A passionate, thought-provoking exploration of walking as a political and cultural activity, from the author of Orwell's Roses Drawing together many histories--of anatomical evolution and city design, of treadmills and labyrinths, of walking clubs and sexual mores--Rebecca Solnit creates a fascinating portrait of the range of possibilities presented by walking. Arguing that the history of walking includes walking for pleasure as well as for political, aesthetic, and social meaning, Solnit focuses on the walkers whose everyday and extreme acts have shaped our culture, from philosophers to poets to mountaineers. She profiles some of the most significant walkers in history and fiction--from Wordsworth to Gary Snyder, from Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet to Andre Breton's Nadja--finding a profound relationship between walking and thinking and walking and culture. Solnit argues for the necessity of preserving the time and space in which to walk in our ever more car-dependent and accelerated world.

Walking Washington’s History: Ten Cities, a follow-up to Judy Bentley’s bestselling Hiking Washington’s History, showcases the state’s engaging urban history through guided walks in ten major cities. Using narrated walks, maps, and historic photographs, Bentley reveals each city’s aspirations. She begins in Vancouver, established as a fur trade emporium on a plain above the Columbia River, and ends with Bellevue, a bedroom community turned edge city. In between, readers crisscross the state, with walks through urban Olympia, Walla Walla, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Bellingham, Yakima, and Spokane. Whether readers pass through these cities as tourists or set out to explore their home terrain, they will discover both the visible and invisible markers of Washington history underfoot.

Offering a beguiling view of the history of walking, Wanderers guides us through the different ways of seeing—of being—articulated by ten pathfinding women writers. “A wild portrayal of the passion and spirit of female walkers and the deep sense of ‘knowing’ that they found along the path.”—Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path “I opened this book and instantly found that I was part of a conversation I didn't want to leave. A dazzling, inspirational history.”—Helen Mort, author of No Map Could Show Them This is a book about ten women over the past three hundred years who have found walking essential to their sense of themselves, as people and as writers. Wanderers traces their footsteps, from eighteenth-century parson’s daughter Elizabeth Carter—who desired nothing more than to be taken for a vagabond in the wilds of southern England—to modern walker-writers such as Nan Shepherd and Cheryl Strayed. For each, walking was integral, whether it was rambling for miles across the Highlands, like Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, or pacing novels into being, as Virginia Woolf did around Bloomsbury. Offering a beguiling view of the history of walking, Wanderers guides us through the different ways of seeing—of being—articulated by these ten pathfinding women.

For thousands of years people have traveled across Washington’s spectacular terrain, establishing footpaths and roads to reach hunting grounds and coal mines high in the mountains, fishing sites and trade emporiums on the rivers, forests of old growth, and homesteads and towns on prairies. These traditional routes have been preserved in national parks, restored by cities and towns, salvaged from old railroad tracks, and opened to hikers by Indigenous communities. In this new, full-color edition of the first-ever hiking guide to the state’s historic trails, historian and hiker Judy Bentley teams up with veteran guidebook author Craig Romano to lead adventurers of all abilities along trails on the coast, over mountains, through national forests, across plateaus, and on the banks of the Columbia River. Features include: • 44 hikes, including 12 new additions • Full-color trail maps • A trails timeline that connects hikes to key events • Updated trail descriptions • Accounts from diaries, journals, and archives • Historical overviews of 8 regions of the state • Contemporary and historical photographs Bentley and Romano offer an essential boots-on-the ground history of some of the state’s most fascinating places.

A collection of guided tours throughout London Black History Walks invites the reader to see their surroundings with new eyes.

This book is a series of walking tours of Portland Maine that contains descriptions of the historical background and context to numerous locations in the city. Map included.

A comprehensive study of walking canes from around the world, dating from the distant past to the modern-day. The book presents a historical context on both practical and ceremonial usage. At the same time, specially shot pictures showcase the celebrated A&D Collection of canes, while enlightening prose demonstrates the cane's enduring relevance to society. More than just a mobility aid, the cane has held numerous offices of significance. From the staff of the legendary Monkey King in the classic Chinese Journey to the West, or the stylised crosiers carried by high-ranking prelates from the Roman Catholic church, to the truncheon wielded by Mr Punch in puppet shows, canes are embedded in the culture of almost every country around the globe. Roving the map with one hand and thumbing through history books with the other, A Virtual History of Walking Canes and Sticks seeks not only to introduce the collector to the diverse wealth of canes available but also to entertain the casual reader. Intermingled with over 800 full-colour pictures are descriptions of gadget canes for tradesmen, squirting canes for pranksters, and glamorous Art Nouveau canes for the dapper gentlemen of the '20s. Informative and meticulously researched, this book paves an accessible route into a niche subject while paying homage to our ongoing relationship with canes. This story stretches back as far as history itself.