Wanderlust: A History of Walking (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780140286014)

A passionate, thought-provoking exploration of walking as a political and cultural activity, from the author of Orwell's Roses

Drawing together many histories--of anatomical evolution and city design, of treadmills and labyrinths, of walking clubs and sexual mores--Rebecca Solnit creates a fascinating portrait of the range of possibilities presented by walking. Arguing that the history of walking includes walking for pleasure as well as for political, aesthetic, and social meaning, Solnit focuses on the walkers whose everyday and extreme acts have shaped our culture, from philosophers to poets to mountaineers. She profiles some of the most significant walkers in history and fiction--from Wordsworth to Gary Snyder, from Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet to Andre Breton's Nadja--finding a profound relationship between walking and thinking and walking and culture. Solnit argues for the necessity of preserving the time and space in which to walk in our ever more car-dependent and accelerated world.

Author: Rebecca Solnit
ISBN-10: 0140286012
ISBN-13: 9780140286014
Publisher: Penguin Books
Language: English
Published: 06/01/2001
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 07/15/2001 pg. 28
Books & Culture 09/01/2002 pg. 18