*A SPECTATOR, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, ECONOMIST AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020*
A captivating new book - from the winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Into the Silence - that illuminates Colombia's complex past, present, and future through the story of the great Rio Magdalena.
Travellers often become enchanted with the first country that captures their hearts and gives them license to be free. For Wade Davis, it was Colombia. In this masterful new book, he revisits the mighty Magdalena, the river that made possible the nation. Along the way, he finds a people who have overcome years of conflict precisely because of their character, informed by an enduring spirit of place, and a deep love of a land that is home to the greatest ecological and geographical diversity on the planet.
Only in Colombia can a traveller wash ashore in a coastal desert, follow waterways through wetlands as wide as the sky, ascend narrow tracks through dense tropical forests, and reach verdant Andean valleys rising to soaring ice-clad summits.
Both a corridor of commerce and a fountain of culture, the wellspring of Colombian music, literature, poetry and prayer, the Magdalena has served in dark times as the graveyard of the nation. And yet, always, it returns as a river of life. At once an absorbing adventure and an inspiring tale of hope and redemption, Magdalena gives us a rare, kaleidoscopic picture of a nation on the verge of a new period of peace.
Braiding together memoir, history, and journalism, Wade Davis tells the story of the country's most magnificent river, and in doing so, tells the epic story of Colombia.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
Anyone who wishes to understand this mysterious corner of the world deserves Magdalena. It is a capacious, generous and illuminating book -- -Juan Gabriel Vasquez After all our agonies, Wade Davis, through the evocative power of his writing and the clarity of his understanding, gives us all reason to once again love Colombia. That is the wonder of his book, which in many ways reads as a love letter to a nation -- Hector Abad, author of Oblivion Davis stocks his lively narrative with piquant characters, dramatic historical set pieces, and lyrical nature writing. The result is a rich, fascinating study of how nature and a people shape each other * Publishers Weekly * Shimmering... Never wincing from dark histories, yet never abandoning hope, Wade Davis shows us why Colombia stole his heart as a young traveller and holds it still -- Kate Harris, author of Lands of Lost Borders A magnificent, hugely important book, breathtaking in its scope and vision ... a masterpiece ... an epic journey across the nation and into its beating heart ...essential reading for anyone wanting to understand Colombia -- Anna Lewington [Magdalena] is a rallying cry to save the Magdalena from the destructive effects of industrialisation, but it also aims to reset our impressions of the country as a whole... [Davis's] passion for Colombia is better expressed in the depth of information he delivers - and the poetic way in which he captures its extraordinary landscape. Those pondering a trip will be inspired to veer off the tourist path -- Jenny Coad * The Times * Davis is a powerful, penetrating and immensely knowledgeable writer -- Charles Nicholl * Guardian, *Book of the Week* * Davis suffuses his reportage with a visionary tinge. But his subject more than warrants it -- Boyd Tonkin * Financial Times * Magdalena is a revelatory and often enchanting book * Economist * This book is the culmination of a lifetime's work in the country and is suffused with a love and knowledge that only such long acquaintance can bring -- Hugh Thomson * Spectator * Passionate and profoundly engaged... [Davis'] presentation of the great river as Colombia's Mississippi, its fountain of music, the source of its many contradictions...generates an impact that few travel books can muster. -- Brian Morton * Tablet * Music and myth, commerce and colonialism, indigeneity and identity: Magdalena is as impressively exploratory in approach as it is encyclopaedic in scope -- Oliver Balch * Times Literary Supplement * A wonderful evocation of a lifetime's travel in Colombia -- Hugh Thomson * Spectator, *Books of the Year* * Wonderful -- Ilse Crawford * Observer * [An] outstanding travelogue... [Davis] tells epic tales of passion, violence and ambition with tremendous narrative verve -- Ian Critchley * Sunday Times, *Books of the Year* * Davis manages this complex story brilliantly, mixing his knowledge of environmental complexity with a historian's grasp of the big picture... Davis's deep understanding and affection for the people and the environment sweep the reader along -- Robin Hanbury-Tension * Geographical, *Book of the Month* *
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Maße
Höhe: 240 mm
Breite: 162 mm
Dicke: 162 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-84792-610-4 (9781847926104)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Wade Davis is a multi award-winning writer and acclaimed photographer whose work has taken him from the Amazon to Tibet, Africa to Australia, Polynesia to the Arctic. Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society from 2000 to 2013, he is currently Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. He is the bestselling author of 22 books, including One River, The Wayfinders and Into the Silence, which was awarded the 2012 Samuel Johnson Prize. In 2016, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2018 he became an Honorary Citizen of Colombia.
