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Armchair Travel August 2019
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Spying on the South : An Odyssey Across the American Divide by Tony HorwitzWhat it's about: The Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker writer and best-selling author of Confederates in the Attic retraces Frederick Law Olmstead's epic journey across the pre-Civil War American South in search of common ground in today's dangerously divided nation. What the critics say: "A tour is only as good as its guide, and Horwitz is a seasoned one—inquisitive, open-minded, and opting for observation over judgment, whether at a dive bar, monster truck rally, the Creation Museum, or a historical plantation." (Booklist)
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What it's about: In 1700, the young Englishman John Lawson left London and arrived in Charleston, in what is now South Carolina. From there he took a two-month journey through the little-known Carolina back country. That journey in 1709 yielded A New Voyage to Carolina, one of the great books about the Southeast written in the colonial period. Lawson also founded North Carolina's first two cities, Bath and New Bern. In 1711, traveling among the Indians he knew and documented, Lawson was killed as the first casualty of the Tuscarora War. That richly documented journey has yielded this book.
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| A Dog Named Beautiful: A Marine, a Dog, and a Long Road Trip Home by Rob KuglerStarring: Rob Kugler, a Marine veteran and photographer, and Bella, the sweet chocolate lab who was by his side when he returned home from war and dealt with the loss of his brother, who died fighting in Iraq.
What it's about: Their poignant road trip around the U.S. after Bella was diagnosed with incurable cancer, as well as Rob's thoughts about purpose and life and his memories of the military and his family.
Will I need a hanky? Probably -- but you'll have some laughs too! |
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| The Shanghai Free Taxi: Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China by Frank LangfittWhat it's about: Wanting to provide people a private, casual place to talk, NPR China correspondent Frank Langfitt (a former Philly cab driver) offered free rides to anyone willing to chat.
Did it work? Definitely. All sorts of interesting people opened up about their lives, hopes, and views of their rapidly changing country.
Read this next: For another delightful taxi-centric travel tale, try Layne Mosler's Driving Hungry, which details her experiences asking cab drivers around the globe where she should eat. |
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| Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens and Frederick... by William CarlsenWhat it's about: Author William Carlsen explored the Yucatan jungle, retracing the steps of U.S. ambassador to Central America John L. Stephens and British architect Frederick Catherwood, who, in 1839, uncovered amazing 2,000-year-old Mayan ruins that forced a rethinking of recorded history.
Don't miss: How Carlsen skillfully brings Stephens' and Catherwood's personalities to life while recounting their adventures. |
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| Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon KrakauerWhat it's about: Researching the commercialization of Mt. Everest in 1996, Jon Krakauer set out with a guide and other groups to trek to the summit. When a snowstorm hit, several people died, including two of the best mountaineers in the world.
What it is: A harrowing and evocative firsthand account of the events.
Read this next: The Climb, by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt, which offers a competing viewpoint of the tragedy; or the soon-to-be-released essay collection Classic Krakauer, out in October. |
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| Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship by Robert KursonStarring: Dedicated treasure hunters John Mattera and John Chatterton as well as legendary technology-averse hunter Tracy Bowden.
What happens: Author Robert Kurson (whose Shadow Divers also features Chatterton) compellingly traces the men's high-stakes quest to find the Golden Fleece, a sunken ship that once belonged to notorious English sea captain-turned-pirate Joseph Bannister.
For fans of: Stephan Talty's Empire of Blue Water, pirates, nautical history, and swashbuckling tales of derring-do. |
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| In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton SidesWhat it's about: The ill-fated 1879 expedition of the USS Jeannette, led by U.S. naval officer and explorer George Washington De Long, who was looking for a passage to the North Pole via the Bering Strait.
What's inside: A dramatic account -- informed by letters, diaries, expedition records, and news reports -- of what happened when the ship became trapped in pack ice for two years.
Read this next: Paul Watson's Ice Ghosts, which details the history of and contemporary search for shipwrecks from an 1845 Arctic expedition. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Forsyth County Public Library 660 W 5th Street Winston Salem, North Carolina 27101 336-703-3030www.forsythlibrary.org |
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