The Appalachian Trail is established and well-known, perhaps making its greatest foray into general consciousness a quarter century ago with Bill Bryson’s 1997 tome *A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail*. I have lived in the shadow - or the dust, as it were - of the trail for about 30 years with sections running close to several places I’ve lived in Virginia.
Read MoreBenedict Arnold: It is a name that is immediately recognizable to most in the U.S. If you were to poll people about what they know about him, most would probably immediately describe him as a traitor and would hopefully also realize that the historic moment he was affiliated with was the American Revolution. Beyond that scratch on the surface of history, probably most people would come up blank with anything else to share about Benedict Arnold.
Read MoreI listened to the audiobook version of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Widsom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, read by the author herself, in what has to be one of the most soothing voices I have ever heard. Combining her voice with the content of the book itself, I found Braiding Sweetgrass to have a meditative quality, relaxing me the same in a way similar to when I listen to audio-guided meditation sessions.
Read MoreWith a title like Looking for the Hidden Folk: How Iceland's Elves Can Save the Earth, I was both intrigued and wary of a tome on the supernatural. Having read a prior well-researched book by the academic author, though, I cracked open the first page ready to go wherever Brown decided to tred.
Read MoreVermont, in the winter, is cold and depressing.
Especially for a man from Mississippi who moved there to follow his ex-wife for the sake of staying close to his son.
Read MoreAs we found during our own travels to Malta, the country is at a fascinating geographic crossroads, with its unique culture and history, influenced by Italy and broader Europe to its north and Africa to the south. And all the while, surrounded by the sunny, blue Mediterranean. This memoir is the story of a Welsh expat who spent three years living among the Maltese and paints colorful depictions of the country as it was in the early to mid 1960s, a jump in history to an interesting time and place. In the early 60s, Malta was less than two decades past its role as a strategic stronghold for the Allies during World War II, a designation that led to significant deprivations and bombing of the small island nation.
Read MoreMuch has been made about the urban and rural divide in America, a topic that reached new urgency as pundits, pollsters, and social scientists sought to make sense of the 2016 presidential election. Overnight, books such as J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy became best-sellers. A national narrative was told by reporters from Big City, USA, popping in to visit rural Kentucky and other rural spots, to identify their “otherness”.
Read MoreIn the 1800s, a Viking burial site was unearthed in Birka, Sweden. The burial included a Viking ship, weaponry, game pieces, horses and riding accessories, and other tools. The grave was documented as that of a Viking warrior, as evidenced by the contents of the burial. As Brown shares in her book, most “sexing” (that is, determination of whether a skeleton is male or female) throughout the history of archaeology has been sexing by metal. That is to say, where weapons are found, it is deemed to be a male, where jewelry is found, female. There are a number of reasons why the field of archaeology has used this approach even as DNA testing has emerged, and Brown provides an interesting overview of this process.
Read MoreThe auto-biography moves chronologically from Washington's earliest memories and experiences on the Burroughs farm as an enslaved child and his family's relocation to West Virginia upon receipt of their freedom. Washington's first-person account of life for an enslaved and, then, formerly enslaved child seeking to gain an education while working long, hard, scary hours in the coal mine is itself a fascinating window into the past.
Read MoreBookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance is a story about the preservation and attainment of knowledge, seeking modern meaning through ancient philosophy, and the craft of book-making, all told through the story of Florence's Vespasiano da Bisticci (1421-1498).
Read MoreIn some ways, the AT is a blank slate; it is of nowhere and somewhere very particular all at the same time. During most segments of the hike, would a hiker know that he or she is in the wilds of Pennsylvania or could it just as easily be Massachusetts? In either case, the AT is definitely the realization of the balance that has long challenged the residents of the United States: How to enjoy the splendor of the vast land while also living in the more cultivated environment, if in fact such a balance is even possible or beneficial.
Read MoreDear Paris swept me off of my home-bound feet (in this, the era of COVID). It delivered me - no postage required - to my first and only trip to Paris, circa April 2019. I fell in love all over again - with Paris, with the intrinsic beauty of a hand-written letter, and with MacLeod's artful rendering of her experiences, which feel both universal and authentically personal.
Read MoreDreams of El Dorado steps up to the plate to tackle an immense topic: The Westward Expansion of America. The American west is full of legends, of larger-than-life personalities, of excitement and drama, and underscoring it all is the hope that anyone headed westward can make it big, can find his or her own El Dorado.
Read MoreFinding books about Bermuda to read before we went was more difficult than expected! After Google searches that didn’t provide any lists or suggestions, we even contacted the tourism board in Bermuda to inquire (no response received). The first book below was suggested to us by a reader on Twitter, and was one of the best pre-reads we could have come across!
Read MoreSPQR: A History of Ancient Rome is one of three books we picked up to provide an overview of Roman history in advance of our week-long trip to the city. As I write this, we should have just returned home from that trip; alas, we had to postpone it to an unknown future date as a result of the current pandemic.
Read MoreWhen we booked our week-long trip to Malta, we did so on a whim (cheap flight!) and knew nothing about the country beyond the results of an hour’s long Google search that sold us on booking the flights. In the months leading up to the trip, we read some books about Malta that not only got us excited about going to see many of the sites tied to the books but also helped us to enjoy the trip so much more, garnering a greater understanding of the country’s history as we toured. Since returning, we have read more books about the country and hope to make it back some day to visit the places we didn’t get to on the first trip.
Read MoreTraveling to Scotland or simply interested in learning more about the world beneath your feet? Check out our review of Set in Stone: The Geology and Landscapes of Scotland and other books by Alan McKirdy.
Read MoreScotland is a country with a long, sordid history. Perhaps its struggles match the dueling nature of its own environment: grandeur and beauty mixed with its hard-scrabble northern world. There were two non-fiction books I read before traveling to Scotland for our 10-day road trip that set the backdrop and provided context that made our trip more meaningful. Neither are quick reads, but both are truly worthwhile reads for those wanting to better understand this country that has long labored to define itself.
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