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Narrative Nonfiction
Peter Carey captures our imagination with a brilliant and unexpected portrait of Sydney.
Bloomsbury is pleased to announce the second title in the phenomenally well-received Writer in the City series-in which some of the world's finest novelists reveal the secrets of the city they know best. In the midst of the 2000 Olympic games, Australia native Peter Carey returns to Sydney after a seventeen-year absence. Examining the urban landscape as both a tourist and a prodigal son, Carey structures his account around the four elements-Earth, Air, Fire, and Water-insisting on the primacy of nature to this unique Australian cityscape. As his quixotic account unfolds, Carey looks both inward into his past (as well as Sydney's own violent history) and outward onto the city's familiar landmarks and surroundings-the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, the Blue Mountains-achieving just the right alchemy of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water to tell Sydney's extraordinary story.
Declared "the best survival book in a decade" by Outside Magazine, 438 Days is the true story of the man who survived fourteen months in a small boat drifting seven thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean. On November 17, 2012, two men left the coast of Mexico for a weekend fishing trip in the open Pacific. That night, a violent storm ambushed them as they were fishing eighty miles offshore. As gale force winds and ten-foot waves pummeled their small, open boat from all sides and nearly capsized them, captain Salvador Alvarenga and his crewmate cut away a two-mile-long fishing line and began a desperate dash through crashing waves as they sought the safety of port. Fourteen months later, on January 30, 2014, Alvarenga, now a hairy, wild-bearded and half-mad castaway, washed ashore on a nearly deserted island on the far side of the Pacific. He could barely speak and was unable to walk. He claimed to have drifted from Mexico, a journey of some seven thousand miles. A "gripping saga," (Daily Mail), 438 Days is the first-ever account of one of the most amazing survival stories in modern times. Based on dozens of hours of exclusive interviews with Alvarenga, his colleagues, search-and-rescue officials, the remote islanders who found him, and the medical team that saved his life, 438 Days is not only "an intense, immensely absorbing read" (Booklist) but an unforgettable study of the resilience, will, ingenuity and determination required for one man to survive more than a year lost and adrift at sea.
"The best survival book in a decade" (Outside magazine), 438 Days is the true story of the fisherman who survived fourteen months in a small boat drifting seven thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean. On November 17, 2012, a pair of fishermen left the coast of Mexico for a weekend fishing trip in the open Pacific. That night, a violent storm ambushed them as they were fishing eighty miles offshore. As gale force winds and ten-foot waves pummeled their small, open boat from all sides and nearly capsized them, captain Salvador Alvarenga and his crewmate cut away a two-mile-long fishing line and began a desperate dash through crashing waves as they sought the safety of port. Fourteen months later, on January 30, 2014, Alvarenga, now a hairy, wild-bearded and half-mad castaway, washed ashore on a nearly deserted island on the far side of the Pacific. He could barely speak and was unable to walk. He claimed to have drifted from Mexico, a journey of some seven thousand miles. 438 Days is the first-ever account of one of the most amazing survival stories in modern times. Based on dozens of hours of exclusive interviews with Alvarenga, his colleagues, search-and-rescue officials, the remote islanders who found him, and the medical team that saved his life, 438 Days is an unforgettable study of the resilience, will, ingenuity and determination required for one man to survive more than a year lost and adrift at sea.
A one-of-a-kind guide to fifty of the most important cultural and historic sites in the United States guaranteed to fascinate, educate, and entertain--selected and described by the former director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. From Massachusetts to Florida to Washington to California, 50 Great American Places takes you on a journey through our nation's history. Sharing the inside stories of sites as old as Mesa Verde (Colorado) and Cahokia (Illinois) and as recent as Silicon Valley (California) and the Mall of America (Minnesota), each essay provides the historical context for places that represent fundamental American themes: the compelling story of democracy and self-government; the dramatic impact of military conflict; the powerful role of innovation and enterprise; the inspiring achievements of diverse cultural traditions; and the defining influence of the land and its resources. Expert historian Brent D. Glass explores these themes by connecting places, people, and events and reveals a national narrative that is often surprising, sometimes tragic, and always engaging--complete with photographs, websites for more information, and suggestions for other places nearby worth visiting. Sites you would expect to read about--in Boston, New York, and Washington, DC--are here, as well as plenty of surprises, such as the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, or Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, or the Village Green in Hudson, Ohio; less obvious places that, together with the more well-known destinations, collectively tell the story of America. For families who want to take a trip that is both educational and entertaining, for history enthusiasts, or anyone curious about our country's greatest places, this book is the perfect guide.
