Restored Reichstag  in Berlin with Norman Foster dome. Courtesy wikipedia.

BOOKS – the perfect antidote if you’re not traveling to a world capital or heritage destination this summer.  Even better if you’re stuck in an airport, the ferry is stranded, or the Chunnel is temporarily shut down. We’ve got cities and destinations galore that take you from ancient Rome to the bordellos of New Orleans, the natural history of New York (before skyscrapers)  and the best way to spend 36 hours (a weekend) in 125 different European locations.

Parthenon , Athens, Courtesy of Oneonta Univ

Breeze your way through our book lineup –cities’ history, design, destruction and revitalization, and their not-well-kept secrets. Check out what has been lost – both natural features and built ones –through haphazard and often-corrupt development (Washington DC, New York City) and the continuing sense of discovery as we mine the past (Pompeii, Rome, Athens).

Here’s our lineup (from our Christmas 2014 gift books archive)

And there’s more!

The Wedding Cake House, on Saint Charles Avenue in New Orleans

An additional selection of 20+ recent books on London, Paris, Rome, Beijing, Detroit and elsewhere (our holiday archive from 2013).

Paris Was Ours

If you love Paris, immerse yourself in a dozen books from the 1920’s to 2014 – in travel, food and literary memoirs and personal histories.

Mannahatta cover

Open a link and you’ll find the backstory to all the books we have selected: author interviews, book excerpts, a TED talk or two,  reviews for some 60 books on cities and destinations  around the world.