Mediterranean Winter: The Pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Sicily, Dalmatia and the Peloponnese

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In Mediterranean Winter, Kaplan, bestselling author of Balkan Ghosts, relives an austere journey he took as a youth thru the off season Mediterranean The awnings are rolled up Other tourists are gone Cold damp weather takes him back to the 1950s earlier a golden, intensely personal age of tourism Decades ago, He voyaged from N Africa to Italy, Yugoslavia Greece, enjoying the radical freedom of youth, unaccountable to time because there was always time to make up for mistakes He recalls the journey less to look inward into his own past than to look outward in order to dissect the process of learning thru travel, in which a succession of new landscapes can lead to books artwork never before encountered He 1st imagines Tunis as the glow of gypsum lamps shimmering against lime washed mosques the city he actually discovers is even intoxicating He goes to the ramparts of a Turkish kasbah where Carthaginian, Roman Byzantine forts once stood I could see deep into Algeria over a ribwork of hills so gaunt it seemed the wind had torn the flesh off them In these surroundings he discovers Augustine the courtyards of Tunis lead him to the historical writings of Ibn Khaldun He goes to the 5th century Greek temple at Segesta reflects on the failed Athenian invasion of Sicily At Hadrian s villa, Shattered domes revealed clouds moving overhead in countless visions of eternity It was a place made for silence for contemplation, where you wanted a book handy Everycorner was a cloister No view was panoramic each seemed deliberately composed His bus, train nighttime boat rides, his long walks to archeological sites lead him to subjects as varied as the Berber threat to Carthage the Roman army s hunt for the warlord Jugurtha the legacy of Byzantine art the medieval Greek philosopher Georgios Gemistos Plethon, who helped kindle the Italian Renaissance 20th century British literary writing about Greece the links between Rodin the Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic Within these pages are smells, tastes the profundity of chance encounters Mediterranean Winter begins in Rodin s sculpture garden in Paris, passes thru gritty streets of Marseilles, ends with a moving epiphany about Greece as the world prepares for the 2004 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Winter is the story of an education, filled with memories history, not the author s alone, but humanity s as well. Free Read Mediterranean Winter: The Pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Sicily, Dalmatia and the Peloponnese Author Robert D. Kaplan For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Mediterranean Winter is a really good read It is subtitled The pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Siciliy, Dalmatia and the Peloponnese It is a travel book that Robert Kaplan wrote in 2004 about a trip he took back in the 70s The focus of the book is actually on what it says history and landscape, and how they influenced each other I already knew Kaplan as I read The Ends of the Earth , another travel book that describes his journey from the poorest areas of West Africa Mediterranean Winter is a really good read It is subtitled The pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Siciliy, Dalmatia and the Peloponnese It is a travel book that Robert Kaplan wrote in 2004 about a trip he took back in the 70s The focus of the book is actually on what it says history and landscape, and how they influenced each other I already knew Kaplan as I read The Ends of the Earth , another travel book that describes his journey from the poorest areas of West Africa Laos, Togo, Benin to Iran and Turkmenistan Kaplan was a regular reporter when Bill Clinton was spotted with his book Balkan Ghosts tucked under his arm during his presidency That propelled Kaplan s popularity like a rocket, and he was s...There are a handful of great travel writers of the 20th century In their number I would include Patrick Leigh Fermor, Freya Stark, Robert Byron, Lawrence Durrell, and Robert D Kaplan His Mediterranean Winter The Pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Sicily, Dalmatia and the Peloponnese is the type of travel book I love to read It is imbued not only with the landscape, the history, and the culture of the places he visits but he also pays homage to the travel writers who preceded h There are a...Kaplan tells the story of his travels to Tunisia, Sicily, mainland Italy, Yugoslavia and Greece in the 1970 s, largely based upon the journals he was keeping at the time The strength of the book lies in his fleshing out impressions of each location with historical background, without making it seem as though he s padding out the book he has visited the region several times since then he was based in Athens for years , so there s some then and now comparison as well