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  The History of Rome in 12...

  Phillip Barlag

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  Any travel guide to Rome will urge visitors to go the Colosseum, but none answers a simple question: Why is it called the Colosseum?The History of Rome in 12 Buildings: A Travel Companion to the Hidden Secrets of The Eternal City is compelling, concise, and fun, and takes you behind the iconic buildings to reveal the hidden stories of the people that forged the Roman Empire.Typical travel guides provide torrents of information but deny their readers depth and perspective. In this gap is the really good stuff--the stories that make the buildings come alive and vividly enhance any trip to Rome.The History of Rome in 12 Buildings will immerse you in the world of the Romans, one full of drama, intrigue, and scandal. With its help, you will be able to trace the rise and fall of the ancient world's greatest superpower:Find the last resting spot of Julius Caesar.Join Augustus as he offers sacrifices to the gods.Discover the lie on the façade of the Pantheon.Walk in the footsteps of Jesus.And so much more.

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  Hawai'i One Summer

  Maxine Hong Kingston

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  Essays on the island and its history and traditions from the National Book Award–winning author of The Woman Warrior.   In these eleven thought-provoking pieces, acclaimed writer and feminist Maxine Hong Kingston tells stories of Hawai’i filled with both personal experience and wider perspective.   From a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and numerous other honors, the essays in this collection provide readers with a generous sampling of Kingston’s exquisite angle of vision, her balanced and clear-sighted prose, and her stunning insight that awakens one to a wealth of knowledge.

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  Lonely Planet: La France...

  Katherine Norbury

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  Deep in rural Burgundy, a journey by canal boat reveals a landscape of medieval churches and vineyards, where traditional French life still flows at a gentler pace.

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  19 Year Old World Traveler -...

  HowExpert, Briana Grenert

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  What began as a wild idea turned into the adventure of a lifetime - this is the story of how I traveled around world at age 19, and who I met on the journey. Cult members and college students, chain smokers and cameramen, this story recounts a slew of traveling adventures and misadventures. It’s about holding your cool while detained in airports, extreme and convoluted economizing, and getting lost at all hours of the night. It includes everything from hitchhiking at five a.m. to trying on a $1,140 dress on a dare. 
  Gratitude and wonder are the hallmarks of my voyage, both for the opportunity to see and experience iconic sites (Louvre, Great Wall of China, Leaning Tower of Pisa) but also for the chance to meet so many wonderful people (and some strange ones, too). It’s being overwhelmed in the Vatican and petting kangaroos on Mount Fuji, but it’s also making friends on airplanes and being so engrossed in conversation that you don’t notice an entire night slip away. This 225-day adventure was the fruit of months of planning, years of working, and a lifetime of dreaming - and no amount of preparation could have helped me anticipate all the outlandish and lovely experiences that awaited me along the way.A trip around the world in 225 days described in about 25,000 words.This story spans three continents, beginning/ending in Philadelphia, PA, and going through Hawaii, Japan, China, Vietnam, England, Wales, France, Italy, the Vatican, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Hungary. It includes places that were familiar to me (Hawaii, Japan) and places that were brand new and overwhelming (e.g., the Vatican).Everywhere I went, I managed to be both awed and a little homesick - not just for my home but for the places and people I had already left behind. 
  HowExpert publishes quick 'how to' guides on all topics from A to Z by everyday experts.

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  The Journey of Alvar Núñez...

  Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

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  Few stories of shipwreck and survival can equal that of the 16th century Spaniard Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca who, cast ashore near present day (USA) Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1528, survived eight years of hand-to-mouth existence among the Indians of the South and Southwest, and who walked on foot across the plains to the Pacific Coast, arriving in Mexico in 1536. In 1542 he published an account of his adventures, and the present reading is based on Fanny Bandelier’s English translation of that text.Cabeza de Vaca, along with three other survivors, two Spaniards and a North African (Estévanico, a black slave) endured incredible hardships. Cabeza da Vaca was, himself, at first enslaved by the Indians, forced to dig roots with his bare hands for food. However, he soon showed powers of adaptation that allowed him to survive. He became a trader, bartering “seashells and cockles” from the coast for hides, red ochre, flint, and deer hair tassels from the inland tribes. “Trade suited me well,” he writes, “because it gave me liberty to go where I pleased.” The Indians “rejoiced greatly when seeing me and I would bring them what they needed, and those who did not know me would desire and endeavor to meet me for sake of my fame.” Cabeza de Vaca’s “fame” soon grew to include a reputation as a healer. In return for his “cures,” the Indians gave him “all that they had,” which included food, often in perilously short supply.The success of the survivors’ final overland treck in search of Spanish settlement reflected their comprehension of Indian customs and values. They were passed along from one tribe to another, accompanied by an ontourage of friendly natives. At each stop, Cabeza de Vaca saw to it that the food and presents he received were distributed to his followers by their chiefs, thus ensuring their loyalty.After eight years among the Indians, Cabeza de Vaca had a hard time adjusting to “civilization.” He writes that the Spanish governor in Mexico “received us very well, giving us what he had, for us to dress in; but for many days I could bear no clothing, nor could we sleep except on the bare floor.” His first person narrative is an exciting tale of survival “against the odds.”(Introduction by Sue Anderson)

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  Haunted Monticello Florida

  Betty Davis, Big Bend Ghost...

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  Discover the paranormal past of this panhandle town . . . Photos included!   Monticello might sometimes seem like a quiet Florida panhandle town, but its history tells of a ghostly past stretching back to the early nineteenth century. Discover the stories behind the old blacksmith’s forge on Jefferson Street—where the chilling sounds of metal striking metal still ring out across the town—and the Hanging Tree, forever haunted by the ghosts of executed outlaws and lost Confederate soldiers.   The Monticello Historical district contains over forty buildings dating back to the nineteenth century, and it is said that one out of every three buildings are haunted. Join local haunted tour guide Betty Davis and Big Bend Ghost Trackers as they reveal the amazing history of Monticello’s spookiest spots.  

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