Expedition leader Arlene Blum here tells their dramatic story: the logistical problems, storms, and hazardous ice climbing; the conflicts and reconciliations within the team; the terror of avalanches that threatened to sweep away camps and climbers.On October 15, two women and two Sherpas at last stood on the summit—but the celebration was cut short, for two days later, the two women of the second summit team fell to their deaths.Never before has such an account of mountaineering triumph and tragedy been told from a woman’s point of view. By proving that women had the skill, strength, and courage necessary to make this difficult and dangerous climb, the 1978 Women's Himalayan Expedition’s accomplishment had a positive impact around the world, changing perceptions about women’s abilities in sports and other arenas. And Annapurna: A Woman’s Place has become an acknowledged classic in the annals of women’s achievements—a story of challenge and commitment told with passion, humor, and unflinching honesty.

    Along it travelled precious cargoes of silk, gold and ivory, as well as revolutionary new ideas. Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres of Buddhist art and learning. In time it began to decline. The traffic slowed, the merchants left and finally its towns vanished beneath the desert sands to be forgotten for a thousand years. But legends grew up of lost cities filled with treasures and guarded by demons. In the early years of the last century foreign explorers began to investigate these legends, and very soon an international race began for the art treasures of the Silk Road. Huge wall paintings, sculptures and priceless manuscripts were carried away, literally by the ton, and are today scattered through the museums of a dozen countries. Peter Hopkirk tells the story of the intrepid men who, at great personal risk, led these long-range archaeological raids, incurring the undying wrath of the Chinese.

    'South America on a Shoestring' is full of helpful advice on what to see, where to go, local customs, where to stay and other useful hints for those travelling through South America on a restricted budget.

    The Last Step tells the story of their extraordinary expedition. Illustrations. of color photos.

    In Tuscany celebrates the abundant pleasures of life in Italy as it is lived at home, at festivals, feasts, restaurants and markets, in the kitchen and on the piazza, in the vineyards, fields, and olive groves. Combining all-new essays by Frances Mayes and a chapter by her husband, poet Edward Mayes, with more than 200 full-color photos by photographer Bob Krist, each of this book's five sections highlights a signature aspect of Tuscan life:La Piazza--the locus of Italian village life. With photgraphs of the shop signs, the outdoor markets, medieval streets, people, their pets and their cars, and snippets of conversations overheard, Mayes reveals the life of the Piazza in her town of Cortona as well as out-of-the-way places such as Volterra, Asciano, Monte San Savino, and Castelmuzio.La Festa--the celebration. Essays and photos of feasts and celebrations, such as the Christmas dinner for twenty-seven at a neighbor's house and a donkey race around the church at Montepulciano Stazione, illustrate how the Tuscans celebrate the seasons--their open ways of friendship, their connection to nature, and most of all, their sense of abundance.Il Campo--the field. Here Edward Mayes evokes the deep sense of the shift of seasons as he picks olives before he and Frances head off to the olive oil mill and enjoy the first bruscette with new oil.La Cucina--the kitchen. An intimate view of the all-important role of the kitchen in Tuscan culture, including photographs of her own kitchen and gardens, menus from great local cooks, the elements of the Tuscan table, dishes with cultural and culinary notes on each, and, of course, delectable recipes.La Bellezza--the beauty. From the quality of the light falling on sublime landscapes in different seasons and Tuscan faces in moments of laughter to a silhouette of cypress trees in the early evening and a wild bird perched on a neigbor's head, In Tuscany features views of beauty that reveal the singular splendor of one of the world's best-loved and most artistic regions.

    Thus began a unique journey as forty villagers set off in a special third-class railway carriage to travel from the soggy plains of Bengal and the tropicana of the deep south to the alpine majesty of the Himalayas. Heather Wood was fortunate enough to share part of their trip and, with notebook open and pen in hand, she unobtrusively watched and recorded the villagers' experiences on this unprecedented Indian odyssey.

    This edition brings together, slightly abridged, his descriptions of three journeys - to Guyana where he explored the broad savannahs of the Rupununi, the creeks and swamps of the coast, and the remote forest reserve of the Amerindians; to Indonesia in search of the Komodo dragon; and to Paraguay to seek, among other animals, the elusive giant armadillo. The book abounds with superb vignettes of bizarre characters - Mistah King, the mermaid fisherman; the shanty singers Lord Lucifer and the Great Smasher; Comelli, the wandering jaguar hunter; and the fat, jolly Gertie who claimed she has a 'highly nervous psychological disposition'. The author also tells, disarmingly, of the hardships of the journey by launch and canoes up the rivers of South America, of his travel by horseback through the parched, inhospitable Chac of Paraguay, sometimes swamp and sometimes desert, and of a hazardous voyage by prau under the captaincy of a gun-smuggler. At all times the author shows his acute powers of observation, his irrepressible sense of the ridiculous, and his gift as a brilliant raconteur. No one has written more entertaining travel books, and this collected edition, superbly illustrated by photographs, will be hugely enjoyed for its evocative descriptions of animals, people and places.

