Americas
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A Bike Ride—12,000 Miles around the World: Anne Mustoe
Published by Virgin, 1991, 256 pages Anne Mustoe retired as a headmistress of a British school for girls in the mid-1980s and decided to go for a bike ride around the world. She was attracted by the idea of being… Continue reading
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Non-Stop Metropolis—A New York Atlas: Edited by Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Shapiro
Published by University of California Press, 2016, 224 pages Rebecca Solnit is no stranger to conveying urban environments through maps (see my review of her earlier atlas on New Orleans). But how do you convey the complexity of New York? Rebecca… Continue reading
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Go, Girl! The Black Woman’s Book of Travel & Adventure: Compiled by Elaine Lee
Published by The Eighth Mountain Press, 1997, 368 pages Elaine Lee is an African-American woman who has made travel a way of life. Her compilation of 52 pieces of travel writing by African-American women encourages black women to travel by… Continue reading
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Tales of a Female Nomad—Living at Large in the World: Rita Golden Gelman
Published by Crown, 2001, 320 pages When her marriage starts to disintegrate, Rita Golden Gelman decides to go to Mexico on her own to take a break and think things through. Never having traveled on her own, she is nervous… Continue reading
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Why LA? Pourquoi Paris? An Artistic Pairing of Two Iconic Cities: Diane Ratican
With illustrations by Nick Lu and Eric GiriatPublished by Illustre Books, 2014, 256 pages “When you fall in love with a city, it is forever.” This quote from Toni Morrison encapsulates the spirit of this delightful book. Diane Ratican has… Continue reading
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Patagonian Road—A Year Alone Through Latin America: Kate McCahill
Published by Santa Fe Writer’s Project, 2017, 350 pages Inspired by Paul Theroux’s travel book, The Old Patagonian Express, Kate McCahill decides to take a year off and travel through Latin America. Unlike Theroux, she is determined to spend time in… Continue reading
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Travelling While Black—Essays from a Life on the Move: Nanjala Nyabola
Published by Hurst, 2020, 264 pages Some of us travel for pleasure or work, others have no choice but to leave their homes to try and find refuge elsewhere. In this book, Nanjala Nyabola—a political analyst from Kenya—writes about people… Continue reading
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Unfathomable City—A New Orleans Atlas: Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker
Published by University of California Press, 2013, 166 pages This is a look at New Orleans in all its complexities and contradictions, with essays written by musicians, activists, environmentalists, Native Americans, and Arabs. Each essay looks at a particular aspect:… Continue reading
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100 Places in the USA Every Woman Should Go: Sophia Dumbling
Published by Traveller’s Tales, 2014, 350 pages Whether you want to go to a retreat amid spectacular natural surroundings, the largest yard sale ever (stretching from Michigan to Alabama!), visit Lizzie Borden’s house (the lass with the axe), or go… Continue reading
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Forward—Letters Written on a Trip Around the World: Lina Boegli
Published by Cornell University Library / Legare Street Press, first published in 1904, 326 pages Alone in Cracow (in what was then Austria) and bored and lonely, Swiss pioneer traveler Lina Boegli decided to see if a woman could work… Continue reading
Women's Travel Books 