Travel Books - Page 3

The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany (Most Beautiful Villages)

James Bentley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Oh no, not another Tuscan picture book! 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Yes, the photos are nice, but how many coffee table books with pretty Tuscan villages, cypress trees, and silvery olive leaves shimmering in the wind do we need?

Someone who reviewed this book suggested bringing it along on a Tuscan trip; if you put this large and heavy book in your luggage, you will have to leave the toothpaste, underwear, and a number of other things at home, particularly now that some airlines are apparently toying with the notion of lowering weight allowances and charging for the excess.

The text in most instances is not particularly helpful. There are quite a few books on Tuscany that do a much better job. And I was truly surprised to see the town of San Quirico d'Orcia included in the list of "most beautiful villages". I happen to know San Quirico and because it is off the usual beaten tourist path, it retains an "Italianness" that has been lost by, for example, Greve in Chianti, where one would be hard-pressed to find an Italian in that town's lovely main square on a Saturday afternoon. But San Quirico could never be called "beautiful", by any stretch of the imagination.

Despite my reservations about this book, it would probably be a welcome present for a friend who has recently returned from the grand tour of Tuscany and it will, at least for a while, have a prominent place on this friend's coffee table.

Editorial Review:

Bentley highlights 37 villages and towns, both for their intrinsic beauty and for the part they have played in Tuscan history and culture. Page after page of Palmer's magnificent color photos evoke the beauty of the land. Specially compiled listings of hotels, restaurants, and festivals complete the tribute to Tuscany and its villages.

Wonderland: A Fairytale of the Soviet Monolith

Jason Eskenazi

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Editorial Review:

The story of Communism is the story of the twentieth century. For many, the Soviet Union existed, like their childhood, as a fairy tale where many of the realities of life were hidden from plain view. When the Berlin Wall finally fell, so too did the illusion of that utopia. Wonderland is a photographic exploration that portrays both the reality beneath the veneer of a utopian USSR and the affirmation of hope that should never be abandoned. And like all fairy tales try to teach us: the hard lessons of self-reliance.

Jason Eskenazi was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Taylor Prize.

The Great Wall: From Beginning to End

William Lindesay

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

It is arguably the greatest feat of civil engineering in history, and indisputably earth’s largest single cultural relic: begun during the Qin Dynasty (around 208 BC) and completed nearly 1,800 years later during the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall of China spans more than 4,000 miles. At the dawn of the Beijing Olympics, the eyes of all the world are upon it.
Two men who navigated every inch of the Wall have collaborated on a lavishly-illustrated tribute to this amazing structure. Michael Yamashita, an award-winning National Geographic photographer, spent a year shooting the Wall, its environs, and the people who live in its shadow, for the magazine. One hundred and sixty of his magnificent photos grace this volume, which features text by William Lindesay, who not only conducts tours of the Wall and spearheads the movement to preserve it, but has actually run its entire length. Broken into three sections, The Great Wall provides an overview that debunks myths and dishes up rare facts and figures, a comprehensive history that proceeds dynasty by dynasty through its construction, and an account of Lindesay’s personal experiences of the Wall.

Wild Beauty: Photographs of the Columbia River Gorge, 1867–1957 (The Northwest Photography Series)

