In 1872, Isabella Bird, daughter of a clergyman, set off alone to the Antipodes and found she had embarked on a life of adventurous travel. In 1873, wearing Hawaiian riding dress, she rode her horse through the American Wild West, a terrain only newly opened to pioneer settlement. The letters that make up this volume were first published in 1879. They tell of magnificent, unspoiled landscapes and abundant wildlife, of encounters with rattlesnakes,...

A colorful and provocative exploration of the modern Pacific Ocean--what it has been, and the grip it holds on our future. Simon Winchester tackles this "oceanic behemoth of eye-watering complexity" by focusing on key moments since 1950 that speak to the greater trends and larger truths about the ocean's significance to us today. He leads us from the Bering Strait to Cape Horn, the Yangtze River to the Panama Canal, and to the many small islands in...

Juliana Buhring had been mired in depression after the death of a man she loved, and when an acquaintance suggested they honor his memory by biking across Canada, she thought, "Canada? Why not the world?" And why not alone? She had never seriously ridden a bicycle before. She had no athletic experience or corporate sponsorship, but with just eight months of preparation, Juliana departed from Naples, Italy, aiming to become the first woman to circumnavigate...

Insight Guides Central America covers the seven countries that make up this fascinating and culturally rich isthmus, from Guatemala to Panama, exploring Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica along the way. In addition, the guidebook covers the southern Mexico states, in recognition of their cultural links to and practical inclusion on many trips to this region.

"A brilliant portrait of two American giants, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, and America entering the automobile age, told through the fascinating but little-known narrative of the summer road trips taken by Edison and Ford"--