Customer Reviews:
Chocante!.......2003-09-08
Travelers Tales Guide of Brazil should be required reading for anyone applying for a Brazilian visa. The 50 travel essays capture the essence of Brazil. They're brief, mostly well-written, sometimes entertaining, and always revealing the people and culture of this dynamic country. I expected to find mostly stories about the Amazon and Rio; they're there as are so many other diverse places from Curitiba to Belem.
As an aficionado of Brazilian music, I particularly enjoyed the two articles by John Krich: Simply Irrisistible and The Guy from Ipanema. Alma Guillermoprieto gives great samba instructions for both men and women. And I learned about cachaca and capoeira, though both are fluid, one a drink and the other a beautiful martial arts performance.
It made my trip to Brazil more enjoyable.
Good Collection, but Uneven.......2002-08-23
The Travelers' Tales are just that - fifty stories mostly written by occasional or short-term visitors to Brazil. While it's often fun to tune in to their wonder and amazement at the things they discover, there are occasional disappointments. The stories range in quality from the very strong (Alma Guillermoprieto discussing evangelism, Bill McKibben on the orderly city of Curitiba, Alexander Shankland on Canudos); to the so-so (Downs Matthews on the nineteenth century flight of American confederate sympathizers to Brazil - a good topic but written in a silly sappy prose); to the downright unreadable (Christopher Hall on Candomble, Rachel C. Derrick searching for Africa in Salvador, John Krich on Ipanema, and Gilbert Phelps' pointless and themeless final chapter).
Predictably, most of the stories discuss Rio, the Amazon, and Salvador. Useful and colorful, no doubt, but the gems are those that get off these well-chronicled paths and surprise a reader with something really new. Like most travel-style writers, many here offer their own novice attempts at Portuguese words, often amusingly wrong, but earnest. Brazil is a vast, shocking, wonderful country. This book is fairly successful at presenting different facets and different perspectives. Perhaps it's not the only book you'd want to read if you were going to spend some time in Brazil, but it's among the handful that would help you understand the people and the place.
Back to Brazil.......2002-08-13
After returning home from a 10 day missions trip to Brazil I found myself scouring the book shelves for books on Brazilian culture and history. The stories captured in Travelers' Tales : Brazil, truly brought me right back to Brazil. Each tale awoke a memory, a scent, a feeling that could only be brought on by "saudade". I look forward to my next trip to this rich country armed with a book full of ideas for my next adventure.
So much more fun and interesting than a typical travel guide.......2000-01-27
I so enjoyed reading about the people and places of Brazil in this book. I am hooked on "Travelers' Tales" books now. I am excited to have a deeper knowledge now of the heart of this place in preparation for my trip there. The short story format is ideal for me and the variety of entries paints a colorful picture. Anyone traveling to Brazil should pick this up for before and after the trip.
An Interesting Mix of Perspectives.......1999-03-30
The book is unique in its wide range of viewpoints and subject matter. Interesting to see Brazil covered this way. I found it very helpful when I went to Brazil, along with the books "Lonely Planet: Brazil" and "The Brazilian Sound" (Temple University Press).
Book Description
These stories of travel in Central America — Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama — are adventurous and quirky, sobering and enlightening. Readers visit a Panamanian island known for its wildlife; glimpse the wealthy Generation X repatriates of Nicaragua; and meet a charming Guatemalan revolutionary. Authors include Paul Theroux, Jennifer Harbury, Ronald Wright, Joan Didion, Randy Wayne White, and Rigoberta Menchu. Travelers’ Tales Central America provides a new window into this astonishingly beautiful and complex part of the world. “For the thoughtful traveler, these books are an invaluable resource.” — Pico Iyer
Customer Reviews:
An exceptionally well-crafted collection impressions of Latin America.......2005-09-12
I am not a huge fan of anthologies of articles because they often lack the narrative flow and coherence of a book written by a single author. With that being said, Traveler's Tales Central America is a cut above the standard anthology for several reasons. First, the articles focus on a single, relatively small geographic region-Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama). The narrow geography of Latin America bind the stories together much better than say, the stories in the Best American Travel Writing series, which cover all corners of the globe.