    In this collection of thirty-four sketches, the author captures the extraordinary range of people, experiences, places and feelings that is New York City -- the city behind the glamorous facade of Manhattan, inhabited by people who remember when this was "a great big wonderful town and they were young in its streets."These sketches, many based on actual incidents, take as their subject the "smaller dramas" of mankind, the chance encounters and random episodes that inform one's life; often twisting suddenly, surprisingly, at the end, they convey strong feelings in little space.  Using all of New York as his broad canvas, Pete Hamill recreates the baffling array of human emotions, from sadness and nostalgia to home and love, with affection, grace and wry understanding.

    It is a traveller's book, geographically arranged but wandering at will from the past to the present, evoking not only contemporary landscapes and sensations but also the characters, the emotions and the tumultuous events of the past. The first such work ever written about the Venetian ‘Stato da Mar’, it is an invaluable historical companion for visitors to Venice itself and for travellers through the lands the Doges once ruled.

    Apart from activity in traditional areas much of the new exploration has taken place in clear water caves in Florida, the West Indies, Mexico, South Africa and Australia, areas of interest to open water divers as well as cavers.

    Carefully devised routes lead the traveler away from the crowds, through labyrinthine alleyways to deserted squares, lively markets, and treasure-filled churches.

    NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURERobyn Davidson's opens the memoir of her perilous journey across 1,700 miles of hostile Australian desert to the sea with only four camels and a dog for company with the following words: “I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back." Enduring sweltering heat, fending off poisonous snakes and lecherous men, chasing her camels when they get skittish and nursing them when they are injured, Davidson emerges as an extraordinarily courageous heroine driven by a love of Australia's landscape, an empathy for its indigenous people, and a willingness to cast away the trappings of her former identity. Tracks is the compelling, candid story of her odyssey of discovery and transformation. “An unforgettably powerful book.”—Cheryl Strayed, author of WildNow with a new postscript by Robyn Davidson.

    Yet, it is an important and highly readable classic work that captures a portrait frozen in time of a raw state in turmoil during the oil boom. McGinnis went north to find out if there was anything left of the "last frontier." He found "mind-bending contradictions," as a previous publisher put it--greed, waste, addictions, and racism, among other things, that contrasted with an awesome untamed natural beauty and an honest, open, and independent spirit of the people.

    An introduction to the history of the development of London and of the social life of its people.

    Their globe-spanning travels and side-splitting adventures are recounted in Blown Away, a sort of Swiss Family Robinson by way of the Marx Brothers.

    

    

    

    With great wit and humor, the co-author of The Joy of Gay Sex tells what goes on behind the glittering surface of fashionable nightspots and glamorous resorts. But he also shows us gay engineers, gay computer experts, and gay cowboys; this is a look at a vast world never before documented. By introducing us to a wide variety of gay people, White gives us remarkable new insights into what it means to be gay in America.In States of Desire, you will meet a gay timber baron from Portland and a "big-wig" (literally as well as figuratively) in the Florida drag world. Here are: handsome lifeguards in Chicago—those "bronzed demigods . . . who lord it above us on their white wood towers"; a Hollywood host who has just spent "a typical L.A. day, driving 150 miles assembling the twelve ingredients for supper"; a San Franciscan who embraces his friends "with long, therapeutic hugs, silently searching their faces for the weather report of their subtlest, innermost feelings"; and Boston gay radicals, who defend some of the most controversial positions that concern society today. You will hear the stories of gay Cubans in Miami, a gay lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and even a self-appointed gay Mormon prophet in Salt Lake City—all narrated with a novelist's fine ear for nuance.Into this vivid tapestry of people and places the author weaves the pros and cons of such issues as gay radicalism, the "urban gay renaissance" and the much discussed gay penchant for hedonism and sexual extremism. Above all, White shows the remarkable possibilities for gay life today—from the black gay ghettos of Atlanta to communes in New England; from "friendship networks" in New York City to New Orleans-style "uptown marriages" (in which men live with wife and children uptown and keep a boy in the Quarter); from Kansas City, where the self-oppression of 1950s gay life still reigns supreme, to Fire Island's unrivaled "spectacle of gay affluence and gay-male beauty." For this eye-opening book makes clear that gay life is every bit as rich and varied as the many gay lives the author so effectively describes.

