|  | | | | |  | |  | | |  Bookstore: Eastern Europe
| If you're
planning to live and work in Eastern or Central Europe check out these great titles. We have picked out what you need in order to save money, make plans, and overcome culture shock. Our bookstore is in partnership with Amazon.com. Reviews are provided courtesy of Amazon.com. | | Travel Guides | Eastern Europe | | Synopsis
The most comprehensive, up-to-date guide to Eastern Europe available, including 16 countries from the Czech Republic to Russia, gateway cities, and the Trans-Siberian Railroad. *VISIT Dostoevsky's grave and meander through the
famed Hermitage for $2.
*SAVOR Bull's Blood wine in the Valley of Beautiful Women for $2.
*RAVE on a defunct nuclear reactor beneath a Black Sea sunrise for $5.
Paperback - 864 pages Revised Editions (December 1999) | |
Lonely Planet Eastern Europe (5th Ed)
by Steve Fallon | Synopsis
Covering Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Yugoslavia, this classic guide was the first to provide the vital, practical information necessary for independent travel in these countries. This edition contains over 150 detailed maps of
countries, regions, cities, villages, updated historical and political background notes, useful words and phrases in 10 languages and details on border crossings, visas and local currencies.
Paperback - 864 pages 5th edition (January 1999) | | Czech Republic and Slovakia | Avant Guide Prague
by Dan Levine (Editor) | Synopsis
"Refuse to be a tourist!" commands the back cover of Avant-Guide Prague. This guide challenges the reader-traveler to buck convention in more ways than one. Created for an audience
weaned on MTV and used to lots of in-your-face information, the book is laid out like a music video in print--its pages filled with artsy photographs set askew amid a mix of type styles and sizes. But once you tackle this optical onslaught, the content is useful and quite thorough for a pocket-sized guide. The authors spread the jargon and humor on lavishly, as this lowdown on the lingo illustrates: "Czech is one of the most difficult languages we have come across, just a hair
milder than Mandarin Chinese.... Even people who have studied the language for years still find it tough to collar the jive." The "Bohemian Rhapsodizing" and "Historical Crash Course" chapters include interviews with a political agitator who admits to planting drugs in the police chief's office, and with a thirtysomething parliamentarian about the fall of socialism, as well as excerpts from Václav Havel's first New Year's address to the nation.
Other chapters explain how to navigate the city; provide overviews of the top sights; describe walking tours; and cover fitness and sports, shopping, eating, sleeping, and alternatives to sleeping. The maps are readable and, yes, free of visual clutter. Note: The JobMonkey team used this book last winter for our getaway to Prague – it was very useful!
Paperback - 228 pages (April 1998) | |
Rough Guide Prague
by Rob Humphreys, Tim Nolan, J.M. Kelly | Synopsis
The European city of Prague has become home to a growing community of expatriate Europeans and Americans. The first edition of this guide was a
trailblazer for visitors and now, two versions later, here is yet another pioneering edition, fully revised to take account of all the changes--from architectural renovations to the latest crop of clubs and bars. 21 maps. color photos.
Paperback - 320 pages 4th edition (May 2000) | | The Rough Guide Czech and Slovak Republics
by Rob Humphreys | Synopsis
Catch up on the latest from the fast-changing Czech and Slovak Republics: punchy reviews of the best restaurants, pubs, and accommodations in every town; insiders accounts of Prague and Bratislava; and tips on everything from clubs to
opera productions. New background articles on the Romanies, racism, and the Slovak/Romanian problem keep you in touch with the countries as they truly are today.
Paperback - 528 pages 5th edition (July 2000) | | Hungary | Budapest : A Cultural Guide
by Michael Jacobs | Synopsis
Dramatically situated on the Danube and a popular tourist site of the 1990s, Budapest exhibits all the scale, grandeur, and excitement of a major capital, yet it is a city absorbed by nostalgia and history. Travel writer Michael Jacobs begins his
cultural guide with lively essays interwoven with his own experiences of the city's life, history, and culture. Includes detailed maps and 30 rich photographs.
Paperback - 288 pages (May 1998) | | Lonely Planet Budapest
by Steve Fallon | Synopsis
Lonely Planet's new "Budapest" provides vital information on everything from hidden courtyards to the Danube, from wonderful local wines to traditional goulash. This indispensable guide will help you get the most out of the 'first city' of Eastern Europe whether you travel by foot, train, car or boat. Learn where to stay, what to see and
appreciate the beauty that is Budapest. 6 full-color city maps, including transport map, extensive walking tours and a detailed museum section.
Paperback - 184 pages (August 2000) | | Poland | Lonely Planet Poland (3rd Edition)
by Krzysztof Dydynski | Synopsis
A comprehensive Polish language section and glossary, along with details on national parks, hiking routes and remote border regions headline this travel guide to one of Eastern Europe's newly accessible countries.
Paperback - 552 pages 3rd edition (November 1999) | | Eat Smart in Poland
by Joan B. Peterson, S.V. Medaris (Contributor), Susie V. Medaris | |
Synopsis
Eat Smart In Poland is "must" reading for anyone traveling in Poland for business or pleasure. The Peterson's provide the reader with a rich historical perspective on the origins and varieties of Polish food; extensive background on regional dishes, and easy-to-use menu guide to help make "surprise-free" selections from restaurant menus; a comprehensive glossary of foods and flavors; Polish phrases for ordering and buying food; handy shopping tips
for outdoor food and spice markets;; and recipes to preview the taste of Poland before departure. The informative and engaging text is wonderfully illustrated throughout with "on location" color photography by the Peterson's, and with black-and-white illustrations by Susie Medaris. Eat Smart In Poland is also highly recommended for ethnic cuisine clubs, and armchair traveler kitchen cookbook collections!
