The Yoshiwara: Edo's 19th Century Red Light District (01/12)
Katherine Govier's
The Printmaker's Daughter is historical fiction based on the real-life Japanese printmaker,
Hokusai - best known for his
ukiyo-e* series
entitled
Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji - and his daughter, Ei.
The character Ei spends much of her early life in the Yoshiwara, or red light district, of Edo (...
Religion in China (11/11)
Religion in China is a hard topic to pin down. The country has been officially atheist since 1949 - a policy that was rigorously enforced through the early years of the People's Republic of China but was relaxed in the 1970s.
Since 1978 the Constitution of the People's Republic of China has guaranteed 'freedom of religion' and the ...
Historic Chicago in Bright and Distant Shores (11/11)
In
Bright and Distant Shores, Dominic Smith references some of the historic people and events that helped shape Chicago around the turn of the 20th century. Read on for more information about these fascinating institutions:
- Hull House - a resource for new immigrants to the U.S. established by two women in 1889. They offered a ...
Gullah Culture (11/11)
The Gullah (known as Geechee in Georgia and Florida) are descendants of West African slaves, whose numbers today range from 200,000-500,000.
The Gullah region traditionally extends along the coast from SE North Carolina, through Georgia to Northern Florida, including the Lowcountry region and its Sea Islands (see map at bottom left).
...
Siberian Sampler (10/11)
Ian Frazier encounters a diverse range of Siberian foodstuffs on his journey, from the salmon he helps to catch in the Bering Sea off Chukotka, to the linty sausage he pulls out of his luggage time after time on a long train trip. Here is a sampling of morsels from the culinary landscapes Frazier explores.
Ukha – A brief ...
Menno Simons and the Mennonite Church (10/11)
Menno Simons was an Anabaptist religious leader born in 1496 in Witmarsen (the Netherlands). Although he was not the founder of this branch of religion, he was a very important figure in the organizing of the Dutch Mennonite church, and his followers became known as Mennonites.
According to the
Global Anabaptist Mennonite ...
Noirmoutier (10/11)
A Secret Kept is set primarily in Paris and Noirmoutier (pronounced 'nwar mooteeay'), an island off the Atlantic coast of France in the Loire region. A popular tourist destination for both beach-lovers and history buffs, Ile de Noirmoutier (literally 'island of black monastery') has several claims to fame:
It is home to La Bonnotte...
Apartheid and Race Relations in South Africa (10/11)
Apartheid ('separateness',
pronounced 'apar-tate' in Afrikaans, although many English speakers say 'apar-tide') was a government-enforced system of racial segregation instituted in South Africa (
map) in 1948. Control of the government at that time was held by White
Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch colonists who started to arrive in ...
The Tower of London (09/11)
If you've read the The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise you'll already have been taken on a veritable history tour of The Tower of London and the Yeoman Warders, popularly known as Beefeaters, who guard it. For those who haven't read the book yet or, for that matter have but would like a quick summary of some of the history of the Tower,...
The Israel National Trail (09/11)
In To the End of the Land, the central characters backpack along the northern stretch of the Israel National Trail, which is also known as 'The Galilee.'
The Israel National Trail (INT) is a 597 mile long (955 km) hiking trail that crosses the entire country of Israel, north to south, running from the city of Dan on the Lebanese ...
Why Quebec Speaks French (09/11)
The province of Quebec is Canada's second most populous province, after Ontario. It is the only Candian province to have French as its sole official language, and has a predominantly French speaking population with 4 out of 5 ranking French as their first language, and 95% able to speak it. Eight percent state that English is their first ...
The Navajo Nation (08/11)
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous political and cultural entity within the United States which covers northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and parts of southeastern Utah. This is part of the area known as the Four Corners region, where the borders of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet, which became USA territory...
A Quick Tour of Chinese Cities Found in Rock Paper Tiger (07/11)
Since the 2008 Olympics, China has become more of a tourist destination than ever. For those of us who haven't ventured that far, here is an overview of the cities where Ellie Cooper tried to elude her pursuers.
Beijing
Also known as Peking, Beijing is the capital of The People's Republic of China as well as its political, educational...
Mormon Fundamentalists (06/11)
Estimates of the number of Mormon fundamentalists residing in the western United States, Canada and Mexico range from 20,000 to 60,000 (compared with over 10 million mainstream Mormons worldwide). Although there are numerous sects, the largest two are the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church) and the ...
The Philippines (06/11)
The Republic of the Philippines, a tropical archipelago in Southeast Asia, is comprised of more than 7,000 islands. The major island groups include Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, Negros, and Cebu. The country is believed to have been first settled by the Aetas (who the Spanish settlers named
Negritos). Although the Aetas' short stature, ...
Bautzen, Germany (06/11)
Bautzen, located in the Upper Lusatia region, along the Spree River in Saxony, dates back to the Stone Age, though it was not mentioned in writing (as 'Budusin') until the eleventh century. The city acquired its present name in 1868.