Second, many of the articles did not appear in mainstream travel magazines such as Conde Nast Traveler, Travel and Leisure, Budget Travel, etc. Instead, Larry Habegger and Natanya Pearlman, the book's editors, have gone out of the way to find some interesting pieces written by relatively obscure authors.
One of my favorites is a retired Pan Am pilot named Joseph Diedrich who writes about an encounter at a hotel with a beautiful woman who enjoys smuggling jaguars to the United States from Guatemala simply for the thrill of it. Another memorable one, "The Rainbow Special" by Cara Tabachnick, describes a hilarious gathering of hippies on the shores of Lago Atitlán in Guatemala where everyone finds spiritual truth in a simple bowl of hummus soup.
In addition to some obscure gems, Traveler's Tales Central America also includes pieces written by writers at the top of their game such as Tim Cahill and Paul Theroux. Cahill's essay about a drive in Honduras is ho hum, but Theroux's chronicle of a train ride through Costa Rica ranks as one of the best articles in the book, especially since the train he took no longer exists.
Traveler's Tales Central America ends with some stories that still haunt me. Jennifer K. Harbury tells the story of her first encounter in the rugged mountains of Guatemala with her husband Everado, a guerilla who was ultimately abducted and murdered by the CIA. In "Deceptive Moonrise," a female backpacker reveals how a tropical paradise became a nightmare one night on an island off the coast of Belize. Traveler's Tales Central America, in short, is not just fodder for readers with short attention spans, but an exceptionally well-crafted collection impressions of a region of the world close in proximity to the United States but culturally very distant. I can't wait until the publisher comes out with a similar book for South America.
Book Description
Long out of print, this is a riveting firsthand account of Leonard Clark’s search for the legendary lost Seven Cities of Cibola — reputedly home to enormous reserves of gold — in the rain forest east of the Peruvian Andes. A former U.S. Army intelligence officer, Clark is joined on his expedition by Inez Pokorny, a gutsy, multilingual female explorer. Their treacherous journey includes encounters with head-hunting Jivaro Indians, man-eating jaguars, 40-foot-long anacondas, poisonous plants, and shamanistic healers. Against the odds, Clark and Pokorny reach their destination, but nearly starve to death trying to transport sacks of gold out of the dense tropical foliage.
Customer Reviews:
overall satisfaction of book and delivery time.......2007-05-29
I AM VERY PLEASED WITH THE BOOK THAT I THOUGHT WAS OUT OF PRINT. A GREAT BOOK AND A GREAT AUTHOR. I FIRST HEARD OF LEONARD CLARK SOME YEARS AGO FROM A MAN WHO ACTUALLY LIVED IN SOUTH AMERICA AND WAS FAMILIAR WITH CLARK.I SO GLAD THAT AMAZON CARRIED THIS BOOK. I JUST TOOK A CHANCE AND TYPED IN THE BOOK NAME AND AMAZON HAD IT. THANKS SO MUCH
Classic tales of the Amazon.......2007-05-13
As a past explorer of the Amazon, covering much of the same territory in the early '70's, I enjoyed this novel whether fiction or not. I am personally inclined to believe all despite other "armchair" reviews that debunk a great book. From 1947 unitl my brief venture, I found much the same as Col. Clarks travels. I wish I had been able to stay there longer and wish someday to acquire an original Hardbound copy of this unit that I was fortunate to read just prior to my own travels. The language excerpt I had copied and found most helpful there in the Peotenal.