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Columbia River Gorge exerts a powerful influence on the lives and imaginations of the inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest. For people who live here today, just as for those Native Americans and European settlers who preceded us, this dramatic natural landform is a source of awe. Since the 1860s it has inspired superb photographers who have framed and interpreted the way we see the Gorge, and who have in turn had their artistic vision shaped by this compelling landscape. The ninety-year period covered in Wild Beauty was a critical one in the river’s history. Over thousands of years the wild, free-flowing torrent of the Columbia River carved a passage—the Columbia River Gorge—through the Cascade Mountain Range. In the 1860s, when the first photographers arrived, the Gorge still looked much the same as it had when Lewis and Clark made their way down the river in 1805, and indeed as it had for centuries before that, when the native peoples’ culture of fishing and trade thrived along the river’s banks. In the mid-twentieth century, the character of the river was fundamentally altered by the construction of hydroelectric dams. Terry Toedtemeier and John Laursen have selected more than 130 images—most of them previously unpublished and many of them never before available for public view—by some three dozen photographers to chronicle the history of photography in the Gorge. Wild Beauty begins in 1867 with images by the legendary Carleton Watkins, creator of some of the greatest landscape photographs of the nineteenth century. Later photographers include Benjamin Gifford, Lily White, Sarah Ladd, Fred Kizer, Alfred Monner, and Ray Atkeson. The volume ends in 1957 with the completion of The Dalles Dam, which drowned Celilo Falls and with it the historic site where Indians had fished for millennia.The images in this beautifully designed volume are presented one to a spread, with captions on the facing pages. The book is organized into five chronological sections, each with a brief introduction; a map shows the locations where the photographs were made. The photographs have been meticulously restored and are exquisitely reproduced in four-color process to capture the subtle coloration and nuanced tonal values of albumen prints, gelatin silver prints, platinum prints, hand-colored photographs, and early Kodachromes.The photography of Watkins and his successors is a significant piece of the cultural heritage of the Pacific Northwest. Readers interested in the history of the Columbia River and the photography of the developing American West will be enthralled by the book’s scope and artistry. And those who love the Gorge’s stunning beauty will welcome how this volume has captured its grandeur.Wild Beauty represents, in the words of one reviewer, “a culmination of decades of research, exhibition, and total immersion in the geology, history, and photography of the Columbia River Gorge.” Oregon State University Press is proud to partner with the Northwest Photography Archive to publish this remarkable volume.

African Air

George Steinmetz

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Editorial Review:

Flying hundreds, sometimes thousands, of feet above ground strapped into a motorized paraglider that is little more than a parachute with a small motor, National Geographic photographer George Steinmetz has spent more than twenty years photographing some of the most remote and spectacular environments around the world. In African Air, Steinmetz captures stunning panoramas in more than fourteen countries in Africa, giving readers captivating and intimate views of areas that have rarely, if ever before, been photographed.

 

From densely packed urban centers to small, remote villages, from migrating herds of wildebeests and elephants to infinite miles of desert, African Air is a compelling testament and celebration of the majesty and splendor of Africa’s most breathtaking landscapes. With extraordinary vision and a unique perspective, Steinmetz portrays sky, land, and water in ways that have never been expressed before.

365 Days in France Calendar 2009 (Picture-A-Day Wall Calendars)

Patricia Schultz

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Editorial Review:

Live the French dream, all year long. From the grand galleries of the Louvre to a lively sidewalk café in Aix, France is a destination for romantics. A sunny afternoon at the Luxembourg Gardens. A weathered stone farmhouse in Burgundy's countryside. Glamorous, glittering Côte d'Azur, grapevines as far as the eye can see, lavender landscapes, a crusty baguette fresh from a Parisian boulangerie.

A celebration-in-pictures of the beauty, bounty, and enduring traditions of France, this calendar features hundreds of full-color photographs from Steven Rothfeld and engaging text by the connoisseur of all things French, Patricia Wells. It's a captivating portrait of a perennially alluring land.

India

DK Publishing

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Beautiful, sweeping overview 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This is not a travel guide, but rather a beautiful, sweeping overview of a country with a rich heritage. A great introduction to the many aspects of the Indian culture, covering various regions, landscapes and practices.

India 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is an excellent book. It is full of imformation and has abosolutely gorgeous picutres. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn about India or is planning a trip to India.

Editorial Review:

Just 60 years after winning independence from British rule, India's economy is booming and the nation is fast becoming a leading global power. With a population of a billion people, India's society is as varied as its awe-inspiring landscape. Home to a dizzying array of languages, ethnic groups, beliefs, and lifestyles, India can seem overwhelming in its complexity. India takes the lid off this cultural melting pot, showing how past events have shaped this diverse but unified nation, where tradition and modernity successfully coexist. Through stunning photography and insightful text, India offers an eye-opening, thought-provoking, and authoritative visual guide to one of the world's most exciting and vibrant nations.

One Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in France (101 Towns)

Simonetta Greggio

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A sequel to the highly successful One Hundred and One Beautiful Small Towns in Italy, this book expands the series to include the most enchanting hamlets of France. Gorgeously illustrated as well as informative, One Hundred and One Beautiful Small Towns of France is a journey through the French countryside, a place where the pace slows, locals engage strangers in conversation, and every town has a unique story to tell. Travel between the hilltop towns of the Central Massif and the Pyrenees to rockbound coastal fishing villages in Normandy and Brittany. Breathtaking full-color photographs create the perfect atmosphere as you discover these unexplored places, and descriptive sidebars offer invaluable information on local curiosities to indulge, unique artisanal products to buy, and age-old culinary specialties to sample. A detailed appendix is the perfect source on where to shop, sightsee, and dine—avec plaisir! Whether you are an armchair traveler or a Francophile planning another trip, this volume is the guide to the hidden treasures of France that proves once and for all that the heart of this popular travel destination lies in the countryside far from the grandeur and pomp of Paris.

Route 66 Lost & Found: Ruins and Relics Revisited

Russell A. Olsen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Lost and Found 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Both volume one and two are very interesting and well researched books.
I traveled Route 66 a couple of years ago and reading the book was fascinating- now I know how many locations I went sailing past without a clue!
When I next get a chance to do a repeat journey, I shall certainly re-read the books very thoroughly and travel slower so as not to miss such historic scenes.

Editorial Review:

Route 66: Lost and Found conveys the spirit and the times, not quite like any other book. Arizona Daily SunFor several decades, Route 66 was the nation's main east-west thoroughfare, pointing Middle America toward all the promise California seemed to hold at various times, whether permanent refuge from the Dust Bowl or a temporary escape from the drudgery of everyday suburban life in prosperous postwar America. As such, America's Main Street once teemed with activity . . . bustling centers of commerce that evaporated into the vast American landscape like the jet contrails overhead and the heat rising from the Interstate asphalt. This engaging look at the "Mother Road" takes 75 locations along its 2,297 mile route from Chicago to Santa Monica and shows them first during their halcyon heydays through black-and-white photographs and period postcards, then on the facing page as they appear today, from the exact same angle and also through vivid black-and-white photographs.

The Chicago World's Fair of 1893: A Photographic Record (Dover Architectural Series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great look at the "White City" 4 out of 5 stars.
10 of 15 people found this review helpful.

A beautiful collection of images, showing the wonders of the 1893 fair. A great look back.

A trip back in time 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Beautiful photos and thoughtful text. This book does a nice job of condensing the story and mood of the fair into a quick and easy to read format. I own several books about the fair and while some have more photos, this is still my favorite. A must have for those interested in the Columbian Exposition, Chicago history and architecture. The vastness of the White City is something I can scarcely imagine. I especially appreciated that the author details the fates of many of the fair's artistic treasures as well as discussing the changed landscape of the geographical site of the fair.

Lovely pictures and a map of the fair 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I became interested in the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893 through a friend and I bought this book for him and a copy for myself and was amazed by the beautiful and amazing buildings and the fact that all of these structures stood in my city and then were destroyed. I then read the Devil in the White City and pulled this book out as a reference and found the map of the exposition in the front of the book to be a cool way to look up some of the displays or events mentioned in the book (devil in the white city). As I understand it, Burnham only allowed the exposition to be photographed per his approval, therefore, there are only a limited number of pictures that any book could publish on the topic. I think that this book offers big, beautiful pictures and interesting facts about the displays.

Editorial Review:

Colossal spectacle preserved in 128 rare, vintage photographs with concise, fact-filled text: 200 buildings — 79 of foreign governments, 38 of U.S. states — the original ferris wheel, first midway, Edison's kinetoscope, much more. 128 black-and-white photographs. Captions. Map. Index.