Best of
International

1990

Last Places: A Journey in the North


Lawrence Millman - 1990
    Traveling through landscapes of transcendent desolation, Millman wandered by way of the Shetland Islands, the Faeroes, Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador. His way was marked by surprising human encounters--with a convicted murderer in Reykjavik, an Inuit hermit in Greenland, an Icelandic guide who leads him to a place called Hell, and a Newfoundlander who warns him about the local variant of the Abominable Snowman. By turns earthy and lyrical, LAST PLACES is an ebullient celebration of the exotic North.

The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers


Moritz Thomsen - 1990
    Offers a personal look at the people, poverty, beauty, and passion of South America by an expatriate American who left his farm in Ecuador at the age of sixty-three to embark on a journey through Brazil on the Amazon River.

Vanishing Lung Syndrome


Miroslav Holub - 1990
    This book is darkly witty and mordantly accurate; it documents, among other things, the ignorance, folly and brutality abroad in our world. But it also brims with tenderness, humor, and occasional gleams of hope.

The Poet, the Warrior, the Prophet


Rubem Alves - 1990
    Echer, many of whose pictures the book reproduces. The book draws on the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke, Gabriel Garcia Marques, Emily Dickinson, Albert Camus, Sigmund Freud and the "Tao Te Ching," among other works, to show how good theology is best compared to the image of wild birds flapping their wings and refusing to be caged. This material was originally delivered at the 1990 Edward Cadbury Lectures in the University of Birmingham.

In the Blue Light of African Dreams


Paul Watkins - 1990
    Disfigured and demoralized, he deserts from France's famed Lafayette Escadrille, only to be captured, convicted, and sentenced to twenty years in the Foreigh Legion. He serves in Africa, where, along with a motley group of convicts and outcasts, Halifax is forced to fly illegal arms shipments to the very tribesmen they have been sent to fight. But a dream keeps Halifax alive even as his companions fall to harm or misery-the relentless determination to become the first pilot to fly nonstop from Paris to New York.

Los Cinco Horribles


Wolf Erlbruch - 1990
    Five frightful animals--a bat, a hyena, a rat, a spider, and a toad--overcome their low self-esteem to open a successful pancake house, to which all the other animals flock.

The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter


Albie Sachs - 1990
    His right arm was blown off and he lost the sight of one eye. This intimate and moving account of his recovery records the gradual recuperation of his broken body, his complex interaction with health professionals, the importance of touch and sensuality, and his triumphant reentry into the world. It also captures the spirit of a remarkable man: his enormous optimism, his commitment to social justice, and his joyous wonder at the life that surrounds him. In a new epilogue, Sachs gives a gripping insider's view of the major public events of the last decade--the election of Nelson Mandela, the formation of the Constitutional Court and Sachs's appointment as judge, and his own role with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Usborne Book Of Everyday Words


Jo Litchfield - 1990
    -- Everyday Words encourages word/object association - great for beginning readers-- Children will love the miniature model characters and wonderfully detailed scenes-- Each title contains over 500 words in English, French, German or Spanish-- Useful vocabulary builder and spelling guides-- Foreign editions also include a dictionary and easy-to-use pronunciation guide

Afghan Caravan


Safia Shah - 1990
    It contains a narrative from a Pathan princess; heroic war stories; tips on savvy carpet-buying; Mulla Nasrudin jokes from the front lines of the Mujahidin; even the Great Pilau Recipe of Khalifa Ashpaz, Master Chef of the Hindu Kush, which was reportedly once served to 4,000 guests. More than entertaining, Afghan Caravan presents an unprecedented view of a great people, their dauntless fighting spirit and near maniacal hospitality. It is the telling of a history rich in adventure, tradition and wisdom. Revealed is a magnificent culture, hidden from our history books, contributing to the human story in ways most Westerners are never aware of.

We Signed Away Our Lives


Kari Torjesen Malcolm - 1990
    184 pages, paper

The Sinking of the Princess Sophia: Taking the North Down with Her


Kenneth S. Coates - 1990
    Tragically, there were no survivors. The 353 aboard represented a significant cross-section of the population of the Yukon and Alaska, and their loss was a heavy blow to a society that, with the end of the gold rush, was already in decline. This book tells the dramatic stories of many of the passengers, how they had gone to the north, what they did there, and why they were leaving that fall, and sheds light on a little-known aspect of Alaska's history.

The Paris Review Anthology


George Plimpton - 1990
    A selection of representative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from the Anthology from 1953 to present.