Colin Thubron is a British travel writer and novelist whose works are celebrated for their profound literary insight. His writing frequently delves into complex human relationships and cultural nuances, characterized by keen observation and evocative prose. Thubron's style is lauded for its ability to capture the essence of the places and people he portrays, offering readers immersive and reflective experiences. His literary contributions are recognized for their unique perspective and masterful storytelling.
This volume in The Seafarers series discusses the history, development, and social characteristics of the Venetians and describes their armor, ships, and some of the battles in which they engaged.
This volume in The Seafarers series surveys the various seafarers of the ancient world, including Greece and Rome, their ships, trade, and battles at sea.
'Thubron on top form. Richly detailed, immaculately written and full of insights and encounters that bring a complex corner of the world to life' Michael Palin A dramatic and ambitious new journey for our greatest travel writer The Amur River is almost unknown. Yet it is the tenth longest river in the world, rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific. For 1,100 miles it forms the tense border between Russia and China. Haunted by the memory of land-grabs and unequal treaties, this is the most densely fortified frontier on earth. In his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a dramatic journey from the Amur's secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles. Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, he makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores, starting out by Mongolian horse, then hitchhiking, sailing on poacher's sloops or travelling the Trans-Siberian Express. Having revived his Russian and Mandarin, he talks to everyone he meets, from Chinese traders to Russian fishermen, from monks to indigenous peoples. By the time he reaches the river's desolate end, where Russia's nineteenth-century imperial dream petered out, a whole, pivotal world has come alive. The Amur River is a shining masterpiece by the acknowledged laureate of travel writing, an urgent lesson in history and the culmination of an astonishing career.
Journalist Mark Swabey is serving a prison sentence in connection with the death of Clara the Swallow, a circus acrobat with whom he fell in love. As the grief-stricken Swabey looks back on their affair, the exact nature of his responsibility for Clara’s death is movingly revealed.
Having learned Mandarin, and travelling alone by foot, bicycle and train, Colin Thubron sets off on a 10,000 mile journey from Beijing to Tibet, starting from a tropical paradise near the Burmese border to the windswept wastes of the Gobi desert and the far end of the Great Wall. What Thubron reveals is an astonishing diversity, a land whose still unmeasured resources strain to meet an awesome demand, and an ancient people still reeling from the devastation of the Cultural Revolution.
'In Siberia is travel writing at its very best: luminous, lyrical, erudite and almost painfully sensitive, full of atmosphere and oddities and the breath of landscapes that seem too vast to comprehend. Thurbron stands among the greatest travel writers of this or any age' Stanley Stewart, Literary Review
An acclaimed travel writer and novelist, in his eightieth year, takes a dramatic journey on the little-known Far East Asian river that forms the highly contested border between Russia and China, covering almost 3,000 miles
A guide to the history, people and culture of Central Asia in the wake of the break-up of the Soviet Union. It documents the widespread social upheaval in a region reeling from political change.
A journey to the heart of and ancient city.An extract from 'The Lost Heart of Asia'.
