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Europe
Here are some of our favorite guides and literature on Europe that we have previously featured on our home page.

Secrets of Rome: Love & Death in the Eternal City Corrado Augias ( Rizzoli Ex Libris, hardback, $26.95) In a city as old as Rome (1700 years older than Paris, according to author Augias), history is first experienced through its buildings and art. But the layers of history are opaque to the outsider. Why is Michelangelo's Moses sitting in San Pietro in Vincoli instead of on the tomb of Pope Julius II? What does the little chapel on Via della Caffarella have to do with England's King Henry VIII's attempted assassination of an English Cardinal? Which apartment house on via Tasso was a notorious Nazi prison? Sure, your guidebook, if it's any good, will fill in some of the stories. Corrado Augias' The Secrets of Rome is a rare sort of travel book: You want to hold its hand and walk alongside you around the city. (As opposed to a mediocre guidebook that simply wants to take you by the hand.) Augias' effortlessly combines art, literature and historical gossip into an easygoing exploration of Rome. The sites become touchstones for Augias to write at length about the history and context of the different eras. The chapter about the Italian Resistance and the Nazi reprisals, for example, is an eye-opener for someone whose familiarity about the era comes from Rosselini's Open City. The beautifully bound, hardback edition just adds to the pleasure of Augias' book. - ADD TO CART	One Thousand Buildings of London Davies,Gill/Reynolds,John ( Black Dog & Leventhal, hardback, $39.95) We wish there were a small pocket version of this book to accompany this coffee-table book. That way, one could sit for hours with the big book and read about significant buildings, as well as wander the streets of London with the pocket version seeking out the actual sites. At any rate, you have to love a book that gives equal representation to modern as well as historic architecture in London. 18th and 19th century inns and pubs are given as much attention as government buildings and churches. There are a number of lovely surprises, as well: the many buildings influenced by Le Corbusier (#96, #135, #678, #650 #638, etc.), Horselydown Square (#931), the Daily Express Building (#460) and Avenue Road Public Library and Swimming Pool (#686), for example. Like the other titles in this series, One Thousand Buildings of New York and One Thousand Buildings of Paris, each building is listed with a concise paragraph and accompanying photograph. - ADD TO CART
Italy for the Gourmet Traveler Fred Plotkin ( Kyle Books, $24.95) Fred Plotkin’s updated Italy for the Gourmet Traveler is long overdue. I don’t know how he does it, but Plotkin manages to find consistently good food in every region of Italy. On my last trip to Italy, his book was responsible for some of the best pastries, coffees and meals I have ever had. His chapters start off by listing the various specialties of the region before recommending the cafés and restaurants to find them in. Town by town he lists walks that take in amazing bakeries, cafés, confectioners, farmers’ markets and restaurants. This is the sort of book that will have you taking detours to try something that sounds too good to pass up. - ADD TO CART	Londonstani Gautam Malkani ( Penguin Books, $14.00) It's a strange feeling reading fiction based in neighborhoods that you yourself have walked through, that mentions the particular school you attended and that is littered with the distinctive slang of the teenage boys that walk those same streets. Londonstani is a coming of age novel set in the Asian community near where I grew up in west London. Malkani follows the misadventures of four rudeboys or "desis" (their own slang equivalent of the American 'homeboy') as they go from small time campus loitering to big time gangster run-ins. It bears comparison to Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting and Salinger's Catcher in the Rye in that the author manages to capture the sound of a particular generational alienation in the youthful dialect in which it is actually spoken. The plot twists are a little far fetched, but Malkani ably captures the conflict between finding one's own way and respecting your elders that is particular to the immigrant subculture he so evocatively depicts.-Layla Gibbon - ADD TO CART
Homage to Catalonia George Orwell ( Harvest Books, $14.00) Written during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, Orwell manages to capture the real-world feelings of a war on the ground- dirty, hungry, and sleep-deprived. In his early career as a journalist, Orwell was adept at detailed descriptions that can move you with the horrors of war and astonish you with the inanities of political processes, ammunition failures, and the gritty realities of trench warfare. While our modern warfare sounds so different with guided missiles and smart bombs, the experiences of soldiers on the front lines must be similar which makes this book extremely relevant even today. - ADD TO CART	The Oxford Companion to Italian Food Gillian Riley ( Oxford University Press, $35.00) Much like the Larousse Gastronomique for food from France, The Oxford Companion is an encyclopedia on Italian food. Organized alphabetically, it includes all things food related in Italy: ingredients, food writers and regions of the country. While “peanut” gets barely a 40 word description, 1000s of words define “Parmesan” cheese. Naturally, broccoli, offal, pig’s fat and the Veneto are covered. You don’t necessarily want to carry around a book this large. But, on a cold winter’s night, sit by an open stove, flip the pages of this book and sigh. - ADD TO CART
Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance Ian Buruma ( Penguin Books, paperback, $15.00) Mohammed Bouyeri shot, stabbed and slit the throat of writer and filmmaker, Theo Van Gogh on a street in Amsterdam one day. Bouyeri believed that Van Gogh, a provocateur with a strong distain for religiosity of any kind, had insulted Islam and its prophet. Author Ian Buruma explores this distinctive Dutch immigrant Islamic fundamentalism in a country known for its open-mindedness and defense of Enlightenment values. Buruma makes clear that the situation in Holland and in Europe is more complex than secularism vs. fundamentalism. Dutch emancipation from strict Calvinism occurred only in the 1960s, just as immigration to Holland from Turkey and Morocco was taking off. Buruma finds a second generation of Moroccan-Dutch squeezed between tradition and secularism, and a movement of intellectuals like Theo Van Gogh, and Pim Fortuyn before him, who break with Dutch notions of acceptance of cultural diversity. The many voices and points of view that Buruma engages have resonance throughout Europe and the US. The politics of immigration and assimilation are international issues that also have particularly local characteristics. - ADD TO CART	The Ice Museum Joanna Kavenna ( Penguin Books, $15.00) Thule (pronounced TOOLAY) is a wild mythical place supposedly discovered by the Greek explorer Pytheas, which lies just beyond civilization somewhere in the wilds north of Scotland. The Ice Museum is an investigation into the national identity, myth and landscape of Northern Europe that has grown from the idea and myth of Thule. Kavenna eloquently describes the vast, empty Northern wildernesses, which few humans call home, introducing various explorers, historians and scientists gripped by the mysteries of this mythic North. Throughout her travels she attempts to piece together the exact location of the place, but ultimately The Ice Museum becomes more enthralling for its historical weaving of people’s obsession with the idea of Thule. - ADD TO CART
The City of Falling Angels John Berendt ( Penguin Press, paperback, $15.00) In The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt weaves the story of the burning of the Fenice Opera House in Venice while ferreting out the political and social rivalries of the powerful elites in that insular city. Berendt himself becomes a character in the drama. Over a period of seven years, Berendt follows the threads of small tales that, taken together, form the complex fabric that makes up a city. The sites Berendt visits are the palazzo and artists’ studios of the characters in these tales. He tells the story of Ezra Pound’s lover, Olga Rudge, stricken with Alzheimer’s disease, deeding Pound’s cottage in Venice and all his papers to a “foundation” for $7000.00. Through interviews with Pound and Rudge’s daughter, Mary, he understands the troubled relationship between Olga and Mary and Olga’s dependence on a “good Samaritan” who has her eyes on the prize. It is so Henry James. Berendt has written a page turner, full of gossip, jealousies and back-stabbing. It is an operatic story with the destroyed Opera House’s demise and rebirth as the central tale. - ADD TO CART	Soviet Posters: The Sergo Grigorian Collection Maria Lafont ( Prestel Verlag, $25.00) In the last decade the Soviet propaganda poster has received much attention from both researchers and collectors. Besides reflecting the ever-evolving ideas of the Soviet Union, these posters also reflect an impressive visual language that is uniquely Soviet. When I have thought of propaganda posters in the past, I admit that I thought mostly of the brainwashing variety. With a few exceptions in this beautiful collection, these posters are anything but. The images span from the post-Revolution ideas after 1917 through the Cold War era, and ends with a handful since the 1980s. For some artists these posters were the only way to make a living in times of instability, and those who did contribute to the propaganda poster pushed themselves in talent and creativity, often yielding visually-stunning results. The most humorous images are probably the political cartoon-like anti-Hitler propaganda of the 1940s, but other ï¿½funï¿½ images include topics like anti-alcoholism campaigns, the need for books and education, cartoon examples of the warmongering capitalist, health and hygiene tips, and common courtesy reminders. There does seem to be a lack of description with individual posters, yet on their own, many of these 200 or so full-page color images are as stunning as they are framable. - ADD TO CART
The Basque History of the World Mark Kurlansky ( Penguin, paperback, $15.00) The Basque History of the World is a well-written, impassioned look at the enigmatic “first people” of Europe. Author Mark Kurlansky has a very informative and engaging style that is particularly helpful in setting a background for the Basques’ striving for a nation-state. It is, however, a rather devoted portrayal of the Basques as protagonists in all of their endeavors. This is certainly a plus if the reader is sympathetic to the Basque perspective. In any case, it is a great read guaranteed to satisfy one’s curiosity about the Basques, their cultural heroes and their many contributions to European history. - ADD TO CART	A Time of Gifts Patrick Leigh Fermour ( New York Review Books, $16.95) After being unceremoniously removed from a renowned and ancient English boarding school for unseemly behavior, Patrick Leigh Fermour decides to temporarily escape his inevitable future at a military academy by walking alone from Holland to Constantinople. Set between the two World Wars, this is an enchanting look at a long extinct Europe. This was a time when well educated teenage boys could quote epic poems in the original Latin and refer to the actions of 13th century Kings as well as see the tracings of 15th century landscape painters in the hills, fortress and skies of 1930’s Europe. He writes eloquently about European identity, about the violent ebb and flow of borders and the sweep of different conquering populations across the centuries. Which is especially pertinent when you consider that his 1934 journey mirrors the rise of the Nazis, with glimpses of jackbooted Hitler youth in military formation and foul breathed SS troops in beerhalls already casting a grim view onto the near future. In her introduction Jan Morris refers to Leigh Fermour as the finest living travel writer and I wouldn’t hesitate to agree. - ADD TO CART
