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Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond
by Pankaj MishraFrom Bollywood stars in Bombay worrying whether they are sexy enough to a heroin addict in Pakistan mocking jihad; from Indian mafia dons with political ambitions to Afghans waiting for American benevolence; from Kashmiri Muslims longing for democracy to Tibetan Buddhists fighting to preserve religion in politics – Temptations of the West is a travel book unlike any other. In a narrative as revealing as it is profound, Pankaj Mishra’s new book dissolves the old boundaries between East and West, challenging every romantic cliché about the conflicts and dilemmas at the heart of the modern world. ‘Mishra offers a compelling blend of memoir, narrative history, politics, religion and philosophy. Thoughtful, intelligent and rigorous, this is a deep, insightful study of the very notion of modernity’ Observer ‘Mishra is a precise observer and a subtle analyst, keener to understand than to blame . . . In a thousand details – such as the grimace he catches on the face of a sycophantic businessman as a politician’s bodyguard rinses curry-stained hands in his swimming pool – he salutes humanity’s paradoxes and wit’ The Economist ‘Wonderful. The narrative is interspersed with sophisticated cultural commentary . . . and, if anything, the point of this important book is to collapse fallacious distinctions between East and West’ Condé Nast Traveller
Theatre Of Fish: Travels through Newfoundland and Labrador (Vintage Departures Ser.)
by John GimletteJohn Gimlette's travels through this harsh and awesome landscape, the eastern extreme of the Americas, broadly mirrors that of Dr Eliot Curwen, his great-grandfather, who spent a summer there as a doctor in 1893, and who was witness to some of the most beautiful ice and cruelest poverty in the British Empire. Using Curwen's extraordinarily frank journal, John Gimlette revisits the places his great-grandfather encountered and along the way explores his own links with this brutal land.
Thumbs Up Australia: Hitchhiking the Outback
by Tom ParryOn the Road meets Down Under in this really rough guide to the adventures of an enthusiastic hitchhiker and his reluctant girlfriend on their quest for the real Australia. Hitching lifts with the desert's dodgiest drivers and taking breaks in the roughest roadhouses, this is Tom Parry's witty, warts-and-all tale of hitchhiking 8,000 miles across - and around - the Australian outback with his thumb, his backpack and his French girlfriend, Katia. As the couple hitch their way around the near empty highways, they encounter as wide a cross-section of Aussie society as you could ever hope to meet. In cattle stations, Aboriginal communities, remote waterholes, caravan parks, hippy communes and roadhouses, they see a country that remains as extraordinary today as it was for the first nineteenth century settlers. Loosely following the routes carved out by the legendary explorers who first traversed the great continent, the couple get to grips with the country's fascinating history. Set against a backdrop of the real Australia - not 'as seen on TV'- "Thumbs Up Australia" is full of wonderful anecdotes and endearing tales of some of the country's most idiosyncratic characters, from the grizzled Aboriginal elder with his tales of dreamtime, to an amphetamine-swallowing road train driver. And at the end of their journey, it is ironically Katia who suggests thumbing a lift to the airport!
Timeshare Resort Operations
by Randall Upchurch Conrad LashleyThis book provides a complete overview of timeshare development and operation models. The authors take a comprehensive look at the present and future of this growing segment of the hospitality industry, including specialized approaches to marketing, human resources, service quality, finance, legal considerations and professional ethics. Timeshare, or vacation ownership, is a relatively recent leisure phenomenon. It emerged in the late 1950s as a way to secure extra capital resources to fund property expansion. Shareholders had the right to use these properties on a regular basis. Although arrangements have grown in complexity and variation, the model allows for customers to buy rights to use a property for a fixed time period each year. Timeshare arrangements have experienced rapid international growth particularly in the last fifteen to twenty years and are now an important vacation arrangement. Most of the world's major hotel and resort developers now operate timeshare properties. Firms like Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Disney and Ramada have brought a new formality and legitimacy to timeshare development and operation.
