In Kansai Cool anthropologist, writer and filmmaker Christal Whelan offers profound insights in the only collection of essays to focus on Kansai, Japan's ancient heartland. Kansai--the region in Western Japan that boasts the ancient capitals of Kyoto and Nara, the bustling commercial city of Osaka and the cosmopolitan port city of Kobe--has a character all its own, right down to its dialect, mannerisms, and cuisine. It is home to some of Japan's oldest history and an area where the country's most time-honored arts and crafts still thrive. Worldly and otherworldly, spirited and spiritual, trendy and traditional, it's a place where past and future live side-by-side, sometimes at odds. Part Japanese travel book, part cultural commentary, these 25 spirited essays and 32 pages of color photos paint a broad yet penetrating portrait of the unique Western Japan region, covering such diverse topics as: The needs of the spirit--shrines, temples and the call to pilgrimage The arts in Kansai--dance, painting, anime, and combat The relationship between hi-tech and old-tech Material culture--bikes, robots, and dolls The culture of fashion in Kansai--from kimonos and obis to modern fashion designers, and the Lolita complex The meaning of landscape-- human-made islands and the mystical power of water The hidden meaning of food--an anthropology of coffee and traditional cuisine From the deep-seated ancient beliefs of Kyoto to modern teen otaku culture, costume play and haute couture of Kobe and Osaka--Whelan delves below the surface to let readers eager to travel to Japan experience how art, science, faith and history swirl together in the Kansai region to produce this unique wellspring of Japanese culture.

Bestselling Irish author Michelle Jackson returns with a new name, Michelle Walsh Jackson and a fresh voice. After travel writing for the last eight years she has written a road trip book set in Oklahoma, Dublin and Oxford. This spiritual journey into America's Heartland brings the reader on "A thought provoking Odyssey to fill the soul and grip the reader," according to Niamh Greene, Irish Author. This is the story of the fragile love between Roz Waters and her visually impaired father, Patrick, a love that is revived on an extraordinary road trip through Oklahoma in America's heartland. The journey is an opportunity for Patrick to impart knowledge and wisdom that Roz is finally ready to hear.Unexpectedly, Roz's world is rocked when she meets an army officer, Michael Williams, along the way. But his wedding band isn't the only obstacle that makes their love forbidden. The prairies pale in comparison to the touching journey into each other's hearts.As time unfolds Roz discovers that she and her father are intrinsically linked to Michael and together maybe they will all find the real Heartland.

In every atlas there is a country missing from the maps of South America: the Andean nation. For five months John Harrison journeys through this secret country, walking alone into remote villages where he is the first gringo the inhabitants have ever seen, and where life continues as if Columbus had never sailed.

A powerful work of non-fiction and the natural sequel to his Costa Book of the Year Award-winning The Shock of the Fall.

"Between 2004 and 2014, Karen and I made a dozen trips to Japan, to revisit places I went to on my first trip in 1970 and to go to places related to family and ancestral histories and myths.... Inspired by the travels of Basho and Sora, we logged over 20,000 miles across the four main islands ... up to Cape Soya, at the northern tip of Hokaido, and down to Cape Kasasa, at the southwestern corner of Kyushu"-- Author's note.