Travel the World with Harvard University Press!

Harvard University Press would like to present the Gather community with two of its travel series, From the Ground Up and Wonders of the World. From Venice to Beijing to Cairo, we invite you to explore these works of illuminating nonfiction and breathtaking photography.

FROM THE GROUND UP offers a fresh perspective on centuries of change and growth in cities, drawn from buildings and ruins, squares and waterways, and works of art. Each chapter, accompanied by maps, illustrations, and lush photographs, doubles as both engaging narrative history and itinerary for the sophisticated traveler.

Venice from the Ground Up
by James H. S. McGregor

Venice came to life on mudflats at the edge of the habitable world. Protected in a tidal estuary from invaders and Byzantine overlords, the fishermen and traders who settled there crafted a way of life unlike anything the Roman Empire had ever known. In an astonishing feat of narrative history, James H. S. McGregor recreates this world, with its waterways rather than roads and its livelihood harvested from the sea. The narrative follows both a chronological and geographical organization, so that readers can trace the city's evolution by chapter and visitors can explore it by district on foot and by boat.

Want more? Visit our comprehensive web feature on Venice from the Ground Up to read excerpts and reviews, explore sample maps, and find recommendations for further reading on Venice and Italy.


Rome from the Ground Up
by James H. S. McGregor

Rome is not one city but many, each with its own history unfolding from a different center. Beginning with the very shaping of the ground on which Rome first rose, this book conjures all these cities, past and present, conducting the reader through time and space to the complex and shifting realities--architectural, historical, political, and social--that constitute Rome.

Browse through our comprehensive web feature on Rome from the Ground Up for excerpts, further information on the book and author, review attention, and web resources.



Washington from the Ground Up

by James H. S. McGregor

At the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, President Washington chose a diamond-shaped site for the city that would bear his name, along with the burdens and blessings of democracy. Moving chronologically and geographically throughout the District, McGregor tells a tale of two cities: official Washington, whose stately neoclassical buildings expressed the government's power and global reach; and DC, whose minority communities, especially African Americans, lived in the shadows of poverty.

*Winner of the 2008 Georgia Author of the Year Award, Creative Non-Fiction Specialty Book, Sponsored by the Georgia Writers Association.

And now, we invite you to browse our WONDERS OF THE WORLD !

[The] Wonders of the World series, [is] fast becoming something of a wonder itself, with its elegant design, its scholarly enthusiasm, and its respect for the general reader. Like the best guides, it makes one long to visit the place in question, armed with book in hand."
—Mark Bostridge, The Independent

Please click on the jackets to learn more about the books, read an excerpt, or see review attention.

For more Wonders of the World, such as The Parthenon, The Rosetta Stone, The Alhambra, and Westminster Abbey, please follow this link to our Travel Book Features Page.



CITIES OF THE WORLD from Harvard University Press: click on jackets to browse the book page!