Great Journeys

Fülszöveg

The Burma Road...The Pan American Highway... The Old Silk Road.. .Names of legendary travel routes that resonate in the heart and mind, rekindling ancient yearnings for adventure, conquest, and spiritual insight. Seven twentieth-century travelers-all distinguished writers-respond to that challenging call and retrace the footsteps of earlier explorers, traders, pilgrims, and warriors who, over the millennia, have indelibly etched these historic highways onto the surface of the earth. The basis of the acclaimed public television series, these riveting travel narratives convey uncommon moments of power, beauty, and grace that transcend the reality of life in today's increasingly predictable world. • Colin Thubron travels the Old Silk Road beyond the Great Wall of China as it winds through the remote mountains, plains, and deserts of Xinjiang to the crossroads city Kashgar, uneasy oasis at the edge of Pakistan and Samarkand. • Naomi James voyages across the South Seas in search of the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The Burma Road...The Pan American Highway... The Old Silk Road.. .Names of legendary travel routes that resonate in the heart and mind, rekindling ancient yearnings for adventure, conquest, and spiritual insight. Seven twentieth-century travelers-all distinguished writers-respond to that challenging call and retrace the footsteps of earlier explorers, traders, pilgrims, and warriors who, over the millennia, have indelibly etched these historic highways onto the surface of the earth. The basis of the acclaimed public television series, these riveting travel narratives convey uncommon moments of power, beauty, and grace that transcend the reality of life in today's increasingly predictable world. • Colin Thubron travels the Old Silk Road beyond the Great Wall of China as it winds through the remote mountains, plains, and deserts of Xinjiang to the crossroads city Kashgar, uneasy oasis at the edge of Pakistan and Samarkand. • Naomi James voyages across the South Seas in search of the islands of paradise that lured Captain James Cook and Paul Gauguin, traveling by water and by air to Tonga, Papeete, and finally, Easter Island with its awesome primordial and enigmatic statues. • Hugo Williams journeys along the Pan American Highway, every mile-through untouched mountains and urban sprawl-from Mexico through Central America until the highway gives out south of Panama City. • Miles Kington sets out to find the Burma Road-once trekked by Marco Polo and later a lifeline for the Allies in the Second World War-by steaming up the mighty Irrawaddy River, past Mandalay, and then circling back on the road's final section through the terraced countryside of southwestern China. • Norman Stone explores Russia's Road West, taking the Vikings' route from the icy shores of the Baltic to the subtropical beaches of the Black Sea. Seeking the puzzling present of perestroika and the uncertain future of communism, he journeys from Leningrad to Kiev and then on to \alta. • William Shawcross starts out from the medieval Moroccan city Fez and follows the old Salt Road across the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara until he links up with a camel caravan of Tuareg nomads, masters of the desert and the ancient salt trade. • Finally, Philip Jones Griffiths returns to Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail, wending his way from north to south along its battle-scarred, 500-mile length through jungle, mountains, and valleys. These unforgettable accounts are accompanied by the magnificent color photographs of Tom Owen Edmunds that dramatically capture these vivid landscapes and cultures. Here is a chance to share the excitement and romance of these journeys of escape and discovery along the world's historic byways. Vissza