The World: Travels 1950-2000
Jan Morris (2003)

THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

One of our favorite of collections of travel writing is a compilation of work from Jan Morris called The World: Travels 1950-2000.  Morris has both written and traveled extensively, and so this assemblage of her work truly covers the world, including selections from her books on Hong Kong, Venice, and Oxford.  She is an extremely talented and renowned writer, and as a former journalist for The Times, she also can share firsthand accounts of historic events like the first successful ascent of Mount Everest, the historic Eichmann trial, the Cold War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.  The World: Travels 1950-2000 is both a travel book and one person's personal view into the history of the world over these 50 years.
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OTHER A5 RECOMMENDED TRAVEL BOOKS - JAN MORRIS
Jan Morris is a well-known journalist, author, ex-spyand most importantly as one of the world's finest travel writers, known for her portrait of cities and for the pure quality of her writing.  Learn more about her by clicking here.

INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD: TRAVELS 1950-2000

"Fifty years later, we now have The World, which provides us with as complete an overview of Morris's work as we will ever see.  Dividing the volume into five decades, Morris presents history with an unparalleled dramatic flair, creating a riveting portrait of the twentieth century, from the political idealism of the postwar years to its more recent tensions and excesses.  With characteristic nuance and keen perspective, Morris makes vast cities seems almsot three-dimensional - recreating moods and smells, describing people and history with an immediacy that makes you feel you are there.  From Manhattan to Sydney, Hong Kong to Trieste, Morris reports on a world capable of producing limitless hope and soul-darkening despair - from the promise of Sputnik to the ravages of AIDs, and all manners of things in-between."

INTERESTING LINKS:

  • Read the 2003 review of The World: Travels 1950-2000 by Craig Seligman for the New York Times​.
  • Read Michael Shapiro's interview with Jan Morris at her home in Wales in A Sense of Place, a collection of face to face discussions with some the world's best travel writers on their craft and on their inspiration.