Hardcover, 180 pages, 10.5" by 14.5" ...Yes, I said fourteen and a half inches tall!

Its a great book for children & adults who love famous palaces & castles of the world. Many color photos, history, floorplan, and a beautifully colored cutaway drawing of each of the 12 residences. They include: Windsor Castle(England); The Alhambra(Spain); Neuschwanstein Castle(Germany); Peterhof(Russia); Red Fort(India); Katsura(Japan); Versailles(France); The Doge's Palace(Italy); Royal Palace of Stockholm(Sweden); Topkapi(Turkey); The Potala(Tibet); Hearst Castle(California).

Few books on New York's past are as rich and revealing as this work. The author does an excellent job of recreating the sense of place of New York. Urban culture, economy, and race relations are dealt with in a very creative way. I found that while its focus is the New York of the 1940s this book really is about a larger American experience that reaches into our day.

Pleasures And Landscapes: A Traveller's Tales From Europe engagingly recounts the experiences and observations of Sybille Bedford. The format is that of a one woman travelogue as Bedford traveled through France, Italy, Portugal, Yugoslavia, and other European countries and wrote travel articles for Vogue, Esquire and other magazines. Vivid, chatty, with an insightful eye for the human condition that transcends borders and nationalities, Pleasures And Landscapes is an immersive and memorable continental tour which is especially recommended for dedicated armchair travelers!

This book was a pure joy to read. Even though it's meant for children, I received it as a gift and intend to read it to my daughter when she's old enough to understand. The person who gave the book to me knew that I, like you, would appreciate the dreamlike environment in which the book is set. It makes for a golden-threaded background for another lesson based on the golden rule--with a twist. Instead of "Do Unto Others As You Would Be Treated", it's more of a "Do As They Want to Be Treated."

The words used and the way the story is told keeps the tale alive and interesting for both adults and children. (Adults in particular would enjoy the "knowing way" in which certain descriptions are slipped in.)

This book, like all of the Traveler's Tales books, is the product of thoughtful editing. Here are stories of real people in Italy. And each one seeks to show the beauty and complexity of the place. These are not just the stock images here. These are beautiful, sometimes intense stories about a place that, for so many, is out of reach. This book is a journey. Good, Bad, Ugly and perfect, flaws and all. Read it, enjoy and then, go.

50 short essays divided into 4 sections: the first 2 sections, "Essence of Italy" and "Some Things To Do" have the most appealing, simpatico, essays (though be warned that "The Nicholas Effect" in the last chapter is heartrending without trying to be). Several essays prompted me to buy the books they were excerpted from.

This is a delightful volume. Either take it on a trip to Italy to read as you go, or save it up til you come home, read it before planning a trip, or just let yourself go from your armchair or bed (or favourite reading spot).

There is a very brief attempt at some guidebook-style information at the end. i donlt think it is all that useful, and will be long out of date before the travellers' tales are. Still, it is brief enough not to detract. It includes some web addresses and , most usefully, some further reading and full bibliographic details of the excerpts presented.

There are many renowned writers included in this anthology, and of course some I had never encountered before. Some of the better known include Tim Parks ('An Italian Education'), Jonathan Keates ('Italian Journeys'), H.V. Morton ('A Traveller in Italy'), Frances mayes ('Under The Tuscan Sun').

This was an awesome book! As an avid collector of Cabbage Patch Kids, it is nice to know that there is some value to my collection. Further, this provided many of my friends and acquaintances with eager cries of "Mine looked like this one!" The research that when into this book is obvious. As one skims over the glossy pages of pictures, they find themselves stopping to read the stories behind the value of "kids." I enjoyed this book thoroughly and often stay up late rereading it.

The cabage patch kids are one of the best books i have read!!. It is easy to read and is full of drame and really keeps you on the endge of your seat the whole time while you are reading it. I cant wait to read it again!!

Jan Morris is one of my favourite writers. Historian of the British Empire and Venice, intrepid world traveller whose books are always enriched by well judged doses of historical detail, she has a fine direct style and an eye for the unusual. "Fifty Years of Europe" is described as an album because it consists of dozens of short essays and fragments written over a period spanning World War II to the nineties. Morris tries to lend some coherence to this collage by grouping the entries under thematic headings, but it's hard to escape the feeling that the book is an attempt to patch together bits and pieces from various writer's notebooks kept over the years. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, and Jan Morris is nothing if not a good raconteur, so the book provides plenty of browsing pleasure. Morris fans will enjoy it, but if you are a newcomer I would suggest that you start with her books on Oxford, Manhattan, Venice or (for history buffs) the magnificent Pax Britannica trilogy.

An extraordinarily informative and entertaining look at Europe's fascinatingly varied history and landscape. Not to be missed by anyone interested in things European, or indeed, in things human. This is part biography, part geography, part history and part politics. And it works on all levels. Read it! Please...

Jan Morris has been everywhere, seen everything, met everyone, and tries to see the good in all of it. She seems happiest, though, among the young. She is surprisingly forgiving toward some of the hollower booster-driven cities of North America, while often coming down hard on New World cities that seem too full of themselves. (She memorably describes Washington, DC as seeming designed for nuclear annihilation.)

Not surprisingly, then, Morris is generous toward Sydney, honoring its brief history but focusing on its childlike present. Since the book was completed, of course, the child has become an adolescent, frantically acquiring attractions that will make it seem more adult -- preening itself for its moment on the world stage in the 2000 Olympics. Like many books about childhood, this one should be read wistfully, with the knowledge that the city it describes is only a snapshot, circa 1990, of a place that seems to be disappearing under its own need for approval.

Of course, during the inevitable post-Olympics hangover, this book may be useful in another way. When we lose track of who we are, when the purpose that has obsessed us suddenly evaporates, it's sometimes helpful to recall what gave us pleasure when we were children. At such a moment, Morris's portrait of Sydney in its last moments of childhood may offer the city a route back to its core, and thus forward into a happier adulthood.

I bought this book in Sydney and found it a wealth of information on Sydney's beginings. The first time I read it, I savored every page...I couldn't put it down. As I got to the end of the book I felt bad that it was over, so I re-read it every few years. Jan Morris's style of writing is so entertaining and makes for a easy read.

This very vivid presentation of ancient live of venetians all through Levant gives you a picture of live, not just historical facts of those distant times. It also presents you a present day situation on this islands. It's very easy reading and book's only defectiveness is hers shortness.

This is an excellent little book for anyone interested in travelling and the history of the Venetian Empire. Jan Morris mixes vivid descriptions of present-day places with lively accounts of the lives and ambitions of the Venetian emperialists and their various subjects. She writes with sparkling wit and a cracking pace. History in her hands is so far from dull. The Venetians spring to life in all their glorious and colourful verve and cunning. She ranges across the centuries with sensitivity, humour and insight. There is no better introduction to the subject.