If you've ever dreamed of completing an epic journey behind the wheel, The 50 Greatest Road Trips is for you. Packed full of the world's most exotic, exciting and iconic road-trips, this compelling read will have you reaching for a road map. Informative first-hand accounts and engaging descriptions of routes across the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa showcase the ultimate in car adventures. The author is a veteran of road-tripping, having driven the iconic 19,000-mile route from North America to South America's tip, completed several dusty cross-desert voyages in the Australian outback, off-roaded in the mountain foothills of rural Cyprus, and scaled towering Saharan sand dunes in a 4x4. Whatever part of the world you have your eye on, Sarah Woods suggests an epic road to follow. Readers are sure to feel the urge to climb into an old Chevrolet, crank up the tunes on the stereo, flick the sunroof open and settle back for one heck of a ride on the open road . . .
Acclaimed travel writer Anthony Lambert presents his selection of train journeys with real character, sublime scenery, a sense of history, a well-appointed train, or even the opportunity to enjoy a meal with proper napery, silver and glass... Some journeys are well known, such as the Glacier or Orient Expresses, which combine glamour, outstanding cuisine and service and colorful history. Others less so: The Sunset Limited traverses through the quintessential Wild West country of New Mexico; or the coast-to-coast journey through the chestnut- and pine-clad mountains of Corsica, crossing one of Gustave Eiffel's glorious viaducts of gossamer steel. From the modest line of the Alaska Railroad to the Trans-Siberian; from a narrow-gauge web of lines in the Harz Mountains to the train that crosses Australia's barren Nullarbor Plain in a dead-straight 478km, Lambert's is an unmissable selection for any lover of travel that is as delightful as the destination.
Barry Stone, author of 1,001 Walks You Must Experience Before You Die, delves into some of the lesser-known aspects of the world's most famous -- and not-quite-famous-yet -- trails. In this perfect accompaniment to practical guidebooks, Stone relates how slings and carabiners kept him from falling headlong off the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and reports on the progress of the continental-wide monster, the Trans Canada Trail, which has gaps still being filled by countless grass-roots communities. With walks that will appeal to everyone regardless of ability, The 50 Greatest Walks of the World includes American classics such as the Appalachian Trail, Buckskin Gulch, and the Bright Angel Trail to Phantom Ranch, as well as personal favorites such as Italy's Cinque Terre Classic and the Isle of Skye's Trotternish Ridge, one of Britain's finest ridge traverses with almost 2,500m of ascents. Whether it's a climb, a stroll, or a life-changing slog, this book has the walk for you.
Machu Picchu, the Acropolis, the Great Rift Valley: these are some of the most beautiful, mysterious and awe-inspiring places on the planet.
Award-winning travel writer Aaron Millar reveals the greatest wonders of the world and the insider secrets on how to see them. From where to catch the perfect sunrise over the Grand Canyon to how to swim up to the very edge of the Victoria Falls, this is a road map for discovering the greatest experiences of your life. There are wonders of our future too: the Large Hadron Collider, the most complicated machine ever built; the International Space Station, the greatest international peacetime collaboration in history; the Rio Carnival, the biggest party on the planet. The 50 Greatest Wonders of the World reminds us how fantastically inspiring our planet really is, and how we're a part of it.
Following the critically acclaimed 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go, Susan Van Allen adds new gems to her selection of the best spots for female travelers in Italy's most popular cities, (Rome, Florence, and Venice), along with enticing Golden Day itineraries to make vacation dreams come true. Like a savvy traveler girlfriend whispering in your ear, she guides readers to masterpieces where women are glorified -- from Rome's Pieta to Florence's Birth of Venus, best spots for wine tasting, chocolate, and gelato, artisan shopping experiences to meet leather craftsmen or glass blowers, and places for adventures -- from rolling pasta to rowing like a gondolier. Plus, there are fresh, practical tips, giving readers insider's secrets for what to pack, the best places to get their hair styled, and how to bargain for souvenirs. Whatever your mood or budget, whether it's your first or 21st visit to Italy, 50 Places in Rome, Florence, and Venice Every Woman Should Go opens the door to extraordinary experiences that fully immerse travelers in the beautiful, fascinating, and delicious pleasures of the Bel Paese.
