2 comments about The Road to Botany Bay: An Exploration of Landscape and History.

1. This masterful work by Paul Carter revisits the historical assumptions about the founding of Australia. Carter rejects previous assertions (assumptions) that lay behind a form of Australian history such as the primacy of empirical "facts" and the self-evident rhetoric of cause and effects. Instead, Carter attempts to explain the imagination of a place as somewhere one could be and he illustrates the imperial qualities of this imagination (especially as it pertains to langauge and naming). Early narratives of exploration (such as Capt. James Cook) are used to explain Australian history as a project of European meaning-making and this moves away from imperial history which assert capital-T universal Truth and toward a spatial understanding of Australia as a particular space that Westerners moved through in a particularly Western way.
   
   This book is out of print, but should be near the top of any person's list of must-reads for spatial theory. It is erudite, combining historical analysis with philosophical frameworks, but it is also extremely readable and even poetic in its language. This is only natural as Carter is also a poet. Grab a copy of this book before they all disappear and while it remains a great bargain used.



2. This book was hard to find or buy in book stores in australia. I found the seller reliable and provided the book in perfect condition and the delivery was quick.

1 comments about Forbidden Sands.

1. In 1974 Richard Trench decided to undertake a journalistic investigation of the salt mines in Taoudenni, Mali, which were thought to be the site of slave labor done by prisoners. Salt mining in this part of Africa is an important part of history and lore; salt has been carried to market by camel caravan for centuries, and it was at times so rare that it was reportedly worth its weight in gold. Trench's journey required a carefully planned overland trip on camelback. Trench lived and traveled with nomads through the Sahara to Taoudenni then on to Timbuktu. His account of the journey -- his relationship with his guides, the difficulties of desert travel, encounters with government officials -- is very good reading. "Forbidden Sands" also contains the fruits of his research into the historical record of the region. (Ibn Battuta and Rene Caillie, for example.) A great book for armchair travelers or readers interested in the Eastern Sahara and Mali.

No comments about Portrait Chicago: The picture perfect travel companion.

1 comments about Seductive Journey: American Tourists in France from Jefferson to the Jazz Age.

1. I had trouble finding books to enhance my first real trip to Paris - Henry Miller just didn't do it- so I bought this book to help me to put together the pieces of my week there. Although there wasn't quite enough name dropping about places we Americans had been, I enjoyed it. Seductive Journey (not a very good title - seemed like something the publisher came up with to sell it) is a very well researched book about what Americans had enough money to travel to Paris in what era, how they got there, and what they did when they got there (rich men in Jefferson's time raising consciousness on fine art, wives of industrial magnates there for their first experience in shopping off the rack and dining out; then, as touring becomes cheaper, middle class women off to the Louvre etc etc). This largely is carried off through quoting diaries of travelers, which must have been de rigeur a century ago. There is a lot of literature review of classic travel logs - good references to Henry James and Mark Twain. Also included is a healthy dose of the French love-hate relationship with their tourists. Although not particularly informative as to places to go and things to see it turned out to be an unexpectedly enjoyable sociologic survey of a particular class - traveling Americans.

No comments about David's Adventures At The Chicago World's Fair.

3 comments about Chicago: Metropolis of the Mid-Continent, 4th Edition.

1. This bustling, brawling metropolis of the American MidWest! Cutler gives a lively discussion of its history and its present. Showing how it grew from a tiny settlement fort, surrounded by hostile natives, to a modern colossus. During which, many peoples settled. From all regions of Europe, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ghettos arose of Jews. And indeed of other ethnic groups. Often with overcrowding and dismal sanitation common to many neighbourhoods. The text gives good coverage to many of these groups. Including Poles, Lithuanians and Czechs. More recently, there have been enclaves from Mexico, India and China. We see civil rights struggles. Notably for Negros. But also for Mexicans.
   
   There is also a description of the city's economy. It is the rail nexus of the MidWest. Through which passes a lot of agricultural products exported overseas. So too for machinery.
   
   Cutler does not neglect culture. From its famous writers like Mencken and Bellow to its artists and musicians. Perhaps the only thing downplayed in this book is the harshness of the winter by the lake. For newcomers, this can be the biggest adjustment to make.



2. Irving Cutler is clearly in love with Chicago, which he calls the "metropolis of the Mid-Continent". It is not a starry-eyed love that blinds him to the faults of the city, but rather a mature love that sees the object of his affections clearly.
   
   Cutler describes the history of the city, its constantly morphing neighborhoods as they change from rich to poor and back again, populated by every imaginable ethnic group. He describes the geography which, even as a practically lifelong resident, I find I was not fully familiar with. No aspect of the city is left untouched. Education, culture, the business history (which is fascinating), the future.
   
   The book is profusely illustrated with photographs and charts.
   
   Books like this are often boring. This one isn't. The vibrancy of Chicago, past and present, is well captured by Irving Cutler who is clearly very much in love the city. Well worth reading even by the person who has never been to Chicago and has no intention of visiting - and very well worth the attention of every resident of Chicago. A remarkable book.
   
   Jerry



3. After using this book for almost 25 years at the high school level, I believe that the new edition is even more complete than earlier editions have been. This should be the first book anyone reads about Chicago. It has covered most topics about the city that one could think of at any time. The only topic that it neglects, is politics, which would take up volumes. From the geography of the city, to the economics and the city's future it is all encompassing. The book has always been very readable and continues to do so. For anyone interested in Urban geography, it is the best place to start. The chapters on Neighborhoods are a joy unto themselves. Many friends have told me how much they learned from them, as well as bringing back memories. Dr.Cutler has done an outstanding job in expanding and improving this edition. It should be on top of any reading list about Chicago.

1 comments about Cheap Chow Chicago: Third edition.

1. My daughter gave me this book a couple of years ago when we visited her in Chicago. I love to try different foods, especially when visiting Chicago, and this book proved a valuable tool. While it is not all-inclusive, there were many good recomendations. Overall I'd recommend this book to anyone visiting Chicago, and to Chicagoans who want soemthing diferent as well.

1 comments about Hands on Chicago, Rev. Ed..

1. Anyone who is interested in Chicago and already knows a bit about it should enjoy this book, which, by the way, appears in an original (1987) and revised (1993) edition; this is not immediately clear from the Amazon record.
   
   Kenan Heise is one of the many historians, between popular and scholarly, who have made their own mark on the Chicago bibliography. For a while he worked for the Chicago Tribune, long after that newspaper was nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Republican Party, and, until a few years ago, ran a bricks-and-mortar Chicago Historical Bookstore (in Evanston).
   
   I say that it's a bit eclectic; how could it be otherwise, a book about Chicago in such a small compass. Even the recent Encyclopedia of Chicago (U of Chi; 2004) leaves things out. Anyone who is acquainted with the city will miss one thing or another (I missed an explanation of the anomalous street numbers between 0 South, Roosevelt Road, Cermak, and 31st Street), but a handy size is in itself a merit, as entertaining reading material.
   
   I can imagine sitting down and reading this book from cover to cover. I think that Heise and his colleague Mark Frazel managed to pick out the things that really, anyone who cares about the city should know. It's not a comprehensive work, as I say, nor is it a tour guide. What tour guide would talk about Panhandlers in the Loop as if they had as much right to be there as the Bums Upstairs? Well, maybe the kind of tour guide that Studs Terkel would use. Terkel wrote the Forward. And there's a back cover blurb from the late Mike Royko. How can you go wrong?

No comments about AMERICAN MAP CHICAGO IL 12 COUNTY METRO.

No comments about Chicago on Foot: Walking Tours of Chicago's Architecture.