Tips & Reviews

Moderata Fonte: Women and Life in Sixteenth-Century Venice Many of you have heard about my research project about a Venetian writer of the Renaissance and life in Venice at that time. Many of you very kindly wanted to know about… Read full article

In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant New York: Random House, 2006, pp. 371. Since I greatly enjoyed Sarah Dunant’s The Birth of Venus , I read her most… Read full article

John Wayne, Harley Davidson, Peanuts, McDonald’s, Route 66, James Dean, Babe Ruth, Ford, and many, many more, including, last but not least, “Schwinn Built” bicycles make up a list of indisputable cultural icons that help to define this country. But… Read full article

Galileo’s Daughter: A Drama of Science, Faith and Love by Dava Sobel I read this fascinating book during the last two weeks I spent at my families’ farm in Italy this summer, and I must agree with the editor’s assessment… Read full article

My Life on Two Wheels My Life on Two Wheels By Clifford L. Graves (Manivelle Press, La Jolla, CA; 1985) The history of Americans touring Europe by bicycle is yet to be written. When it is, it will likely begin… Read full article

Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry’s Extraordinary Ride, by Peter Zheutlin Peter Zheutlin, Annie Londonderry’s great-great nephew, has written a masterful homage to his great-great aunt, while recounting the extraordinary “ride” of a remarkable woman. Annie Cohen was… Read full article

cellspacing=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ width=”100%” summary=”” border=”0″> Spoke Songs/Metal Cowboy   Spokesongs (Bicycle Adventures on Three Continents) by Willie Weir     Metal Cowboy (Tales from the Road Less Pedaled) by Joe Kurmaskie   Bicycling is very much a solitary sport: first,… Read full article

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005)   When I began graduate school in geography at the University of Oregon in the early 1970s some of the… Read full article

Travels with Charley In 1960, John Steinbeck set out to “find America” in a small, custom-made camper-truck that contained nearly all the comforts of home, including his faithful full-sized poodle, Charley. He meandered along nearly the entire perimeter of the… Read full article

The Words of Bernfrieda, A Chronicle of Hauteville by Gabriella Brooke NOTE: For those of you traveling with us to Southern Italy, or simply interested in finding out more about this region, we’ve included an annotated reading list at the… Read full article

A Passion for Piedmont: Italy’s Most Glorious Regional Table by Matt Kramer (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1997) With the winter Olympics coming up in February 2006 in Italy’s Piedmont region we thought we might suggest some reading… Read full article

The Motorcycle Diaries A Photo Essay & Movie Review I’ve taken only three trips to South America: once to Peru, once to Chile, and once to Argentina and Chile to do our ExpeditionPlus! bicycle tour across the continent.  As I… Read full article

House of Niccoló by Dorothy Dunnet I have a friend who was so taken with Dorothy Dunnett’s eight volume series based on the travels of a 15th century Flanders businessman and adventurer that she planned a trip around his base… Read full article

Peter Pezzelli, Home to Italy (New York: Kensington Books, 2004) Peter Pezzelli’s first novel is a delightful tale of loss and grieving, of personal tragedy and of rebirth. A simple, predictable story becomes more complex as it develops. It is… Read full article

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts By Julian Rubinstein You won’t believe it’s true. With a title like that, who wouldn’t be skeptical?  Open the… Read full article

Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnick   New York Times Notable Book of 2000 & New York Public Library Selection as one of the 25 Memorable Books of 2000.   Those who wish to be travelers, not simply tourists,… Read full article

When the history of American bicycle touring is written it will surely include the story of Frank A. Elwell of Portland, Maine who was the nation’s first bicycle tour organizer. He began “high-wheel” tours in New England and Quebec in… Read full article