Travel Writing & Commentary

A profound and moving journey into the heart of Christianity that explores the mysterious and often paradoxical lives and legacies of the Twelve Apostles—a book both for those of the faith and for others who seek to understand Christianity from the outside in....

Ten Years a Nomad is New York Times bestselling author Matt Kepnes’ poignant exploration of wanderlust and what it truly means to be a nomad. Part travel memoir and part philosophical look at why we travel, it is filled with aspirational stories of Kepnes' many adventures....

Knitting aficionado and notable artisan Clara Parkes delves into her storied travels with this inspiring and witty memoir of a creative life....

The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America - majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes....

A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe - and built her back up again....

The River of Doubt brings alive extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived....

When you’re a woman of a certain age, you are not promised anything at all other than that everything will get worse. But what if everything you’ve been told is a lie....

One of the most important and influential books of the past half-century, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance tells the iconic story of a father and son's motorcycle trip across America in the 1960s....

She got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world, all alone....

In her inimitably funny and feel-good way, social media star Kacie Rose offers a refreshingly honest take on navigating a new life abroad in You Deserve Good Gelato, covering everything from travel fails and homesickness to the joy of culture shocks and the power of doing the s*** that scares you.

In August 2008, Amanda Lindhout traveled to Mogadishu, Somalia - "the most dangerous place on Earth." On her fourth day in the country, she and her photojournalist companion were abducted....

A guide to some of the world’s most fascinating places, as seen and experienced by writer, television host, and relentlessly curious traveler Anthony Bourdain....

Despite what appeared to be a glamorous existence full of globetrotting adventures, behind the scenes, Anna felt invisible in her own life....

Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion up, down, and over the Appalachian Trail...

In less than a year, Neil Peart lost both his 19-year-old daughter, Selena, and his wife, Jackie.....

The ultimate guide to what the land, sun, moon, stars, trees, plants, animals, sky and clouds can reveal - when you know what to look for....

In this hilarious and often touching collection, the New York Times bestselling author, television writer, and producer takes us with him on travels across the globe.

For those who crave a spirit of adventure, who ache like Edie to know what our bodies and spirits are truly capable of, this book is a must-listen. A true testament to faith, courage, and the power of hope....

When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he was about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan's history....

For anyone uncertain about the direction of their life or unsure of how to move forward after a loss, Look for Me There is a poignant reflection that offers encouragement to examine our choices, take risks, and discover our truest selves....

An intimate, funny, and poignant travel memoir follows New York Times bestselling author and actor Andrew McCarthy as he walks the Camino de Santiago with his son Sam....

From the unique perspective of David Sedaris comes a new collection of essays taking his listeners on a bizarre and stimulating world tour....

"Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire, I happened upon a path....

David Foster Wallace brings to nonfiction the same curiosity, hilarity, and exhilarating verbal facility that has delighted readers of his fiction, including the best-selling Infinite Jest....

Kinky Friedman, the original Texas Jewboy, takes us on a rollicking, rock-and-rolling tour of his favorite city: Austin....

From the time she first felt called to its gates as a high school student fascinated by Dante and Italian thanks to a life-changing teacher, Rome has been a fixed star around which Alizah Holstein’s life has rotated—despite the fact that she bears no Italian heritage, and has never lived there long enough to call it home. In this kaleidoscopic yet intimate memoir, her shifting relationship to a vibrant city layered with human history becomes a lens on why we look to the past, on the mysteries of affinity and desire, and on what it means to grow up.

The year is 1989. The destination is North Cape, far inside the Arctic Circle. An era of travel without smartphones, GPS, Google Maps, and still not an ounce of common sense. Andy has swapped his battered old Suzuki for a spanking new Kawasaki GPZ1000RX. Let's ride together as we cross fjords, frozen tundra and high mountain passes to reach the most northern point of Europe.

Say goodbye to overpacking and wearing the same jeans and T-shirts on your trip. "Travel With Style" is here to transform the way you pack for your trips, taking you from "What do I pack?" to knowing exactly how to look and feel your best wherever you go. Anastasia, a former travel blogger and entrepreneur who lived in nine countries across four continents and travelled to over forty, transformed her expertise in looking like a local into a handy guidebook.

Francis Parkman was a noted 19th Century American historian who wrote widely about the American West.

