Category Archives: Travel/ Exploration

An African in Greenland

Posted on October 29, 2012 by

Tété-Michel Kpomassie was born in Togo. The first few chapters of his memoir, An African in Greenland, are spent establishing the everyday African life of his boyhood: palm trees, steamy heat, spicy food, catching lizards, snake worship, and the family … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 9 Comments

A Labyrinth of Kingdoms

Posted on September 25, 2012 by

When you think of the great 19th-century explorers of Africa, what names spring to mind? Livingston, Stanley, and Burton, sure. Speke, Denham, and Baker, if you’ve done your reading. But Heinrich Barth? Who’s he? In A Labyrinth of Kingdoms, Steve … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | Tagged | 11 Comments

A Time of Gifts

Posted on August 1, 2012 by

Way back in 2009, I read Litlove’s review of A Time to Be Silent, Patrick Leigh Fermor’s account of his time spent in three different monasteries. Her hints at his biography and his skill at writing made me think that … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 19 Comments

Brazilian Adventure

Posted on March 20, 2012 by

In 1925, Percy Harrison Fawcett went into the Amazon, looking for traces of a lost civilization. In the face of conventional wisdom, he was convinced that, centuries ago, there had been a grand city in the midst of that jungle … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 11 Comments

Travels with Charley

Posted on August 19, 2011 by

In 1960, at the age of 58, John Steinbeck decided that he’d been making a living writing about an America he no longer knew. He wanted to travel, to see the United States one more time as it now existed, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Memoir, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 22 Comments

Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels

Posted on July 7, 2011 by

In 1892, twin sisters Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson crossed an Egyptian desert in search of a treasure at the foot of Mount Sinai. Devout Presbyterians with a gift for languages, the sisters had learned of a cache of ancient … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 14 Comments

Lost in Shangri-La

Posted on May 23, 2011 by

In 1945, a group of 24 U.S. Army soldiers stationed in Dutch New Guinea took a pleasure flight over the mountains, hoping to catch a glimpse of the native villagers who lived there in isolation from the modern world. That … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | Tagged | 5 Comments

Alone

Posted on March 24, 2011 by

As you may know if you’ve been following this blog for long, I am something of a fanatic of the literature of polar exploration. I’ve recently branched out to other kinds of exploration, and have found that almost equally delightful, … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 6 Comments

The Scramble for Africa

Posted on February 17, 2011 by

In 1876, the great European powers – France, Britain, Germany, Italy — were almost completely uninterested in empire-building. Colonies cost money and labor they didn’t have, especially now that the slave trade had been abolished. Better to let African middlemen bring a trickle … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 14 Comments

Endurance

Posted on January 31, 2011 by

The last book I read about polar exploration (a happy, if strange, little hobby of mine) was Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s splendid memoir, The Worst Journey in the World. That book told in self-deprecating but riveting prose the story of R.F. Scott’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, History, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 21 Comments