Penn Press Log

Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden--Now Available

Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden
Adrian Higgins. Photographs by Rob Cardillo
192 pages | 10 x 7 | 92 color, 2 b/w illus.
Cloth Apr 2011 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4274-4 | $29.95 | £19.50

Chanticleer, located in Wayne, Pennsylvania, is a garden landscape of constant renewal. In Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden, Adrian Higgins and photographer Rob Cardillo chronicle the plantings and scenery over the course of two growing cycles, paying tribute to the horticulturists and artisans responsible for the garden's profound beauty.

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Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Penn Press Marketing at pressmkt@upenn.edu.

Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here

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The Best Transportation System in the World--Now in Paperback

The Best Transportation System in the World: Railroads, Trucks, Airlines, and American Public Policy in the Twentieth Century
Mark H. Rose, Bruce E. Seely, and Paul F. Barrett
344 pages | 6 x 9 | 17 illus.
Paper 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2116-9 | $24.95 | £16.50

This book focuses on the role of government in organizing the nation's transportation industries. As the authors show, over the course of the twentieth century transportation in the United States was as much a product of hard-fought politics, lobbying, and litigation as it was a naturally evolving system of engineering and available technology.

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Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Beat Cop to Top Cop--Now Available

Beat Cop to Top Cop: A Tale of Three Cities
John F. Timoney. Foreword by Tom Wolfe
352 pages | 6 x 9
Cloth 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4246-1 | $24.95 | £16.50
A volume in the City in the Twenty-First Century series

From Beat Cop to Top Cop: A Tale of Three Cities documents John Timoney's rise, from his days as a tough street cop in the South Bronx right up to his role as police chief of Miami.

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Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here

The Business of Tourism--Now in Paperback

The Business of Tourism: Place, Faith, and History
Edited by Philip Scranton and Janet F. Davidson
304 pages | 6 x 9 | 18 illus.
Cloth 2006 | ISBN 978-0-8122-3968-3 | $55.00 | £36.00
Paper Dec 2009 | ISBN 978-0-8122-1965-4 | $24.95 | £16.50
A volume in the Hagley Perspectives on Business and Culture series

The Business of Tourism transports readers from the foundations of mass leisure travel in 1860s Egypt to contemporary religious sight-seeing in Branson, Missouri; from the Stalinist Soviet Union to post-Soviet Cuba. This collection of ten essays explores the enterprises, institutions, and technologies of tourist activity.

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Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenerg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here

Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia--Now Available

Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia
Roger W. Moss Photographs by Tom Crane
320 pages | 8 3/4 x 11 3/4 | 223 color illus.
Cloth 2008 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4106-8 | $34.95 | £23.00

In Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia Roger Moss and Tom Crane feature nationally significant sites. This lavishly illustrated book celebrates Philadelphia's evolution from modest mercantile outpost of a colonial power, to capital of a proud new nation, to a robust world-renowned cosmopolitan city. Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.

In Darkest Alaska--Now Available

In Darkest Alaska: Travel and Empire Along the Inside Passage
Robert Campbell
360 pages | 6 x 9 | 39 illus.
Cloth 2007 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4021-4 | $45.00 | £29.50
A volume in the Nature and Culture in America series

Prior to the great Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, travelers returned from Alaska's Inside Passage with fascinating accounts of its wonders. Historian Robert Campbell demonstrates how these tourists served as shock troops of the gold rush by portraying Alaska as a "Last West" ripe for American conquest.

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Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Tropic of Venice Contest Winner

Tropic of Venice author Margaret Doody knows Venice. So does Bonnie Hollis, winner of our Tropic of Venice contest.

Over 360 people took our Tropic of Venice online quiz. 15 answered all of the questions correctly to qualify for our prize raffle. Of those 15, Hollis was chosen at random to receive a $50 Penn Press gift certificate.

See how well you know Venice. Take the quiz for yourself.

1. Look at the buildings featured on the cover of Tropic of Venice. The tower behind the Doge's Palace and pretty much every other structure in the area, including the famous piazza, are named after what saint?
A. St. Mark
B. St. Peter
C. St. Norbert

2. In which Henry James novel does an American woman named Milly travel to Venice?
A. The Aspern Papers
B. The Wings of the Dove
C. Portrait of a Lady

3. The controversial multibillion dollar plan to save sinking Venice from the rising waters of the Adriatic Sea is known as:
A. The Grand Arms
B. The Noah Project
C. The Moses Project

4. Genuine Venetian masks created by Ca Macana and Mondonovo appeared in what Stanley Kubrick film?
A. A Clockwork Orange
B. Eyes Wide Shut
C. Barry Lyndon

5. Who painted The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the grand altarpiece that was installed in Venice's S Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in 1518?
A. Titian
B. Fra Bartolommeo
C. Raphael

"Venice" Makes ForeWord's Big Ten

ForeWord magazine lists Margaret Doody's Tropic of Venice among the Big Ten Outstanding Books from University Presses for 2006. The ForeWord review begins by placing Doody in some impressive company:

To present the ever-beguiling Venice anew calls for knowledge, perception, and imaginative interpretation: John Ruskin, Henry James, James, Morris, and John Julius Norwich provide stiff competition. But Margaret Doody, an admired and gifted critic, traveler, and novelists, possesses all needed strengths and has written a splendid book.

The review ends by calling  Tropic of Venice "A book to savor."

Click here to read the complete review.

"Before Columbus" Author Teaches Brits about Jaywalking

Since Felipe Fernandez-Armesto wrote Before Columbus Exploration and Colonization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1229-1492, he has gone on to great fame in his field. Thanks to an encounter with the Atlanta Police Department, that fame was recently expanded.

From What every Brit should know about jaywalking,  the BBC's cautionary online article:

It is a cautionary tale for any traveller - distinguished historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto tried to cross the road while in Atlanta for the conference of the American Historical Association, only to find himself in handcuffs and surrounded by armed police.

Take the Tropic of Venice Quiz

Find out how well you know Venice by taking our online quiz. Answer all five questions correctly and you could win a $50 Penn Press gift certificate.

What happens in Venice doesn't stay in Venice. Over the centuries, art inspired by this city on the Adriatic, from the paintings of Titian to the words of Henry James, has spread around the world and into the public imagination.

In Tropic of Venice, critic, novelist, and traveler Margaret Doody offers her unique perspective on the city where the holy is never far from the sensual. Weaving her personal travel experience into her literary observations, Doody examines how Venice has held so many in its sway and how its reflections in art reveal so much about western culture.