William Atkins Livres

Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year (UK) "William Atkins is an erudite writer with a wonderful wit and gaze and this is a new and exciting beast of a travel book."—Joy Williams In the classic literary tradition of Bruce Chatwin and Geoff Dyer, a rich and exquisitely written account of travels in eight deserts on five continents that evokes the timeless allure of these remote and forbidding places. One-third of the earth's surface is classified as desert. Restless, unhappy in love, and intrigued by the Desert Fathers who forged Christian monasticism in the Egyptian desert, William Atkins decided to travel in eight of the world's driest, hottest places: the Empty Quarter of Oman, the Gobi Desert and Taklamakan deserts of northwest China, the Great Victoria Desert of Australia, the man-made desert of the Aral Sea in Kazkahstan, the Black Rock and Sonoran Deserts of the American Southwest, and Egypt's Eastern Desert. Each of his travel narratives effortlessly weaves aspects of natural history, historical background, and present-day reportage into a compelling tapestry that reveals the human appeal of these often inhuman landscapes.

In this journey across England's most forbidding and mysterious terrain, William Atkins takes the reader from south to north, exploring moorland's uniquely captivating position in our history, literature and psyche. Atkins' journey is full of encounters, busy with the voices of the moors, past and present. He shows us that, while the fierce terrains we associate with Wuthering Heights and The Hound of the Baskervilles are very human landscapes, the moors remain daunting and defiant, standing steadfast against the passage of time.

But for those whose call deserts home, the 'hideous blanks' described by explorers are rich in resources and significance. Travelling to five continents over three years, visiting deserts both iconic and little-known, William Atkins discovers a realm that is as much internal as physical.

The book examines the significant changes in broadcasting across Southeast Asia over the past decade, particularly with the rise of digital satellite and cable services. Focusing on countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, it reveals how these developments have not led to the expected challenges to authoritarian regimes. Instead, a new class of commercial elites has emerged, serving as gatekeepers for state interests and collaborating with global media companies, thereby reshaping the media landscape in the region.

One third of the globe's land surface is desert, and much of it parched, treacherous, and inhospitable. The hostile climate, lunar topography, and sheer existential blankness of these zones have confounded explorers over the centuries. For indigenous and nomadic people, conversely, these hostile and forbidding places are home, and the vistas that fill Western travellers with dread bring more comfort than fear. In The Immeasurable World, over the course of eight journeys to deserts iconic and obscure, Atkins enters a landscape that he discovers is as much internal as physical. From the monasteries of Egypt - where he enters into the extreme privations of the Desert Father - to America's Black Rock Desert, and via Oman, Australia, and Central Asia, he investigates the fascinating life, history, and iconography of these untamed places. The result is a book destined to take its place alongside the most memorable works of travel literature.

A luminous exploration of exile - the people who have experienced it, and the places they inhabit - from the award-winning travel writer and author of The Immeasurable World and The Moor. 'An incredible, brilliant act of retrieval .