Timeshare Resort Operations (Hospitality, Leisure, And Tourism Ser.)
by Randall Upchurch Conrad LashleyThis book provides a complete overview of timeshare development and operation models. The authors take a comprehensive look at the present and future of this growing segment of the hospitality industry, including specialized approaches to marketing, human resources, service quality, finance, legal considerations and professional ethics. Timeshare, or vacation ownership, is a relatively recent leisure phenomenon. It emerged in the late 1950s as a way to secure extra capital resources to fund property expansion. Shareholders had the right to use these properties on a regular basis. Although arrangements have grown in complexity and variation, the model allows for customers to buy rights to use a property for a fixed time period each year. Timeshare arrangements have experienced rapid international growth particularly in the last fifteen to twenty years and are now an important vacation arrangement. Most of the world's major hotel and resort developers now operate timeshare properties. Firms like Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Disney and Ramada have brought a new formality and legitimacy to timeshare development and operation.
To The Hebrides: Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands AND James Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides - The Most Complete Edition Ever Published (Canongate Classics Ser. #21)
by Samuel Johnson James BoswellSamuel Johnson’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and James Boswell’s Journey of a Tour to the Hebrides are widely regarded as among the best pieces of travel writing ever produced. Johnson and Boswell spent the autumn of 1773 touring Scotland as far west as the islands of Skye, Raasay, Coll, Mull, Ulva, Inchkenneth and Iona. Highly Readable often profound, and at times very funny, their accounts of the ‘jaunt’ are above all a valuable record of a society undergoing rapid change.In this pioneering new edition, Ronald Black brings together the two men’s starkly contrasting accounts of each of the thirteen stages of the journey. He also restores to Boswell’s text 20,000 words from his journal which were denied entry to his book because they were intimate, defamatory, or about the islands rather than Johnson. The endnotes incorporate Boswell’s footnotes, translations of Latin passages, a clear summary of pre-existing information on the two texts, and a fresh focus on what the two men actually found on their trip. To the Hebrides, also includes contemporary prints by Thomas Rowlandson, seventeen new maps and a comprehensive index.
The Tomb of Agamemnon (Wonders of the world)
by Cathy GereFrom Homer to Himmler, from Thucydides to Freud, Mycenae has occupied a singular place in the Western imagination. As the backdrop to one of the most famous military campaigns of all time, Agamemnon’s city has served for generation after generation as a symbol of the human appetite for war. As an archaeological site, it has given its name to the splendors of one of Europe’s earliest civilizations: the Mycenaean Age. In this book, historian of science Cathy Gere tells the story of these extraordinary ruins.
Tourism and Indigenous Peoples
by Richard Butler Tom HinchTourism and Indigenous Peoples is a unique text examining the role of indigenous societies in tourism and how they interact within the tourism nexus. Unlike other publications, this text focuses on the active role that indigenous peoples take in the industry, and uses international case studies and experiences to provide a global context to illustrate best practice and aid comparison. First published over ten years ago the editors, Butler and Hinch, have thoroughly revised and updated the text to bring together a new collection of contributions and case studies from recognised international authors and those with first hand experiences in this area. Divided into five main sections, the text looks at this topic under the following headings: * Involvement: Uses case studies to discuss and compare such as ‘campfire’ programmes in east Africa, and the employment of indigenous peoples as guides, amongst other cases,* Turbulence: Host guest relationships, conflicts on communities and contrasting strategies and results of tourism in indigenous villages in South Africa* Issues: Discusses issues such as authenticity, religious beliefs and managing indigenous tourism in a fragile environment* Progress: Looks at tourism education, tourism and cultural survival and examples of the policy and practice of indigenous tourism.* Conclusions: Five contributions from indigenous people on North America, Australasia and Europe to discuss implications and experiences.Each section uses international case studies from, for example, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, Namibia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and South America.
Tourism and Indigenous Peoples
by Richard Butler Tom HinchTourism and Indigenous Peoples is a unique text examining the role of indigenous societies in tourism and how they interact within the tourism nexus. Unlike other publications, this text focuses on the active role that indigenous peoples take in the industry, and uses international case studies and experiences to provide a global context to illustrate best practice and aid comparison. First published over ten years ago the editors, Butler and Hinch, have thoroughly revised and updated the text to bring together a new collection of contributions and case studies from recognised international authors and those with first hand experiences in this area. Divided into five main sections, the text looks at this topic under the following headings: * Involvement: Uses case studies to discuss and compare such as ‘campfire’ programmes in east Africa, and the employment of indigenous peoples as guides, amongst other cases,* Turbulence: Host guest relationships, conflicts on communities and contrasting strategies and results of tourism in indigenous villages in South Africa* Issues: Discusses issues such as authenticity, religious beliefs and managing indigenous tourism in a fragile environment* Progress: Looks at tourism education, tourism and cultural survival and examples of the policy and practice of indigenous tourism.* Conclusions: Five contributions from indigenous people on North America, Australasia and Europe to discuss implications and experiences.Each section uses international case studies from, for example, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, Namibia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and South America.
