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Armchair Travel August 2018
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Our towns : a 100,000-mile journey into the heart of America
by James M Fallows
"A unique, revelatory portrait of small-town America: the activities, changes, and events that shape this mostly unseen part of our national landscape, and the issues and concerns that matter to the ordinary Americans who make these towns their home. For the last five years, James and Deborah Fallows have been traveling across America in a single-prop airplane, visiting small cities and meeting civic leaders, factory workers, recent immigrants, and young entrepreneurs, seeking to take the pulse and discern the outlook of an America that is unreported and unobserved by the national media. Attending town meetings, breakfasts at local coffee shops, and events at local libraries, they have listened to the challenges and problems that define American lives today. Our Towns is the story of their journey--an account of their visits to twenty-one cities and towns: the individuals they met, the stories they heard, and their portrait of the many different faces of the American future"
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The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi : My Journey into the Heart of Scriptural Faith and the Land Where It All Began
by Kathie Lee Gifford
As a lifelong student of Scripture, Kathie Lee Gifford has always desired a deeper understanding of God's Word and a deeper knowledge of God Himself. But it wasn't until she began studying the biblical texts in their original Hebrew and Greek -- along with actually hiking the ancient paths of Israel -- that she found the fulfillment of those desires. Now you can walk with Kathie on a journey through the spiritual foundations of her faith. Explore dozens of ancient landmarks and historical sites from Israel, the promised land of God's covenant. Go beyond a "Sunday school" approach to the Bible by digging into the original languages and deeper meanings of the Holy Scriptures.
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A Little History of Archaeology
by Brian Fagan
The thrilling history of archaeological adventure, with tales of danger, debate, audacious explorers, and astonishing discoveries around the globe. What is archaeology? The word may bring to mind images of golden pharaohs and lost civilizations, or Neanderthal skulls and Ice Age cave art. Archaeology is all of these, but also far more: the only science to encompass the entire span of human history—more than three million years! This Little History tells the riveting stories of some of the great archaeologists and their amazing discoveries around the globe: ancient Egyptian tombs, Mayan ruins, the first colonial settlements at Jamestown, mysterious Stonehenge, the incredibly preserved Pompeii, and many, many more. In forty brief, exciting chapters, the book recounts archaeology’s development from its eighteenth-century origins to its twenty-first-century technological advances, including remote sensing capabilities and satellite imagery techniques that have revolutionized the field. Shining light on the most intriguing events in the history of the field, this absolutely up-to-date book illuminates archaeology’s controversies, discoveries, heroes and scoundrels, global sites, and newest methods for curious readers of every age.
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Hadrian's Wall
by Adrian Goldsworthy
Stretching eighty miles from coast to coast across northern England, Hadrian's Wall is the largest Roman artifact known today. It is commonly viewed as a defiant barrier, the end of the empire, a place where civilization stopped and barbarism began. In fact, the massive structure remains shrouded in mystery. Was the wall intended to keep out the Picts, who inhabited the North? Or was it merely a symbol of Roman power and wealth? What was life like for soldiers stationed along its expanse? How was the extraordinary structure built--with what technology, skills, and materials? In Hadrian's Wall, Adrian Goldsworthy embarks on a historical and archaeological investigation, sifting fact from legend while simultaneously situating the wall in the wider scene of Roman Britain. The result is a concise and enthralling history of a great architectural marvel of the ancient world.
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| River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter HesslerWhat it's about: Peace Corps volunteer teacher Peter Hessler arrived in the remote town of Fuling in China's Sichuan province in 1996, where he was one of two foreigners.
Why you might like it: Hessler intelligently and evocatively describes his experiences with an unfamiliar people, culture, and landscape, as well as bigger events (Hong Kong reverting to China, construction of the Three Gorges Dam, and the death of Deng Xiaoping).
Try this next: For other young Americans' experiences in China, pick up Michael Meyer's The Road to Sleeping Dragon or John Pomfret's Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China. |
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| An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic by Daniel MendelsohnWhat it's about: Daniel Mendelsohn taught a course on Homer's The Odyssey at Bard College -- and his 81-year-old mathematician father took it (and didn't think Odysseus was such a hero). Afterwards, the two took a ten-day Mediterranean cruise retracing Odysseus's voyage.
Read it for: the engaging combination of memoir, travelogue, and literary guide that coalesces into a poignant look at fathers and sons.
Reviewers say: "sharply intelligent and deeply felt" (Kirkus Reviews); "a small gem of seminar-room slapstick" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar NafisiStarring: Azar Nafisi, who left Iran at 13 to study overseas and returned home with a Ph.D years later to a changing land where religious fundamentalists ruled and women now had to wear head scarves.
What it's about: Leaving college instruction in 1995, Nafisi secretly taught banned Western Literature (Lolita, The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, and more) to a group of seven young women for two years.
For fans of: classic novels, Iranian history, and thought-provoking, moving memoirs. |
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| Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy WickendenWhat it's about: In 1916, two well-to-do best friends, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, left their homes in Auburn, New York, to teach school in the remote settlement of Elkhead on the Colorado frontier.
About the author: Dorothy Wickenden is the executive editor of The New Yorker and the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff; she used letters, conducted interviews, and read newspaper articles to inform this fresh, fascinating fish-out-of-water tale. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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