1001 Historic Sites You Must See Before You Die by Richard Cavendish (Editor), Koichiro Matsuura, Koichiro Matsuura (Preface by)

From the Publisher

This lively and informative guide explores the astonishing variety of places where human beings have left their mark""places that can still be visited and relished today. Each entry outlines the history of an outstanding site, with details on its construction and""where relevant""the architect or engineer who created it. Written and researched by an international team of historians and journalists, this comprehensive study spans the whole of human history, from the cradle of the human race to modern times.

1001 Historic Sites You Must See Before You Die is a comprehensive and sumptuous visual guide, and a one-stop compendium of the historically important must-see sites around the world. Join general editor Richard Cavendish and his international team of historians and journalists in an amazing virtual tour of the historically most significant sites you should see in your lifetime. From UNESCO heritage sites that preserve the wonders of the ancient world, such as the Great Wall of China and the pyramids of Egypt, to memorials that commemorate significant moments in the twentieth century, and from the Sterkfontein Caves near Johannesburg in South Africa""the "cradle of the human race"?""to Checkpoint Charlie, the sites featured in this book invariably fascinate and astound their visitors.

Featuring more than 800 color photographs, 1001 Historic Sites You Must See Before You Die is both beautiful to look at and fascinating to read. You will find many of the great engineering works of the past and present ""viaducts, bridges, ships""described within these pages, together with places of worship, such as the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, and Orvieto Cathedral, Italy. Just asfascinating are key seats of power, from Versailles to the White House, and the world's major battlefields, from Gettysburg to the Somme. Organized geographically, descriptions of world-famous structures stand beside those of forgotten fields that bear the imprint of historical events. The result is a collection that is enormous in scope and surprising in its variety.

Open this stunning and informative book and let it become your essential visual guide to the most inspiring sites around the world.

(back flap)
Richard Cavendish is a historian of ideas and an authority on Britain's historic heritage. He writes a regular monthly column in History Today magazine. He is also the author of several books on history and the wonders of the world, as well as the editor of numerous travel guidebooks. He has lectured and broadcast in Britain, the U.S.A., Denmark, Canada, and Australia.

Publishers Weekly

In this thick travel guide, Cavendish, a veteran travel writer and columnist for History Today magazine, assigns readers enough must-see agendas to fill several lifetimes. Well-organized by region and graced with thorough historical descriptions of each locale, this volume's impressive range incorporates everything from typical tourist destinations like Westminster Abbey, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China, as well as unusual spots like the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Guinness Brewery in Dublin, and the Mercedes-Benz Factory in Stuttgart, Germany. What's missing is the information a tourist would need actually to visit these sites: directions, hours of operation, and other handy tips are overlooked. Probably too heavy handed for a casual tourist, this guide would be most useful for the experienced traveler or history buff.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Michael F. Bemis - Library Journal

This is the latest entry in the publisher's "Must See Before You Die" series, with previous titles having covered such varied topics as movies, gardens, and natural wonders. Hefty but compact, the tome is organized according to five broad geographical regions: the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. After that, things get dicey, as entries appear to be placed at random. To compensate, an "Index of Historic Sites" appears at the very front, with nations listed alphabetically and each nation including its own alphabetized roster of entries. Human-made structures, e.g., buildings, bridges, monuments, and the like, are emphasized. The sumptuous color photographs are accompanied by three to four paragraphs of text describing the particulars of location and construction and a brief history, often with surprising or ironic tidbits. For instance, the notorious Kilmainham Jail in Dublin, aka "the Irish Bastille," was ordered built in the 1790s by one Sir Edward Newenham. This being the era of debtors' prison, the hapless politician was incarcerated within the walls of his own creation shortly thereafter for not paying his bills. Enlivening the book is a certain literary air: snippets of poetry and quotations from belles-lettres immortalizing an architectural gem are frequently presented as call-outs, as in "Yet I remember...the deep midnight, the Bridge of Sighs, the beauty of woman" (Edgar Allan Poe, The Assignation, 1834), which appears in the entry for this famed span in Venice, Italy.

Product Details