Tourism and Social Identities
by Peter M. Burns Marina NovelliThe making and consuming of tourism takes place within a complex social milieu, with competing actors drawing into the ‘product’ peoples’ history, culture and lifestyles. Culture and people thus become part of the tourism product. The implications are not fully understood, though the literature ranges the arguments along a continuum with culture being described on one hand as vulnerable and fixed, waiting to be ‘impacted’ by tourism and on the other being seen as vibrant and perfectly well capable of dealing with globalization and modernity trends. Some of the answers are likely to focus around ideas of social identities. The intention of this book is to make a contribution to the theoretical framework of tourism through a series of international case studies. The overall purpose of the edited book is to assemble a series of essays enabling the dissemination of ideas on the critical discourse of tourism and tourists as they relate to social and cultural identities.
Tourism and Social Identities
by Peter M. Burns Marina NovelliThe making and consuming of tourism takes place within a complex social milieu, with competing actors drawing into the ‘product’ peoples’ history, culture and lifestyles. Culture and people thus become part of the tourism product. The implications are not fully understood, though the literature ranges the arguments along a continuum with culture being described on one hand as vulnerable and fixed, waiting to be ‘impacted’ by tourism and on the other being seen as vibrant and perfectly well capable of dealing with globalization and modernity trends. Some of the answers are likely to focus around ideas of social identities. The intention of this book is to make a contribution to the theoretical framework of tourism through a series of international case studies. The overall purpose of the edited book is to assemble a series of essays enabling the dissemination of ideas on the critical discourse of tourism and tourists as they relate to social and cultural identities.
Tourism in Turbulent Times
by Jeff Wilks Donna Pendergast Peter LeggatTourism in Turbulent Times presents an international review of the challenges faced by the world's largest industry and governments around the world to provide safe and enjoyable experiences for visitors. The book draws on the background and expertise of contributors from 11 countries, representing scholars, government officers and industry practitioners. It addresses traditional concerns for tourism (such as crime) as well as emerging challenges posed by the global movement of infectious disease and terrorism. These topics are examined by specialists who share a view that tourism can weather turbulent times through adopting appropriate risk management strategies and continuing to provide quality service for customers. This book differs from other texts on the market by including a large group of tourism industry practitioners as contributors. These writers practice the principles they espouse and have critical insight into the real world issues facing the tourism industry. They are also very committed to finding best practice solutions to the challenges facing their industry. The book will therefore be of particular interest to tourism managers and policy makers since it provides relevant information for the important decisions they need to make.Throwing the net wide to include medicine, law, psychology, sociology, education and hard science means that a wide range of perspectives are available to address global business, insurance, security, and policy questions in this emerging area of tourism. Shocks such as the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, SARS and the more recent Asian Tsunami have made the tourism industry very conscious of the need to protect its customers. This book highlights the positive responses made by various sectors of the industry at destination, national and international levels. It also examines the growing adventure tourism market, characterised by small operators who need good risk management practices to weather adverse global events, as well as run a financially viable small business. Such a wide set of perspectives will be very valuable to both students and tourism professionals.