Its history has been marked by several widely documented events, including the pogroms on ...
The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness (04/11)
Location is integral to Laura Bell's memoir; not only does the land around her serve as a subtle metaphor for her emotions, but it also gives her a complex and compelling backdrop for her narrative. Though Bell's memoir stretches across the state of Wyoming, the majority of her story is concentrated in and around the Absaroka-Beartooth ...
221b Baker Street (04/11)
In
The Brothers of Baker Street, Reggie Heath's law office resides at 221b Baker Street, the same address as the fictional residence of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John H. Watson between 1881 and 1904, according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. Today at that location, you will find the
Sherlock Holmes Museum, a non-profit organization ...
The Maine Warden Service (04/11)
'The woods. The state. Everything. More and more people keep coming up here, up to Maine, and they don't understand what's special about this place... They have these distorted ideas about nature... and I didn't want to live that way. I thought that if I joined the Warden Service maybe I wouldn't have to, and maybe I could help a few ...
Kodagu (04/11)
'Dizzying' and 'glorious' are the words Sarita Mandanna first uses to describe the Indian district that is her birthplace and the setting for Tiger Hills. Now known primarily as Kodagu rather than the anglicized name, 'Coorg,' used in the novel, the district has long been known, as Mandanna notes, as 'The Scotland of India' by the many ...
The Winds of the Pyrenees Orientales (03/11)
'The Pyrenees-Orientales is the Command Center of winds. Here they all congregate, quarrel, barter and rule. There are said to be 119 different winds in the Pyrenees-Orientales. (If you could sell wind we'd be rich, people used to say in the days before the foothills got sown with rows of gigantic new turbines, without...
The Norbulingka and Potala Palaces (02/11)
Until he was forced into exile in 1959, the Dalai Lama lived and studied in two magnificent palaces in Lhasa that housed the historical and religious treasures of his nation.
The buildings and gardens of the Norbulingka (the Summer Palace) cover over 89 acres and were at the heart of the 1959 uprising described in Talty's ...
The Appalachian Region (02/11)
According to the
Appalachian Regional Commission, the Appalachian Region stretches along the Appalachian Mountain range from Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi up through parts of Pennsylvania and New York (see map below left). When most people refer to Appalachia, however, they are referring to the central (Virginia, West Virginia, and ...
Labrador and Newfoundland (01/11)
Annabel takes place in Newfoundland and Labrador, a province of Canada. Located on the Atlantic coast, the province is divided into the mainland area of Labrador (east and north of Quebec), and the island of Newfoundland. With a total area roughly the size of Colorado, the island of Newfoundland makes up 25% of the area and 94% of the ...
The Religious "Nones" (01/11)
Because the US Census doesn't collect information about religious affiliation, the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) began its own survey in 1990 with 113,000 interviews, and followed up with 54,000 in 2008.
According to the ARIS Survey, Nones make up 15% of the US adult population, up from 8% in 1990. So who are they?...
Indonesia (01/11)
Map of the Invisible World takes place during a tumultuous time in recent Indonesian history - the post-colonial turmoil that is common when empires finally relinquish territories they've been occupying for centuries. Like many areas of the world, Indonesia has been influenced and sometimes occupied by successive waves of immigration and ...
Brazil's Favelas (11/10)
In his novel Heliopolis, James Scudamore candidly describes the favelas of Brazil as poor shantytown communities; 'from a distance, you can't imagine anyone living in such a place: the area has the chaotic texture of a landfill site, a rubbish dump… dense thickets of unofficial power lines; walls and roofs of remaindered breeze-block...
An Irish Lexicography (11/10)
When reading Love and Summer, American readers will encounter many Irish words and phrases with which they may not be familiar. What follows is a list of some of these, highlighted within a sentence from the book, along with the accompanying definition. Definitions come from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
1. By the time the stairs ...
The Norfolk Coast (11/10)
Norfolk is a largely rural county, located on the east coast of England, in an area known as East Anglia, about a 2 hour train ride from London. Its 43-mile coast along the North Sea is defined by a range of wide beaches, chalky cliffs, sand dunes, and salt marshes that house world-famous bird reserves. The area was designated an Area of ...
America's Most Haunted Cemeteries (11/10)
Luckily for young Bod he happened upon an abandoned graveyard that was
haunted by benign, some would even say friendly, ghosts. Caspers, one and all.
Apparently, not all cemeteries are so hospitable.
The
Haunted America Tours website chronicles the ten most haunted cemeteries in the United States. Topping the list is the St. Louis ...
A Brief History of North Korea (10/10)
Korea's earliest known history begins around the 4th century B.C. Korea developed into several regions based around walled communities that acted somewhat like states. China controlled some southern parts of Korea, but in the 7th century A.D., one of the states, Silla, was able to drive China out of Korea's borders. As a result, Korea was...
The Australian Penal Colonies (10/10)
You might wonder why Britain would choose to send ships filled with convicts
and their jailors to, quite literally, the other side of the world. The
answer is simple economics.