My Family and Other Enemies is part travelogue, part memoir that dives into the hinterland of Croatia. Mary Novakovich explores her ongoing relationship with the region of Lika in central Croatia, where her parents were born..

Priyanka Mattoo was born into a wooden house in the Himalayas, as were most of her ancestors. In 1989, however, mounting violence in the region forced Mattoo’s community to flee. The home into which her family poured their dreams was reduced to a pile of rubble. Mattoo never moved back to Kashmir—because it no longer existed. She and her family just kept packing and unpacking and moving on. In forty years, Mattoo accumulated thirty-two different addresses, and she chronicles her nomadic existence with wit, wisdom, and an inimitable eye for light within the darkest moments.

In this captivating book from one of the most influential geochemists in the field, Tamsin Mather takes us along on her globe-spanning excursions from Nicaragua to Hawaii, Santorini to Ethiopia and beyond. With warmth and lyricism, she explores the cultural roles volcanoes play throughout history, and the growing and evolving science behind their formation and eruptions.

In Closer To Quiet, Jana embarks on a thrilling cycling journey down the length of Africa, from the arid landscapes of Egypt to the lush greenery of South Africa. This captivating narrative weaves together personal reflections with the vivid sights, sounds, and cultures of the diverse continent. Along the way, Jana encounters both the challenges and joys of the journey, from navigating difficult terrain to connecting with locals who share their stories and hospitality.

Come to Paris, August 2021, when the City of Lights was still empty of tourists and a thirst for long-overdue pleasure gripped those who wandered its streets. After New York City emptied out in March 2020, Glynnis MacNicol, aged forty-six, unmarried with no children, spent sixteen months alone in her tiny Manhattan apartment. The isolation was punishing. A year without touch. Women are warned of invisibility as they age, but this was an extreme loneliness no one can prepare you for. When the opportunity to sublet a friend’s apartment in Paris arose, MacNicol jumped on it.

Over thousands of years, the Mississippi watershed was home to millions of Indigenous people who regarded "the great river" with awe and respect, adorning its banks with astonishing spiritual earthworks. But European settlers and American pioneers had a different vision: the river was a foe to conquer. In this landmark work of natural history, Boyce Upholt tells the epic story of human attempts to own and contain the Mississippi River, from Thomas Jefferson's expansionist land hunger through today's era of environmental concern

Is it time to finally visit Helsinki? This appreciation piece focuses on the cultural communication disclosed in the 21st-century architecture of Helsinki, Finland. As urban landscapes continue to redefine their image, postmodern architecture has signaled a shift back to Finnish ideals. A strong bond to nature is evident, with an emphasis on the cultural traits, values, and communication practices that the citizens of Helsinki hold dear. These messages implanted within the recently constructed masterpieces of the city are explored as they uncover meaning relevant to our evolving world.

The classic travelogue of one of America's most famous authors, Following the Equator was written when Twain had fallen on hard times. At the time, Twain found himself compelled to take a tour of the British Empire in 1895 and write about it. This account of that trip, published in 1897, is a classic example of Twain's ever-vigilant observational wit. He addresses ever timely topics such as racism, imperialism, and religion.

In 2016, while working as a journalist in Yangon, Clare Hammond discovered an obscure map that showed a web of new railways spanning the length and breadth of the country - railways not shown on any other publicly available maps. She was determined to uncover the railways' origins, purpose, and most of all, the silence that surrounded them. She would spend three months travelling on these mysterious railways, and the next five years piecing their story together.

Shortly after his death in 1957, The New York Times obituary of Peter Freuchen noted that except for Richard E. Byrd, and despite his foreign beginnings, Freuchen was perhaps better known to more people in the United States than any other explorer of our time. During his lifetime Freuchen's remarkable adventures, related in his books, magazine articles, and films, made him a legend. In 1910, Freuchen and his friend and business partner, Knud Rasmussen, the renowned polar explorer, founded Thule—a Greenland Inuit trading post and village only 800 miles from the North Pole.

Her entire life, Anne Friedman chased everything that society told her she should want: Marriage. Professional achievement. Thighs that didn’t touch. But all that got her was depression, anxiety, and disordered eating. When her fiancé dumps her without explanation, she buys a one-way ticket to Costa Rica in search of answers.