Tourism in Turbulent Times
by Jeff Wilks Donna Pendergast Peter LeggatTourism in Turbulent Times presents an international review of the challenges faced by the world's largest industry and governments around the world to provide safe and enjoyable experiences for visitors. The book draws on the background and expertise of contributors from 11 countries, representing scholars, government officers and industry practitioners. It addresses traditional concerns for tourism (such as crime) as well as emerging challenges posed by the global movement of infectious disease and terrorism. These topics are examined by specialists who share a view that tourism can weather turbulent times through adopting appropriate risk management strategies and continuing to provide quality service for customers. This book differs from other texts on the market by including a large group of tourism industry practitioners as contributors. These writers practice the principles they espouse and have critical insight into the real world issues facing the tourism industry. They are also very committed to finding best practice solutions to the challenges facing their industry. The book will therefore be of particular interest to tourism managers and policy makers since it provides relevant information for the important decisions they need to make.Throwing the net wide to include medicine, law, psychology, sociology, education and hard science means that a wide range of perspectives are available to address global business, insurance, security, and policy questions in this emerging area of tourism. Shocks such as the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, SARS and the more recent Asian Tsunami have made the tourism industry very conscious of the need to protect its customers. This book highlights the positive responses made by various sectors of the industry at destination, national and international levels. It also examines the growing adventure tourism market, characterised by small operators who need good risk management practices to weather adverse global events, as well as run a financially viable small business. Such a wide set of perspectives will be very valuable to both students and tourism professionals.
Tourism Local Systems and Networking
by Luciana Lazzeretti Clara S. PetrilloThis book focuses on the role of networking, cooperation and partnership in destination management in response to the changing environment of the tourism industry.Firms and institutions are nowadays required to implement drastic management changes: they must adopt a systemic approach and become actively involved in formal and informal networks in order to increase efficiency and product quality, to gain a sustainable edge and face the competitive context.The work is dedicated to deepening the topics of the "Networking and Tourism Local System" session of the 12th ATLAS 2004 Annual Conference, "Networking & Partnership in Destination Development & Management", held in Naples. From a theoretical point of view, the papers included herein relate to two macro reference areas: applied economics and managerial sciences. The analysis range from national to local levels and focus on strategies, policies, and project experiences. Several cases from different areas (Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain, Sweden) are examined and provide features and issues that can be applied beyond the cultural and economic contexts.
Tourism Local Systems and Networking
by Luciana Lazzeretti Clara S. PetrilloThis book focuses on the role of networking, cooperation and partnership in destination management in response to the changing environment of the tourism industry.Firms and institutions are nowadays required to implement drastic management changes: they must adopt a systemic approach and become actively involved in formal and informal networks in order to increase efficiency and product quality, to gain a sustainable edge and face the competitive context.The work is dedicated to deepening the topics of the "Networking and Tourism Local System" session of the 12th ATLAS 2004 Annual Conference, "Networking & Partnership in Destination Development & Management", held in Naples. From a theoretical point of view, the papers included herein relate to two macro reference areas: applied economics and managerial sciences. The analysis range from national to local levels and focus on strategies, policies, and project experiences. Several cases from different areas (Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain, Sweden) are examined and provide features and issues that can be applied beyond the cultural and economic contexts.
Tourism, Security and Safety
by Yoel Mansfeld Abraham PizamThe topic of safety and security in the tourism industry is of vital importance globally. In recent years, and mainly after the 9/11 event, both academics and practitioners have started to look into crisis management issues seeking workable solutions in order to mitigate the negative impacts of safety and security incidences on the tourism industry and affected destinations. Tourism, Safety and Security: a multi dimensional analysis brings together the writings of international leading academics and practitioners in this field to discuss prevention measures and crisis management options, in incidences of tourism safety and security. The layout and content of the book are aimed at analyzing different types of safety and security problems as well as finding managerial strategies and tactics to address them. Divided into four sections this book looks at:· Tourism and security issues: including the impact of terror in the hotel market in Israel· Tourism and crime issues: including premises liability, drug trafficking, theft and street robbery · Tourism and safety Issues: including the impact of SARS in Asia and Foot and Mouth Disease in the UK· Tourism crisis management issues: including the 9/11 crisis, public relations, and the aftermath of the Bali bombingsEach chapter has a user friendly structure including study objectives, concept definitions and review questions.
Tourism, Security and Safety
by Yoel Mansfeld Abraham PizamThe topic of safety and security in the tourism industry is of vital importance globally. In recent years, and mainly after the 9/11 event, both academics and practitioners have started to look into crisis management issues seeking workable solutions in order to mitigate the negative impacts of safety and security incidences on the tourism industry and affected destinations. Tourism, Safety and Security: a multi dimensional analysis brings together the writings of international leading academics and practitioners in this field to discuss prevention measures and crisis management options, in incidences of tourism safety and security. The layout and content of the book are aimed at analyzing different types of safety and security problems as well as finding managerial strategies and tactics to address them. Divided into four sections this book looks at:· Tourism and security issues: including the impact of terror in the hotel market in Israel· Tourism and crime issues: including premises liability, drug trafficking, theft and street robbery · Tourism and safety Issues: including the impact of SARS in Asia and Foot and Mouth Disease in the UK· Tourism crisis management issues: including the 9/11 crisis, public relations, and the aftermath of the Bali bombingsEach chapter has a user friendly structure including study objectives, concept definitions and review questions.