Definitely recommended Kaplan tells the story of his travels t...I had started this a while back and it got buried in the general book chaos of this place I have read many of Robert D Kaplan s books, starting back with Balkan Ghosts , a book that almost revolutionized how I viewed the writing of history I consider him a genius of his craft This book is a short but intensely erudite journey through his own past and that of the title the Med If you don t have the time or inclination to delve into the depths of say Gibbon, Norwich or Braudel this concise I had started this a while back and it got buried in the general book chaos of this place I have read many of Robert D Kaplan s books, starting back with Balkan Ghosts , a book that almost revolutionized how I viewed the writing of history I consider him a genius of his craft This book is a short but intensely erudite journey through his own past and that of the title the Med If you don t have the time or inclination to delve into the depths of say Gibbon, Norwich or Braudel this concise travelogue history bibliographical review will fill the bill quite well,...Robert D Kaplan s unique style of historical travel writing is finely demonstrated in this heartfelt volume While the setting is slightlyoffbeat and different from his previous works, he nonetheless delivers in his usual way, albeit with a slightly different setting.For those familiar with Kaplan s works, he employs his adept way of describing places through feeling, and the small features that give them their unique characteristics However, this is coupled with the historical and cultu Robert D Kaplan s unique style of historical travel writing is finely demonstrated in this heartfelt volume While the setting is slightlyoffbeat and different from his previous works, he nonetheless delivers in his usual way, albeit with a slightly different setting.For those familiar with Kaplan s works, he employs his adept way of describing places through feeling, and the small features that give them their unique characteristics However, this is coupled with the historical and cultural insight to the places, as...Erudite and beautifully scripted In this work, Kaplan makes me want to return to Greece to see what I had previously viewed with an increased sense of appreciation and to go to lands I have yet to see with open and enlightened eyes This book is a testament to the pursuit of ...I am really captivated by Kaplan s books This one is done as a memory of his first travels in Europe in the mid 70 s but with an update of his return visits to some of these places over the years Here he focuses on Tunisia and I am reminded of the scene in Patton where he reminisces about fighting with the Romans and Kaplan brings up all of that ancient history as he moves about the country Later his high spot in Italy is Hadrian s Villa outside of Rome It wasn t on my tour but sounds like a I am really captivated by Kaplan s books This one is done as a memory of his first travels in Europe in the mid 70 s but with an update of his return visits to some of these places over the years Here he focuses on Tunisia and I am reminded of the scene in Patton where he reminisces about fighting with the Romans and Kaplan brings up all of that ancient history as he moves about the country Later his high spot in Italy is Hadrian s Villa outside of Rome It wasn t on my tour but sounds like an interesting place to visit with a sort of Hearst Castle look from the photos online Kaplan gives usinsight and history about Hadrian whose wall I only recently encountered Then he is off to the Adriatic to Split and Dubrovnik which I could be sailing with Koz to this month if I had desired But he ends in Greece and visits a 90 year old British writer named Patrick Leigh Fermor said to be a combination Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene whose home at Kardamyli was used in the movie Before...One of the great joys offered by life exploration, going forth to new vistas, unknown territory Mr Kaplan discusses the explorer, the traveler, the tourist, and concludes that the traveler, by definition, faces difficulties The word is related to travail For my part, I have chosen tourist in the wider world, and have suffered enough under that title Bad food, or none Long waits all waits are long in my book , cramped seating and so on Ah, but I do get to explore the know...I gave this book five stars because isa history book than a travel book , you find so much references for in yourself in history of the Mediterranean.An interesting read, though frustrating for his elevation of ancient Greece in a place like Tunisia above anything current.

Mediterranean Winter: The Pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Sicily, Dalmatia and the Peloponnese
  • English
  • 12 July 2017
  • Paperback
  • 272 pages
  • 0375714332
  • Robert D. Kaplan
  • Mediterranean Winter: The Pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Sicily, Dalmatia and the Peloponnese