    Gandhi, Panama on the eve of the U.S. treaty debate, and Cairo at the time of the Israeli-Egyptian peace talks. Her essay on Manhattan may be the single best article on New York since E.B. White's famous book 30 years ago. She also writes on L.A., Pretoria and Rhodesia, London, Istanbul, and Trieste.

    It offers you: 32 accurately described hiking trips in four areas: Desolation Wilderness, Lake Tahoe's Emerald Bay, South Fork American River (trails south of Highway 50), and Upper Truckee River (trails north of Highway 88 and west of Highway 89).

    In it Synge captured the idiosyncracies of everyday speech better, perhaps, than any other Irish writer, while his eye caught the details of a way of life that has long since disappeared. First published in 1910, it is now available as a paperback for the first time, complete with the evocative illustrations by Jack B. Yeats--universally regarded as twentieth-century Ireland's greatest painter.

    The fascinating story of her travels is told in this abridged and lavishly illustrated version of her memoirs and autobiography, first published in 1893. Marianne produced more than 800 paintings and they are housed in a special gallery at Kew.

    Oversize

    In the land of Vodou, zombies and the Tontons Macoute. In this classic account, history jostles with adventure, high comedy is touched with danger; and Haiti glows like a magic charm.Now updated and with a new foreword by the author for the post-earthquake edition.

    It studies 120 sites, organized into five geographical districts. Each area includes a map to facilitate a walking or driving tour. The text provides a brief discussion of the history of each work, the nature of its commission, and its relation to its site.

    Investigates the history of villages in England and what life in them was like from their early origins, some in the Iron Age, to the present and how they have changed.

    With its breathtaking network of caves, lush hidden valleys, and spectacular mountain range, Mulu proved to be one of the most valuable regions of natural beauty left in the world. destruction of the surrounding area stands as yet another example of the senseless exploitation of our planet. significance of the rain forests to our fragile ecosystem. It is a timely reminder of our need to preserve them for the future.

    

    With the help of a kids-only "panel of judges," author Elizabeth Pomada has selected the best that Northern California has to offer, from amusement parks to wildlife areas, museums to kid-tested restaurants. user-friendly features such as listings divided by region, a calendar of annual events, and an index by age group complement all the fully detailed entries.

    Visitors to England who marvel at this lush land on their first incoming flight now have a volume to treasure forever. Here are the famed gardens, the majestic estates, the granduer of centuries of architecture. Along with Robert Cameron's areial photographs Alistair Cooke's text is brimming with the raconteur's characteristic wit and insight. The pictorial essay begins at the Thames and follows the history of the beloved city well into the countryside.

    --antiqbook.com

    Western American History.

    Beautiful beaches, perfect weather, movie-star glamour...there are so many reasons to visit Southern California that deciding where to go and what to do can be a bit overwhelming. Fodor's Southern California takes the guesswork out of choosing the perfect SoCal experience---from picking the finest Santa Barbara bistro to finding the best studio tour in Hollywood.

    Giant armchairs of green water ice and a great wave of smaller ice debris rumbling down the face itself. I grabbed hold of the axe and hammer in front of me, trying to leave only my pack and helmet vulnerable to what would very soon be on me . . . Ten strong men pulled on my legs, an angry crowd beat on my helmet and shouted in my ears. The rope slackened; I could hold no longer. Ice, rock, freefall; bounce, tumble in a storm of meteorites rushing across the heavens. An incredible silence . . . Ken was gone. Our friend was gone."These deeply-felt words convey the shock and despair the author felt after the avalanche had swept him and his three companions off the mountainside, killing one, leaving Peter badly injured and his two friends shocked and hurt. The attempt on Ama Dablam was the climax to Peter Hillary's year in Nepal. Earlier he had worked with his father Sir Edmund and a Himalayan Trust team on bridge and school hostel construction. This was followed by an attempt on unclimbed Kusum Kang and a monsoon jaunt with his Canadian girlfriend, Nena, in southern India. The story has zest, humour, romance and excitement as Peter describes his adventures with the observant eye of an enthusiastic young man. This, indeed, adds a new dimension to modern mountaineering, with rock music among the peaks. It shows Peter Hillary to be not only an accomplished adventurer, but also an author of considerable promise. Readers will eagerly await his future books."