Travel and Tourism Public Relations
by Dennis DeuschlThe opening chapter explains the recent growth of industry PR, and travel & tourism news coverage which today focuses on the considerable economic benefits of the industry. Additionally, it reviews the leading news media that covers the industry, the primary PR tools and audiences, and details the factors leading to PR's new prominence across the industry. It also provides informative sidebars with lists of key industry print media, top travel agencies, plus a Travel Industry Association of America case study of a post-9/11/2001 campaign to restore American confidence in travelling. It also includes a composite definition of PR, and tells how PR is a discipline distinctively different from publicity, propaganda, advertising, and marketing. The author notes how, over the past decade due to economic conditions, PR in many cases has been integrated with marketing communications and played an important role in both strategic and tactical marketing activities. Following this overview, the ensuing five chapters examine communications model specifics that are of special importance to the industry's major sectors: hotels/lodging establishments; restaurants; tourist attractions/destinations; and transportation services. Each of these sectors have their ownspecial messages, PR tools, and audiences. For example, meeting planners and travel agents are of most importance to hotels, while travel agents are of little importance to airlines and restaurants. Also included is a chapter about what travel employers should understand about PR The chapters will be followed by appendices that will include:The top 30 U.S. Travel & Tourism Professional/Trade Associations; and the Leading U.S. Travel & Tourism Universities.
Travel and Tourism Public Relations
by Dennis DeuschlThe opening chapter explains the recent growth of industry PR, and travel & tourism news coverage which today focuses on the considerable economic benefits of the industry. Additionally, it reviews the leading news media that covers the industry, the primary PR tools and audiences, and details the factors leading to PR's new prominence across the industry. It also provides informative sidebars with lists of key industry print media, top travel agencies, plus a Travel Industry Association of America case study of a post-9/11/2001 campaign to restore American confidence in travelling. It also includes a composite definition of PR, and tells how PR is a discipline distinctively different from publicity, propaganda, advertising, and marketing. The author notes how, over the past decade due to economic conditions, PR in many cases has been integrated with marketing communications and played an important role in both strategic and tactical marketing activities. Following this overview, the ensuing five chapters examine communications model specifics that are of special importance to the industry's major sectors: hotels/lodging establishments; restaurants; tourist attractions/destinations; and transportation services. Each of these sectors have their ownspecial messages, PR tools, and audiences. For example, meeting planners and travel agents are of most importance to hotels, while travel agents are of little importance to airlines and restaurants. Also included is a chapter about what travel employers should understand about PR The chapters will be followed by appendices that will include:The top 30 U.S. Travel & Tourism Professional/Trade Associations; and the Leading U.S. Travel & Tourism Universities.
Unbeaten Tracks In Japan
by Isabella BirdThe author's account of travelling through Japan in 1878. This is a narrative of travels in Japan communicated via letters. First published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Unbeaten Tracks In Japan
by Isabella BirdThe author's account of travelling through Japan in 1878. This is a narrative of travels in Japan communicated via letters. First published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Urban Tourism in the Developing World: The South African Experience
by Gustav VisserOver the past decade, the field of urban tourism has consolidated with the appearance of several books that concentrate upon the Western European and North American experience. Recently, the scope and range of urban research has widened considerably, including the welcome appearance of studies that examine the tourism phenomenon in cities outside the Euro-American heartland.Despite this growing international body of debate and scholarship on tourism and cities, particularly in the developed North, literature that relates to the developing world as a whole, and to Africa in particular, remains sparse. The task of Urban Tourism in the Developing World: The South African Experience is to augment the current international scholarship concerning urban tourism in the developing world. More especially, the contributors draw attention to a range of case studies from South Africa that provide some starting points to address the uneven scholarly coverage of urban tourism the African context has received to date. In addition, the research material presented here seeks to contribute toward raising the South African, and indeed the African profile, within growing international scholarship concerning issues of urban tourism and development.This collection aims to expand an emerging South African and African tourism research "voice" concerning the tourism and development nexus, as well as to stem critiques that this body of research appears to have developed in a theoretical vacuum, divorced from broader international tourism research discourses. This collection of essays not only further develops an independent South African tourism perspective, but also presents research that is closely tied to international urban tourism research debates. In addition, this analysis of urban tourism in the South African context enriches the rather Western-oriented theories of urban tourism discourse through its emphasis on how urban tourism is evolving in urban Africa.