Vroom with a View: In Search of Italy’s Dolce Vita on a ’61 Vespa Peter Moore ( Centro Books, $14.95) The Vespa in the 1950s was the equivalent of Italy’s Model T Ford. By offering financing Vespa became the nuclear family’s means of transportation in the post-war years. Peter Moore’s 1961 125 cc Vespa is the object of admiration, nostalgia and, of course adventure, as he rides it through Italy. Restricted to secondary roads due to the Vespa’s speed, Moore discovers a country that most never see. He stays in farm houses, befriends Vespa restorers and gets into friendly conversations with almost everyone he meets. When his girlfriend comes to join him, he feels like he is the star of Roman Holiday, despite his spark plug and points problems. Moore’s trip would have been painless in a reliable Japanese scooter, but not nearly as interesting. - ADD TO CART	My Dam Life: Three Years in Holland Sean Condon ( Lonely Planet, paperback, $13.99) Amsterdam is not New York; but then again, it's not Melbourne. When a job transfer leads Sean and Sally into the land of everything Dutch, they put aside their dream of living in the Big Apple and leave behind their lives Down Under. However, soon after their arrival, the magazine Sally works for folds. And so Condon begins his humorous account of his and his wife's scramble to stay in the city as legal residents. This involves moving several times, avoiding the housing authority, entering the US Green Card lottery, several fleeting jobs for both Sean and Sally, a meeting with Francis Ford Coppola and rambling commentary on everything Dutch: the color orange, clogs, the double vowelled language, dikes, beer and bicycles. Included at no extra cost is Condon's very serious analysis of the merits of movies starring orangutans, with focused commentary on Every Which Way But Loose and Dunston Checks In. - ADD TO CART
Osterie & Locande D'Italia: A Guide to Traditional Places to Eat and Stay in Italy Slow Food Editore ( Slow Food Editore srl, $29.95) Expect to spend time with the locals. The Osterie & Locande Dï¿½Italia guide relies on the advice of 100s of Italian contributors who are all part of the Slow Food movement. By all appearances, this guide is laid out like the Michelin Red Guides. The Michelin guides are all about quality and service. This guide, on the other hand, finds inns, farms and kitchens that best exemplify local traditions and character, as well as quality. This is the first English version of this excellent guide. - ADD TO CART	Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds Stephen Kinzer ( Farrar, Straus and Giroux, paperback, $15.00) Stephen Kinzer, a well-seasoned foreign correspondent, produced an excellent introduction to modern Turkey in Crescent & Star. Though touching on some unique Turkish cultural phenomena, this book focuses on his view of how Turkey can achieve true democracy. Besides reducing the military's power, this includes publicly acknowledging past tragedies (e.g., the Armenian genocide and recent atrocities against the Kurds,) getting over its somewhat paranoid isolationism (sound familiar?) and incorporating more Muslims in governing institutions. Turkey divides Europe from the Middle East geographically, socially and politically; its success or failure with democracy will undoubtedly affect the future relations between these regions. - ADD TO CART
The Clumsiest People in Europe, or: Mrs. Mortimer’s Bad-Tempered Guide to the Victorian World Todd Pruzan and Mrs. Favell Lee Mortimer ( Bloomsbury Publishing, $9.95) Little remembered Mrs. Favell Lee Mortimer was in the mid-19th century a best-selling English children’s storybook writer. She also published a geography trilogy, that today is unintentionally, yet wickedly funny. Mrs. Mortimer wrote during the era of British imperial expansion, which is apparent by her unspoken certitude of the moral rectitude of the English. Despite her pronouncements on everyone and everywhere, the fact is Mrs. Mortimer, the authority, didn’t visit many of the countries she profiled. As the mileage between England and other countries grows, so does Mrs. Mortimer’s disdain for a place. By the time she arrives in Portugal, we learn that the Portuguese “are proud like the Spaniards, but they are more deceitful.” And that, “No people are as clumsy and awkward with their hands as the Portuguese.” If she finds a country ugly, she may find the people clean, like in Holland. If she finds the country beautiful, she will remark that the children are unkempt, dirty, little creatures, as in Switzerland. Despite the fact that her observations grow ever meaner the farther from home she goes, she manages to denounce slavery and white racism in her tour of the Caribbean and the United States. Mrs. Mortimer’s legacy until now has been her invention of flashcards. This book gives a glimpse onto a woman and her time. - ADD TO CART