Poe Ballantine's second collection of personal essays follows, and expands on, his acclaimed Things I Like About America. Ballantine's world is a crazy quilt of odd jobs, eccentric characters, boarding houses, buses, and beer, rendered in the author's by turns absurd and poignant voice. "The Irving" briskly details the author's diabolic plan to punch John Irving in the nose after opening for him before an audience of 2,000 people at the prestigious Wordstock Festival. "Wide-Eyed in the Gaudy Shop" takes readers on a wild ride through Mexico as Ballantine meets and marries his wife Christina. "Blessed Meadows for Minor Poets" offers a devastating take on the author's life as his years of struggle to secure a major contract for a short story collection end in catastrophe. The writer the Seattle Times called "part Huck Finn, part Hunter S. Thompson" brings a blistering wit and shrewd observation to this composite portrait of an unconventional life.
A riveting...saga of survival against formidable odds (Washington Post) about one man who survived a World War II plane crash in Alaska's harsh Yukon territory
Shortly before Christmas in 1943, five Army aviators left Alaska's Ladd Field on a routine flight to test their hastily retrofitted B-24 Liberator in harsh winter conditions. The mission ended in a crash that claimed all but one-Leon Crane, a city kid from Philadelphia with no wilderness experience. With little more than a parachute for cover and an old Boy Scout knife in his pocket, Crane found himself alone in subzero temperatures. 81 Days Below Zero recounts, for the first time, the full story of Crane's remarkable twelve-week saga.
Shortly before Christmas in 1943, five Army aviators left Alaska's Ladd Field on a routine flight to test their hastily retrofitted B-24 Liberator in harsh winter conditions. The mission ended in a crash that claimed all but one-Leon Crane, a city kid from Philadelphia with no wilderness experience. With little more than a parachute for cover and an old Boy Scout knife in his pocket, Crane found himself alone in subzero temperatures. 81 Days Below Zero recounts, for the first time, the full story of Crane's remarkable twelve-week saga.
It all began with a letter inquiring about second-hand books, written by Helene Hanff in New York, and posted to a bookshop at 84, Charing Cross Road in London. As Helene's sarcastic and witty letters are responded to by the stodgy and proper Frank Doel of 84, Charing Cross Road, a relationship blossoms into a warm and charming long-distance friendship lasting many years.
9/11 AND HOME
On September 10, 2001, a haggard Chicago lawyer just wanted to go home. But the weather in Newark, and a little thing called 9/11, got in his way. Let's just start with this, though: 9/11 and Home is not truly a 9/11 book, so feel free to place any knee-jerk red flags you may think you see safely into your natty little pocket. That quite historic event is merely the backdrop for this irreverent, brutally honest and compelling, true story of both temporary and life-long friends facing a wild assortment of unique challenges. Those challenges initially derive from the tragedy we're all so familiar with but. in actuality, this is no more "another 9/11 book" than Titanic was a movie about "proper boat maintenance." This book is decidedly different, and actually represents an entirely unique style of writing. A new genre.
9/11 and Home is a highly quirky memoir/work-of-narrative-non-fiction which creatively chronicles a rapid-fire, page turning array of intense, and alternately quite funny, experiences and relationships forged by strangers from around the U.S. and the world during the week of the attacks. It's simply a very humorous and compelling recounting of one stressed-out attorney's experiences while stranded for a week in a huge Newark hotel--all after eye-witnessing each Trade Center tower collapse upon itself.
Life, death, sex, drugs, race, religion, politics---it's all here. As opposed to stories of direct victims, caregivers or rescuers during that week, this book is about how the rest of us experienced 9/11. And "Home" is what the book is ultimately about: what home actually is, what it means to us as Americans, and all of our individually funny, weird, sad, great, and very-personal impressions of it. 9/11 and Home is, shamelessly, about just that.
"If you've ever finished a book and had to sit back for a moment and collect yourself, you should definitely take this ride."
On September 10, 2001, a haggard Chicago lawyer just wanted to go home. But the weather in Newark, and a little thing called 9/11, got in his way. Let's just start with this, though: 9/11 and Home is not truly a 9/11 book, so feel free to place any knee-jerk red flags you may think you see safely into your natty little pocket. That quite historic event is merely the backdrop for this irreverent, brutally honest and compelling, true story of both temporary and life-long friends facing a wild assortment of unique challenges. Those challenges initially derive from the tragedy we're all so familiar with but. in actuality, this is no more "another 9/11 book" than Titanic was a movie about "proper boat maintenance." This book is decidedly different, and actually represents an entirely unique style of writing. A new genre.
