Brunei: A Tale of Soil and Oil
With an economy based almost exclusively on the oil industry, Brunei offers its citizens a high standard of living—but it comes with limitations.
Wooden Kings and Winds of Change in Tonga
The island nation of Tonga is home to the last Polynesian monarchy.
Luanda, Angola: The Paradox of Plenty
This vast Atlantic coast nation seems poised to become a tourist hot-spot, but uneven political and economic development may be standing in the way.
Tramping Across the USSR (On One Leg)
Historian Sheila Fitzpatrick explores the limits of the Stalinist system through the biography of a marginal figure, one Anastasia Emelianovna Egorova.
The Fashionable Tour: or, The First American Tourist Guidebook
Offering advice for visiting Sarasota Springs and other sights, Gideon Davison combined the travel narrative and road book to create a new type of travel guide.
Life in the Islands of the Dead
Though part of the mainland county of Cornwall, the Scilly Islands offer visitors an encounter with history and the environment like no other.
Svalbard: Seeds of Hope
The Arctic archipelago is a bellwether for global climate change, but it also offers a safety net in a planetary disaster scenario.
James Holman, the “Blind Traveller”
Once a celebrated travel writer, Holman struggled to find a publisher for his books thanks to a Victorian reluctance to witness his disability.
Belize: On the Way to Somewhere
After declaring independence from Great Britain in 1981, the Central American nation directed itself down a path to tourism and transformation.
When Hitchhiking was Wholesome
In the 1930s, hitchhiking was viewed as an opportunity for generosity on the part of the driver and a way to practice good manners on the part of the rider.