Urban Tourism in the Developing World: The South African Experience
by Gustav VisserOver the past decade, the field of urban tourism has consolidated with the appearance of several books that concentrate upon the Western European and North American experience. Recently, the scope and range of urban research has widened considerably, including the welcome appearance of studies that examine the tourism phenomenon in cities outside the Euro-American heartland.Despite this growing international body of debate and scholarship on tourism and cities, particularly in the developed North, literature that relates to the developing world as a whole, and to Africa in particular, remains sparse. The task of Urban Tourism in the Developing World: The South African Experience is to augment the current international scholarship concerning urban tourism in the developing world. More especially, the contributors draw attention to a range of case studies from South Africa that provide some starting points to address the uneven scholarly coverage of urban tourism the African context has received to date. In addition, the research material presented here seeks to contribute toward raising the South African, and indeed the African profile, within growing international scholarship concerning issues of urban tourism and development.This collection aims to expand an emerging South African and African tourism research "voice" concerning the tourism and development nexus, as well as to stem critiques that this body of research appears to have developed in a theoretical vacuum, divorced from broader international tourism research discourses. This collection of essays not only further develops an independent South African tourism perspective, but also presents research that is closely tied to international urban tourism research debates. In addition, this analysis of urban tourism in the South African context enriches the rather Western-oriented theories of urban tourism discourse through its emphasis on how urban tourism is evolving in urban Africa.
Very New Orleans: A Celebration of History, Culture, and Cajun Country Charm
by Diana Hollingsworth GesslerThe exquisite antebellum mansions of the Garden District. Giant oaks stretching across boulevards and back in time to before the Civil War. The decadence of Bourbon Street. The vibrant sounds of jazz, blues, and Cajun music coming from every doorway or right from the street. Lacy iron balconies that wrap around the historic buildings of the French Quarter. A leisurely meal under a canopy of wisteria. In vibrant watercolors and detailed sketches, artist Diana Gessler captures the unique charm that makes New Orleans alluring: Mardi Gras, the Cabildo, Jackson Square, the Court of the Two Sisters, St. Louis Cemetery, the Jazz Festival, the River Road Plantations, the Cajun country, sumptuous Creole cuisine, and Audubon’s Aquarium of the Americas. In fascinating detail—on everything from the making of Mardi Gras, Napolean’s death mask, the city’s inspired architectural and garden designs, and favorite author hangouts to famous New Orleanians and Aunt Sally’s Creole pralines—Very New Orleans celebrates the city, the Cajun country, the people, and our history
Voyageur: Across The Rocky Mountains In A Birchbark Canoe
by Robert TwiggerBest-selling author of Angry White Pyjamas travels across the Rocky Mountains by canoe Fifteen years before Lewis and Clark, Scotsman Alexander Mackenzie, looking to open up a trade route, set out from Lake Athabasca in central Northern Canada in search of the Pacific Ocean. Mackenzie travelled by bark canoe and had a cache of rum and a crew of Canadian voyageurs, hard-living backwoodsmen, for company. Two centuries later, Robert Twigger decides to follow in Mackenzie's wake. He too travels the traditional way, having painstakingly built a canoe from birchbark sewn together with pine roots, and assembled a crew made up of fellow travelers, ex-tree-planters and a former sailor from the US Navy. Several had tried before them but they were the first people to successfully complete Mackenzie's diabolical route over the Rockies in a birchbark canoe since 1793. Their journey takes them to the remotest parts of the wilderness, through Native American reservations, over mountains, through rapids and across lakes, meeting descendants of Mackenzie and unhinged Canadian trappers, running out of food, getting lost and miraculously found again, disfigured for life (the ex-sailor loses his thumb), bears brown and black, docile and grizzly.