The Rivers Ran East.......2006-08-31
An absolutely great book and I enjoyed it especially because my brother, Capt. Bill Morgan, served under Major Leonard Clark, author, during Operation Canary when a small group of OSS personnel were flown to Formosa at the end of WWII to accept the surrender of General Ando and his 400,000 Japanese troops. My brother had the highest regard for Major Clark. When Major Clark went back to China, my brother took over command of Operation Canary. Major Clark invited my brother to join him in his exploration activities after WWII but he was unable to join him because of family responsibilities. Nevertheless, he maintained contact with Len Clark up to Len's untimely death in the upper Amazon as a result of two arrows in his back. Clark was a great explorer and author. I wish he were still alive so that I could shake his hand, sit with him and listen to him tell the stories of his life. Arthur T. Morgan
Traveler or Travel-Liar?.......2005-04-30
As a youngster I read this book so often the school librarian would chuckle each time I checked it out. Then, for years, I completely forgot about it. During that time I lived and worked in the Orinoco and Amazon Basin as a field biologist. When I re-discovered this title I had been working in Amazonian Peru for over a decade. Happy to find the book, I purchased a copy and read it again. Only this time I found myself laughing out loud. Clark did in fact get around while he was in Peru, but he clearly had little understanding of either Spanish or Quechua, and he had a vivid imagination. His facts are such an unreliable mishmash that I could tell immediately where he spent the majority of his time down there: in the bar of the hotel. Perhaps the most telling thing is that, with experience in the region, one can discern the kernel of truth at the heart of each of Clark's fabrications. It is far more instructive to read the journals of great scientist-explorers like Alfred Russel Wallace, Richard Spruce, or Bates...all of whom traversed the Amazon under much more grueling conditions. Their accounts reveal all the wonders and hardships of the area but with none of the silly exaggerations.
The most thrilling true adventure I've ever read.......2004-12-19
I still vividly remember when and how I discovered this treasure of a book (years ago, at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh). It was the most incredible true adventure I had ever read, and it still is. I have read it repeatedly over the years; somehow the story is always fresh and exciting.
Leonard Clark was a former intelligence officer and a first-class explorer when he set his sights on the fabled land of gold, El Dorado. He started his journey in Lima, Peru, in 1946, with a thousand dollars and a very old Spanish parchment map of El Dorado. One one person was going to accompany him: Jorge Mendoza, a young, college-educated Peruvian who spoke perfect English.
Everyone in Lima remotely acquainted with the area Clark proposed to travel warned him not to go. Much of his path was through completely unexplored and impenetrable jungle territory, where people were regularly murdered or disappeared. Compounding the difficulty was the political situation in Peru, which forced Clark to take a very long and indirect route. He had to first travel east from Lima to Iquitos, then travel west to Borja and Bella Vista, in order to reach El Dorado. His 'cover' was that he was looking for medical secrets of the Indian brujos (witchmen). He did indeed discover amazing jungle remedies, many of which he brought back with him.
The constant stress of heat and humidity; the threat of attacks by headhunting and cannibalistic Indians; insect bites (some of which could blind a man); dangers from wild animals, including enormous man-eating snakes -- and over it all, the incessant sounds of the jungle -- were nearly unendurable for the two men. Every single page in this book is captivating, packed with sounds and smells and images of the jungle that linger in your memory.
About two-thirds of the way through the story, before they reached Iquitos, Jorge's brother died, and he left to head his family's estates -- leaving Clark alone. Inez Pokorny, an American woman who had already traveled for eight months on her way up the Amazon, accompanied Clark on the rest of his journey, from Iquitos west. Her help was inestimable; he described her as 'the best friend any explorer ever had.'
Clark's journey and its culmination surpass any adventure fiction. This is a remarkable book -- describing not just an amazing treasure hunt, but one of the finest pieces of exploration in the Amazon Valley.
Average customer rating:
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Shore Chronicles: Diaries and Travelers' Tales from the Jersey Shore 1764-1955
Manufacturer: Down The Shore Publishing
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Product Description
Shore Chronicles, this remarkable collection of fifty travelers' accounts from 1764 to 1955, begins with adventurous journeys by stagecoach - when the coast was still a wild frontier - and concludes with the opening of the Garden State Parkway. In the two centuries between, the pleasures and sights of the Shore are described by such well-known writers as John J. Audubon, Walt Whitman, Robert Louis Stevenson, Stephen Crane and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But we also read fascinating stories from the private letters, journals, and diaries of others visiting the Shore - ordinary people with extraordinary impressions of this much-loved coast. Shore Chronicles reveals an exceptional 127-mile-long coastline that has seen much change, yet holds an appeal as powerful as ever.