In the 1780s, the British population was increasing fast, as were the effects of
the Industrial Revolution which led to the displacement of a great ...
Broughton Castle (10/10)
The unnamed location of William Fiennes' memoir is Broughton Castle, a
medieval manor house near the village of Broughton, two miles southwest of
Banbury, in the county of Oxfordshire, England.
The estate is situated at the confluence of three streams, making it an ideal
location for a fortified manor house complete with ...
The Wicasa Wakan in Lakota Native Culture (10/10)
In 'Brown Dog Redux,' the second novella in Jim Harrison's The Farmer's Daughter, an enigmatic quality surrounds the character of Charles Eats Horses. At Wounded Knee he sits alone in the moonlit cemetery, arms raised to the sky; the next morning he is found unmoving in a trance-like state; and throughout the story his peers carefully ...
Iceland (10/10)
Located midway between North America and mainland Europe (
map), Iceland is the same distance from New York as New York is to Los Angeles. The island is the same size as the state of Ohio, with 11% of its surface covered in glaciers. Much of the country is an other-worldly moonscape of ancient lava flows covered in moss, and tall, treeless...
Touring New York City (09/10)
Everyone knows New York! Even if you've never visited you've probably read about it in books such as
Jonathan Letham's (which are all set in the City). If you haven't read about it, the chances are that one of the countless TV shows such as
NYPD Blue,
Friends, and
Sex and the City has introduced you to a variety of its streets, apartment ...
Contemporary Saints (09/10)
Los Angeles artist
J. Michael Walker thinks a lot like Antonia Labella, heroine of
The Possibilities of Sainthood. In the summer of 2008 he exhibited a series of large portraits of saints whose names are commemorated in the roads and streets of many Los Angeles neighborhoods. Each large, ink on paper portrait portrays a ...
Beijing (09/10)
Many of Yiyun Li's stories revolve around her childhood home of Beijing, China's capital city. Beijing (meaning Northern Capital) is one of China's
four great ancient capitals, alongside Nanjing (meaning Southern Capital), Xi'an (meaning Western Peace) and Luoyang (known during the Tang dynasty as Dongdu, meaning Eastern Capital).
...
Yiddish (09/10)
Mandelman's novel is generously peppered with Yiddish words and phrases, complete with translations. There are other Yiddish words that require no translation having found their way into common English usage; words such as bagel, maven and klutz, have become so widespread that it would be difficult to spend a day without hearing, reading ...
The Lost Boys (09/10)
While The Chosen One focuses primarily on the plight of Kyra, a young girl growing up in an unspecified polygynous fundamentalist community, it also explores the issue of the 'lost boys'.
The lost boys is a term used to describe young men raised within polygynous Mormon sects such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter...
Uruguay (09/10)
Uruguay (
map
of South America) is home to about 3.5 million people about half of whom
live in or around the capital city of Montevideo. Montevideo was
founded by the Spanish in 1726 as a stronghold. Claimed by Argentina but
annexed by Brazil, the country won its independence in 1828 following a
500 day conflict.
Early 20th ...
Sitting Shiva (08/10)
The word 'shiva' (pronounced SHIHvah) is derived from the Hebrew word sheva which means 'seven.' Sitting shiva means that the family of a loved one – usually reserved for the family of a deceased spouse, parent or child – gathers in that loved one's home for seven days. Friends and family visit to support the family as they take...
100 Years of Korean Immigration (08/10)
In 2008 there were more than 1.3 million people of Korean ancestry living in the United States, making Koreans the fourth largest group of Asian Americans, after Asian Indians, Chinese and Filipinos. As of 2000, roughly one-third of Korean Americans had been born in the United States, one-third are U.S. citizens born in Korea, and one-...
The Child-Wives of the Gods (08/10)
Wife of the Gods refers to a practice in Ghana known as trokosi. A trokosi is a young girl who is given to the village priest, also known as a fetish priest, to atone for a perceived sin committed by a family member; the custom is basically a form of sanctioned slavery. It is practiced primarily in the Volta region of ...
A Short History of Tibet (07/10)
Tibet, a remote region along the southwestern border of China, sits at 15,000 feet above sea level between the Himalaya and Kunlun mountain ranges. The first recorded king of the region was Srong-btsan sgam-po, who is credited with introducing Buddhism to Tibet around 640 AD. He and his descendants ruled over a unified Tibet through the ...
Burma (06/10)
During the time covered in Burmese Lessons, the military government in Burma was known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). This name has since been changed to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), but the behavior of the government has not changed. Since 1962, the ruling military regime has severely ...
The Jardin des Plantes and the Changing Landscapes of Botanical Gardens (05/10)
The Jardin
des Plantes in Paris was the epicenter of naturalist research in the early 1800s and is currently one of the world's foremost botanical gardens. Built in 1626,
it was planted in 1635 as a medicinal herb garden for the King of France. It
was opened to the public in 1640, greatly expanded under superintendent G.L.L
...
