The first book to distill Jan Morris's entire body of work into one volume, The World is a magnum opus by the most-celebrated travel writer in the world. To read it is to take an epic armchair journey through the last half of twentieth-century history. A breathtakingly vivid guide to our greatest cosmopolitan cities and cultures from Manhattan to Venice and from Baghdad to Barbados, this book assembles fifty years of Morris's finest travel writing. With eyewitness accounts of such seminal moments as the first successful ascent of Everest, the Eichmann trial, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the handover of Hong Kong, The World promises to create an entirely new generation of Jan Morris readers. A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2003.
Review Quotes:
"Everyone who reads books treasures Jan Morris.... Beyond the accuracy of her observations and the acuity of her reflections, her writing itself...has been a singular joy to readers."
Jan Morris (1926-2020) lived and wrote as James Morris until 1972. She resided with her partner, Elizabeth Morris, in northwest Wales, between the mountains and the sea. Her many books included In My Mind's Eye, Coronation Everest, and the Pax Britannica trilogy.
W. W. Norton & Company
Pub Date: April 01, 2005
1.11" H x 8.36" L x 5.52" W
458 pages
paperback