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Searching for Crusoe: A Journey Among the Last Real Islands

Searching for Crusoe: A Journey Among the Last Real Islands

by ThurstonClarke (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2001

    $3.34
Synopsis

Searching for Crusoe is not really about the famous fictional castaway at all, but more about the place he was forced to make his temporary home, and other places like it. Travel writer Thurston Clarke has long been obsessed with islands, an affliction he calls islomania , and this book is a kind of love letter to these little (and not so little) worlds surrounded by sea. Beginning with the accepted model for Robinson Crusoe's remote abode, Mas a Tierra in the Pacific, Clarke then takes readers on a tour of his favourite islands, exploring their geography, history and culture. From George Orwell's Jura, where he wrote 1984 , to the beautiful (but slowly sinking) Maldives in the Indian Ocean, this is a book about some of the most curious and evocative places on earth. And over every island falls the shadow of Crusoe, persuading us that islands are more liberating than confining, more contemplative than lonely, more holy than barbaric.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 350
 Edition: First Edition, First Printing
 Publisher: Little, Brown
Published: 05 Jul 2001
ISBN 10: 0316858021
ISBN 13: 9780316858021

Media Reviews
Islomania, a word conjured up by the author to indicate an obsession with islands, is the focus of Searching for Crusoe. Its title is slightly misleading since, as Clarke points out, the spirit of Robinson Crusoe exists on every island. His first port of call, M s a Tierra, 100 miles off the coast of Chile, is the most likely candidate, being the island where a Scottish seaman named Alexander Selkirk was marooned for four and a half years between 1704 and 1709. Eighteen islands are covered, each one subject to Clarke's excellent research and almost casual description. We learn of the indigenous people, history, culture and politics in a travelogue that flows exquisitely, revealing new marvels at each turn of the page. There are idyllic islands, scary islands and downright boring islands such as the Maldives, whose people he suggests are in an almost comatose state. However, they all provide fascination of some sort. Clarke's genuine love of islands pervades each page; his fear of the global warming threat is very real.
Author Bio
Thurston Clarke is a noted travel writer and journalist and the author of nine widely acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction. He has written for VANITY FAIR, OUTSIDE, CONDE NAST TRAVELLER and numerous other magazines and journals.