Dewey Decimal 900s (Travel, Biographies, History)
Travel
Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski
"Inspired by the commonsensical Herodotus, who tried to explain the world beyond their gates to his fellow Greeks, Kapuscinski embarked on a series of travels that he details in his many other books and describes, sometimes allusively, here. - Throughout, Kapuscinski tests and emulates Herodotus's methods: 'he wanders, looks, talks, listens, in order that he can later note down what he learned and saw, or simply to remember better.' Author and subject, student and mentor, are perfectly matched. Illuminating reading for any aspiring journalist or travel writer, for any traveler, for any citizen of the world." (Kirkus)
Fly Solo: the 50 best places on earth for a girl to travel alone by Teresa Rodriguez Williamson
"Williamson uses 10 criteria - among them safety, transportation and friendliness - to determine a list of destinations for adventurous women, then provides the skinny on each. But before delving into her exceedingly thorough chick-trip dispatches, Williamson provides an incisive quiz to help readers determine the best trip for them. Dozens of global hot spots are profiled here, with an especially extensive list of European locations. - Even though this easy-to-breeze-through guide offers information on locales as far-flung as Machu Picchu and Tokyo, a number of fun stateside escapes ensures that even "girls" on a limited budget will be ready to lone-wolf it." (Book summary)
Travel
Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski"Inspired by the commonsensical Herodotus, who tried to explain the world beyond their gates to his fellow Greeks, Kapuscinski embarked on a series of travels that he details in his many other books and describes, sometimes allusively, here. - Throughout, Kapuscinski tests and emulates Herodotus's methods: 'he wanders, looks, talks, listens, in order that he can later note down what he learned and saw, or simply to remember better.' Author and subject, student and mentor, are perfectly matched. Illuminating reading for any aspiring journalist or travel writer, for any traveler, for any citizen of the world." (Kirkus)
Fly Solo: the 50 best places on earth for a girl to travel alone by Teresa Rodriguez Williamson"Williamson uses 10 criteria - among them safety, transportation and friendliness - to determine a list of destinations for adventurous women, then provides the skinny on each. But before delving into her exceedingly thorough chick-trip dispatches, Williamson provides an incisive quiz to help readers determine the best trip for them. Dozens of global hot spots are profiled here, with an especially extensive list of European locations. - Even though this easy-to-breeze-through guide offers information on locales as far-flung as Machu Picchu and Tokyo, a number of fun stateside escapes ensures that even "girls" on a limited budget will be ready to lone-wolf it." (Book summary)
Biographies (92s)
The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh, a woman in world history by Linda Colley
"Colley uses Marsh's life as a lens through which to show a period of great social transformation; travel, technology, commerce, international politics, and gender roles all changed swiftly and dramatically during the 18th century. Colley brings alive many historical personalities, especially the 'bold and impudent' and 'intelligent and curious…not scholarly' Elizabeth and the petulant Moroccan sultan whose corsairs captured her Britain-bound ship when she was 20. Elizabeth married a fellow captive after their release and later wrote a memoir of this episode, which became her first publication. Colley's grounding in her subject makes her writing authoritative and her analysis savvy." (Library Journal)
The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh, a woman in world history by Linda Colley"Colley uses Marsh's life as a lens through which to show a period of great social transformation; travel, technology, commerce, international politics, and gender roles all changed swiftly and dramatically during the 18th century. Colley brings alive many historical personalities, especially the 'bold and impudent' and 'intelligent and curious…not scholarly' Elizabeth and the petulant Moroccan sultan whose corsairs captured her Britain-bound ship when she was 20. Elizabeth married a fellow captive after their release and later wrote a memoir of this episode, which became her first publication. Colley's grounding in her subject makes her writing authoritative and her analysis savvy." (Library Journal)
A Russian Diary: a journalist's final account of life, corruption, and death in Putin's Russia by Anna Politkovskaia"This diary includes interviews with mothers of the murdered children of the Beslan school, with Russian soldiers mutilated in Chechnya, and a fascinating encounter in the fortified hideaway of a deranged Chechen warlord. Furthermore, she exposes the degradation and even death of many young conscripts in the Russian armed forces. One cannot help but admire this tenacious correspondent, who wrote with integrity and honesty regardless of the consequences. Although her voice has been silenced, it is important that her words be read, digested, and promulgated."
(Library Journal)
Belva Lockwood: the woman who would be president by Jill Norgen"Astonishingly, this is the first scholarly biography of 19th-century activist Belva Lockwood. Lawyer, lobbyist, wife, mother, and contemporary of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lockwood was among the most formidable of equal rights advocates. The first female lawyer admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the relentlessly ambitious Lockwood ran for the U.S. presidency in 1884 and 1888 on the Equal Rights Party ticket." (Library Journal)
History
Sovereign Ladies: the six reigning Queens of England by Maureen Waller"The list comprises Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary II, Anne, Victoria, and Elizabeth II. Only the unfortunate Mary I neither gave her name to an age nor presided over a great era of British history. Each mini biography shows off excellent scholarship and research while giving readers the feeling that they are getting not just the facts but the 'downstairs' take on what really happened." (Library Journal)
Inside the Red Mansion: on the trail of China’s most wanted man by Oliver August"August (former Beijing bureau chief, Times of London) draws on his observations of China's almost lawless business underworld to write a rattling good story: Lai Changxing rose from illiterate poverty to amass a fortune by bribery, networking, and brass. Eventually, he fell foul of the law, or at least of political rivals, and became China's most wanted man. August's search for Lai takes him through the frenetic China that we had always suspected but never saw so vividly analyzed." (Library Journal)
World of the Vikings by Richard Hall"In a very readable narrative, Hall (director of archaeology, York Archaeological Trust, U.K.; The Viking Dig) ably presents Viking civilization, from its origins during the early first millennium C.E. to the final 15th-century settlements in Greenland. - Other features are sidebars with summaries of topics related to each chapter's time period, a gazetteer of where to find Viking archaeological sites and museums, and a time line of Viking history." (Library Journal)
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