneeling outside her window to listen to the sound of her breathing; of Amm ` Taha, part-time witch, always ready to cast a spell for a little extra money; &, of course, the story of Amitav Ghosh himself, known in the village as the Indian doctor, the uncircumcised, cow-worshipping kaffir who would not convert to Islam. This book is the story of Amitav Ghosh`s decade of intimacy with the village community. Mixing conversation & research, imagination & scholarship, it is also a charged, eccentric history of the special relationship between two countires, Egypt & India, through nearly ten centuries of parochialism & sympathy, bigotry & affection. ...

There is a great variety in Glasgow`s `dear green places`, from formal parks such as Kelvingrove & Glasgow Green to less well-known nature trails & walkways, many with stunning views of the Clyde. Outside the city, but easily accessible by car or public transport, there are more challenging moorland & mountain routes. This new edition of one of the most popular titles in the ”25 Walks” series brings the walker fully up-to-date with recently developed routes, as well as retaining the classic favourite walks which are a part of what makes Glasgow so special. The 25 Walks books are practical guides & attractive souvenirs. Written by experienced authors, they can be used with complete confidence. The carefully selected local walks are accompanied by easy-to-use maps & colour photographs. ...

In this colourfully illustrated guide we visit both Eastern & Western Kent, looking at the history of this county of open landscape & ancient villages. A particular focus of the guide is the historic city of Canterbury & its magnificent cathedral. An informative text, fabulous photographs & county map combine to make this a useful guide & a wonderful souvenir. ...

A souvenir guide to London & its outskirts, packed with colour photographs & fascinating information. London & its outskirts has much to offer visitors & this lovely souvenir guidebook is a veritable treasure trove bursting with delightful colour photographs & fascinating information that capture the very essence of the best sights on offer in this fabulous capital city. It is available in a variety of languages. ...

London & its outskirts has much to offer visitors & this lovely souvenir guidebook is a veritable treasure trove bursting with delightful colour photographs & fascinating information that capture the very essence of the best sights on offer in this fabulous capital city. It is available in a variety of languages. ...

In one of the great defining moments in human history, more people now live in cities than in rural areas, & the effects of this depopulation & the plummeting birthrate are being felt keenly throughout Europe, which has the fastest-declining population in the world. Tom Pow sets out to explore what this means in some of the most rapidly vanishing areas of Europe. From Spain to Russia, he uses the tools of his trade
- travelogue, essay, story & poem
- to make connections, not only with what he encounters in numerous dying villages, but to reflect on his own experiences of memory, identity & loss. In Another World is an open book: not an argument, but an invitation to remember, to reflect & to engage with one of the most significant social issues affecting Europe today.

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