Book Description
Following the recent publication of Jan Morris’s final book, here is her very first. Fresh from her success reporting on the first Everest ascent in 1953, she spent a year journeying by car, train, ship, and aircraft across the United States. “I did not know it then, and nor did America, but chance had brought me across the Atlantic at the very apex of American happiness,” writes Morris in her new introduction. The author was then James Morris, and America’s identity was different then, too. In brilliant prose, Morris records with exuberance and wonder a time of innocence in America. “The prose sparkles, and everything [Morris] tells glitters.” — San Francisco Chronicle
Customer Reviews:
Envious Nostalgia.......2007-01-09
Written in what must be the heyday of the American Dream - before it became soured - this is Jan Morris's lighter travel through a different empire, inducing envy for not having experienced it ourselves and nostalgia for an America that has passed.
The journey, undertaken when she was still James, is marvelously evocative and is as detailed as her other works. The travel narrative is as engaging as Theroux or Raban (with whom she is friends) with her particular eye for historical details that become almost prophecies.
I recommend it as an ideal `entry point' to enjoying this historians writing for anyone not yet an aficionado and collector of her works.
Book Description
Brazil is a land of superlatives. It has the biggest freshwater fish and the rivers to go with them, the world's largest jungle, and the greatest number of species. Travelers' Tales Brazil explores these aspects and much more, from Carnaval to the shamanic spiritual traditions, as well-known writers chronicle a land where commingling of cultures — indigenous tribes, West Africans, Portuguese colonists — has created a people who fearlessly embrace life.
Book Description
With its vast vistas, splendid sunsets, and rich history, the American Southwest has always inspired superb writing. Travelers’ Tales Southwest features a selection of some of the best. Tony Hillerman explores the wonders of Canyon de Chelly, while Douglas Preston takes the reader on a poignant journey into the land of the Hopi. Barbara Kingsolver learns how to live in harmony with the desert, and Barbara Beckwith joins the secret world of Native American pottery hunters. The book covers a wide physical and mythic terrain, with essays on director John Ford’s dramatic use of Monument Valley, and the Mad Monks’ bizarre excursion through “Planet Nevada.”
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful read.......2001-04-17
This is just a fabulous book. It will bring the Southwest to life for all discerning readers.
Customer Reviews:
Living Vicariously.......2005-08-05
As someone who does alot of bird hunting and fly fishing I really enjoyed this book. I'm not as fortunate to have the means to go where the author goes so I enjoy reading about his experiences.
Product Description
A modern aviator crashes in the Sahara only to find himself in the middle of WW II. A conoisseur of classic Japanese culture finds a priceless artifact in the midst of modernization. Space travelers in the far future discover the diary of the last man on Earth. Nine engrossing and poignant tales of human nature told by the author of Destiny of Souls.
Book Description
San Francisco is spoken of in the same breath as Paris, Venice, and Rome, and has earned the slogan "America's Favorite City" for its openness, dramatic beauty, cultural amenities, the diversity of its neighborhoods and population, and its icons - the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, cable cars, Fisherman's Wharf, and fog. It sits on the tip of a peninsula on the edge of a continent in one of the world's most seismically active areas-no wonder there has always been a "sitting on the edge" mentality here. The city appeared instantly - just add gold and stir! - when precious ore was discovered in the nearby hills in 1848. All of that rich history is captured in Travelers' Tales San Francisco along with clear portraits of today's city. In these true stories you will explore the North Beach of the Beat era and beyond with Herbert Gold, discover true romance on a cable car with Michele Anna Jordan, uncover the real Mission district with John Krich, marvel at the city's wild light with Andrei Codrescu, gumshoe through Sam Spade's San Francisco with Don Freeman, and learn what it means to be a "quintessential San Franciscan" with the late Herb Caen.
Books:
- Tun-huang Popular Narratives (Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions)
- Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968
- When in Germany, Do as the Germans Do: The Clued-In Guide to German Life, Language, and Culture
- Yes We Can!
- A Year in Provence
- Absolute Friends
- Alaska by Cruise Ship: The Complete Guide to Cruising Alaska with Giant Pull-out Map (5th Edition)
- American Indian Life Skills Development Curriculum
- BodyMinder Workout and Exercise Journal (A Fitness Diary)
- C'est La Vie: An American Woman Begins a New Life in Paris and--Voila!--Becomes Almost French
Books Index
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The Brazil Reader: History, Culture, Politics (The Latin America Readers)
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Frommer's Brazil (Frommer's Complete)
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