9/11 and Home is a highly quirky memoir/work-of-narrative-non-fiction which creatively chronicles a rapid-fire, page turning array of intense, and alternately quite funny, experiences and relationships forged by strangers from around the U.S. and the world during the week of the attacks. It's simply a very humorous and compelling recounting of one stressed-out attorney's experiences while stranded for a week in a huge Newark hotel--all after eye-witnessing each Trade Center tower collapse upon itself.
Life, death, sex, drugs, race, religion, politics---it's all here. As opposed to stories of direct victims, caregivers or rescuers during that week, this book is about how the rest of us experienced 9/11. And "Home" is what the book is ultimately about: what home actually is, what it means to us as Americans, and all of our individually funny, weird, sad, great, and very-personal impressions of it. 9/11 and Home is, shamelessly, about just that.
"If you've ever finished a book and had to sit back for a moment and collect yourself, you should definitely take this ride."
A selection of the best short work by France's greatest living nonfiction writer
A New York Times Notable Books of 2020
Original artwork and materials explore children's literature and its impact in society and culture over time
A favorite childhood book can leave a lasting impression, but as adults we tend to shelve such memories. For fourteen months beginning in June 2013, more than half a million visitors to the New York Public Library viewed an exhibition about the role that children's books play in world culture and in our lives. After the exhibition closed, attendees clamored for a catalog of The ABC of It as well as for children's literature historian Leonard S. Marcus's insightful, wry commentary about the objects on display. Now with this book, a collaboration between the University of Minnesota's Kerlan Collection of Children's Literature and Leonard Marcus, the nostalgia and vision of that exhibit can be experienced anywhere.
The story of the origins of children's literature is a tale with memorable characters and deeds, from Hans Christian Andersen and Lewis Carroll to E. B. White and Madeleine L'Engle, who safeguarded a place for wonder in a world increasingly dominated by mechanistic styles of thought, to artists like Beatrix Potter and Maurice Sendak who devoted their extraordinary talents to revealing to children not only the exhilarating beauty of life but also its bracing intensity. Philosophers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and educators such as Johann Comenius and John Dewey were path-finding interpreters of the phenomenon of childhood, inspiring major strands of bookmaking and storytelling for the young. Librarians devised rigorous standards for evaluating children's books and effective ways of putting good books into children's hands, and educators proposed radically different ideas about what those books should include. Eventually, publishers came to embrace juvenile publishing as a core activity, and pioneering collectors of children's book art, manuscripts, correspondence, and ephemera appeared--the University of Minnesota's Dr. Irvin Kerlan being a superb example. Without the foresight and persistence of these collectors, much of this story would have been lost forever.
Regarding children's literature as both a rich repository of collective memory and a powerful engine of cultural change is more important today than ever.
When John D'Agata helps his mother move to Las Vegas one summer, he begins to follow a story about the federal government's plan to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain; the result is a startling portrait that compels a reexamination of the future of human life.
Distinctive and unique, facial appearance is hugely important in every encounter we will ever have. From the concept of beauty to the social ill of discrimination, the importance of the face in our interpersonal interactions is certainly known. But have you ever thought about the role your face plays in your day-to-day life, or the way your face may have determined the outcome of an incident from your past?
In About Face, twenty-five writers tackle this question, each using the same simple framework of an opening paragraph that objectively considers what they see when they look in the mirror. Each writer then details an experience that transpired, in one way or another, because of the face they live with: a feature that belies a woman's heritage, a scar that serves as a daily reminder of a childhood tragedy, an unwanted change due to sun exposure or smoking or drinking.
Since we live our entire lives behind our faces, About Face presents a challenge: to consider exploring our experiences from a vantage point we simply don't have access to. This collection uncovers surprising outcomes and truly unique observations about internal experiences as witnessed from the writers' external points of view.
In About Face, twenty-five writers tackle this question, each using the same simple framework of an opening paragraph that objectively considers what they see when they look in the mirror. Each writer then details an experience that transpired, in one way or another, because of the face they live with: a feature that belies a woman's heritage, a scar that serves as a daily reminder of a childhood tragedy, an unwanted change due to sun exposure or smoking or drinking.
Since we live our entire lives behind our faces, About Face presents a challenge: to consider exploring our experiences from a vantage point we simply don't have access to. This collection uncovers surprising outcomes and truly unique observations about internal experiences as witnessed from the writers' external points of view.