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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Edited by travel writer Mary Morris and her journalist husband Larry O'Connor this beautifully illustrated book is an anthology of well-chosen extracts from the works of three centuries of women travellers, including the likes of Mary Wollsencraft, Gertrude Bell, Mary McCarthy and Vita Sackville-West.
It is only relatively recently that women have really been able to travel--to see and articulate a view of the world through their own eyes--and as Morris writes in her introduction this sets their experiences apart from those of their male counterparts, "Women, I have come to feel, move through the world differently than men. The constraints and perils the perceptions and complex emotions women journey with are different from those of men". A number of women in the book have pushed and overcome the bounds of what was considered to be reasonable or socially acceptable at the time. For example, riding a motorbike named Mephistopheles, the remarkable Sarah Hobson set off "Through Persia in Disguise" (she dresses as a man and calls herself John) in order to gain access to a forbidden Iranian shrine. During her two years in a Palestinian village on the West Bank Helen Winternitz was forced to overcome her own fears after she was attacked by the people she thought had accepted her.
Every extract selected for this book is utterly compelling--it is impossible to read an opening sentence without being drawn in for the duration. The 46 women authors are strikingly different from one another in terms of motive and personality but what unites them here is the unarguable quality of their writing. --Sarah Crawford --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
A truly wonderful gift book for all armchair travellers ... 300 years of wanderlust are captured by women who travelled the world. (BOOKS )
Attractive and engrossing anthology of women's travel writing (INDEPENDENT )
A terrific anthology of women as warm in all corners of "abroad" (SCOTSMAN )
The 47 authors have been responsible for some of the very best in travel writing, the results of some extraordinary journeys. Many have become classics. (SUNDAY TIMES )
Attractive and engrossing anthology of women's travel writing (INDEPENDENT )
A terrific anthology of women as warm in all corners of "abroad" (SCOTSMAN )
The 47 authors have been responsible for some of the very best in travel writing, the results of some extraordinary journeys. Many have become classics. (SUNDAY TIMES )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
An excellent book with of beautiful and evocative photos. Extracts written by women with different tastes and reasons for travelling, from the genuine desire to know the cultures visited to those on spiritual journeys and quests. Writings by women of different nationalities with some extraordinary tales of river explorations, crocodiles, Wild West characters, ancient ruins and different men encountered. Extracts from long ago and today. Very compelling reading.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I love this book by Virago. I find it fascinating to have insight into women travellers throughout history, defying the status quo and gaining independence. I am interested to read about women who transcended the gender stereotypes of their time. Of course, I also love travelling myself and seek out the less-tread paths of our world, so it appeals to me in that sense too. This book is the perfect book if you are seeking to be inspired by adventurous women who challenged their place in society.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Like Mom Said, Never Judge a Book by it's Cover
25 July 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
For Readers who enjoy vintage pictures accompanying tales of and by women travelers, beware: Because of the cover shown for this book, I was expecting something like NO PLACE FOR A LADY: TALES FOR ADVENTUROUS WOMEN TRAVELERS BY BARBARA HODGSON which was full of fascinating vintage photos, paintings, sketches, etc., so I was very disappointed when I opened this book.
I have been reading lots of books by and about women travelers/adventurers recently and when I came across this book from a Seller at Amazon Marketplace I was so enthralled by the cover art--as well is the size of the book and its content--that I just had to have it. When it arrived, I quickly thumbed through it, and a short time later briefly skimmed it page by page, and was very disappointed by the content. The excerpts from the travel journals or subsequent books are what one would expect, certainly nothing special.
But the biggest disappointment is that it contains NO vintage pictures such as the one on the cover. The photos in the book were not anything I paused at; they were just photos of places familiar to anyone who has ever looked at a travel section in a newspaper. Nothing special, nothing at all worth even a second look, nothing pertaining to the excerpted writings of these special women travelers, nothing at all that lived up to the misguided promise I saw in the fabulous cover painting--which was admittedly my own fault.
I have been reading lots of books by and about women travelers/adventurers recently and when I came across this book from a Seller at Amazon Marketplace I was so enthralled by the cover art--as well is the size of the book and its content--that I just had to have it. When it arrived, I quickly thumbed through it, and a short time later briefly skimmed it page by page, and was very disappointed by the content. The excerpts from the travel journals or subsequent books are what one would expect, certainly nothing special.
But the biggest disappointment is that it contains NO vintage pictures such as the one on the cover. The photos in the book were not anything I paused at; they were just photos of places familiar to anyone who has ever looked at a travel section in a newspaper. Nothing special, nothing at all worth even a second look, nothing pertaining to the excerpted writings of these special women travelers, nothing at all that lived up to the misguided promise I saw in the fabulous cover painting--which was admittedly my own fault.
armchair time traveling
11 Oct 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A fascinating book about adventurous women from ages past who ignored convention and went off traveling all over the world. The book is divided up by woman, and has pages and photos on each of the women featured. Inspiring. It would make a great gift for anyone who loves traveling and the wonder of discovery.
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