Paperback - 144 pages (February 2000) | | Eastern Europe Literature | General |
Ana's Land : Sisterhood in Eastern Europe
by Tanya Renne (Editor) | Synopsis
This unique grassroots anthology gives unmediated voice to women through the region, from activists and scholars to high-school students. In a variety of genres, including scholarly essays, interviews, and autobiography, contributors address issues such as abortion, forced unemployment, rape and
domestic violence, lesbianism, motherhood, ethnicity, war, media, and religion. Lightning Print on Demand Title.
Paperback - 240 pages (January 1997) | | Hungary | A History of Hungary
by Peter F. Sugar, Peter Hanak, Tibor Frank | Review
This is the finest single-volume history of Hungary in the English language. Highly recommended work, by one of the most incisive historians of central and south-eastern Europe around.
Paperback Reprint edition (August 1994) |
| Czech Republic and Slovakia | Commies, Crooks, Gypsies, Spooks & Poets : Thirteen Books of Prague in the Year of the Great Lice Epidemic
by Jan Novak | Synopsis
Jan Novak took his family to Prague for a year, and one of the results is this delightful book. Casting an ironic eye on the country in which he grew up, Novak remembers the Iron Curtain country of his childhood and observes the farcical contradictions of post-Communist Prague. Witty, astute, erudite, and willing to share his humiliations for the sake of honesty
and a good story, Novak touches on Prague lore (the Jewish golem, the clockmaker whose eyes were poked out by a jealous king), Prague history (including the Velvet Revolution martyr who didn't exist), and the Prague of 1992, where an encounter with a pickpocket on Charles Bridge marks the moment they stop being tourists and Prague becomes home. Insightful and very funny, Commies, Crooks, Gypsies, Spooks, & Poets is for anyone who's ever, or never, been to Prague.
Hardcover - 202 pages (May 1995) | | The Coasts of Bohemia
by Derek Sayer, Alena Sayer (Translator) | Synopsis
In The
Winter's Tale, a play of 1610, William Shakespeare gave a coastline to Bohemia, a landlocked country. Three hundred and twenty-eight years later, his compatriot Neville Chamberlain would call a brewing war in Czechoslovakia, as the country was called, "a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing." As Canadian scholar Sayer writes, knowingly, Bohemia eventually got its coastline, one "guarded by minefields, barbed-wire fences, and tall watchtowers
with machine guns," while the West took little notice. The general ignorance of all things Czech would cost Europe dearly, for conflagrations from the Thirty Years War to World War II (and even sparks that might have ignited World War III) have begun in the tiny country known by many names---Czechoslovakia, Bohemia, Moravia. Canadian scholar Sayer writes of the Czechs' struggle over centuries to define themselves as a people and nation, and he does so in a vivid, detailed narrative
that will enlighten readers who are unfamiliar with the critically important center of Eastern Europe.
Paperback - 408 pages (February 2000) | | Prague in Black and Gold : Scenes from the Life of a European City
by Peter Demetz |
Synopsis
A history of the Bohemian capital assesses Prague's true place in world civilization, separating the truths from the myths of the city's origins and surveying the key moments in its history in the heart of the Old World." Every year Prague attracts thousands of enthusiastic visitors with its Old World charms. For a millennium this
beautiful city in the heart of Central Europe, with its ancient townships set on hills and in valleys overlooking a strategic river, has been at the core of everything both wonderful and terrible in Western history. Prague in Black and Gold strips away the sentimental distortions in a brilliant account that clarifies Prague's true place in world civilization. Throughout, Demetz shows how Czechs, Germans, Italians, and Jews have lived and worked together in Prague for a thousand years -
and what their peaceful coexistence can teach us in these days of increased nationalism and xenophobia.
Paperback - 432 pages (April 1998) | | Prague: A Traveler's Literary Companion
by Paul Wilson (Editor) | Synopsis
The city of Prague has inspired a lot of fine literature, and Paul Wilson has done the English-speaking world a vast favor by compiling this anthology of 23 Prague stories. There are classics by the likes of Franz Kafka, Jan Neruda, and Ivan Klima, and lesser-known works making their English-translation debuts. There are autobiographical pieces, fiction, legend, stories from the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, tales from the Soviet regime, and contemporary pieces from the Czech Republic. Ivan Klima's epilogue is titled "The Spirit of Prague," and after reviewing Prague's history--cultural and political--he concludes that paradox is at Prague's heart, and irony and ridicule are its primary tools. Both devices are employed deftly throughout Wilson's anthology, providing clever, lyrical, and moving snippets of Prague's complex reality.
Paperback - (February 1995) | | Poland | Poland
by James A. Michener | Synopsis
Like the heroic land that is its subject, James Michener's POLAND teems with vivid events and unforgettble characters. In the sweeping span of eight tumultuous centuries, three Polish families live out their destinies and the drama of a nation--in the grand tradition of a great James Michener saga.
Mass Market Paperback Reissue edition (March 1990) |
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