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Straphanger
Taras Grescoe rides the rails all over the world and makes an elegant and impassioned case for the imminent end of car culture and the coming transportation revolution "I am proud to call myself a straphanger," writes Taras Grescoe. The perception of public transportation in America is often unflattering—a squalid last resort for those with one too many drunk-driving charges, too poor to afford insurance, or too decrepit to get behind the wheel of a car. Indeed, a century of auto-centric culture and city planning has left most of the country with public transportation that is underfunded, ill maintained, and ill conceived. But as the demand for petroleum is fast outpacing the world's suppl...
The Devil's Picnic
An investigation into what thrills us, what terrifies us, and what would make us travel ten thousand miles and evade the local authorities, The Devil's Picnic is a delicious and compelling expedition into the heart of vice and desire. Taras Grescoe is the author of two books, one of which, Sacre Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through Quebec, was shortlisted for the Writers' Trust Award and was a national bestseller in Canada. His work appears in major publications all over the US, the UK and Canada. "Vivid and entertaining."-New York Times "[Grescoe] spends a year in seven countries, seeking out such delicacies as Epoisses cheese, which smells so bad it's said to have been banned from the Paris Metro; the author writes fondly that it makes 'Gorgonzola smell like Velveeta.'...He eats bulls' testicles in Madrid and visits an absinthe distillery in Switzerland. You feel hung over just reading the thing-guilty, implicated and strangely hungry."-Los Angeles Times Also available: HC ISBN: 1-58234-429-9 ISBN-13 978-1-58234-429-4 $24.95
Possess the Air
A Globe and Mail Fall 2019 Book to Watch Whoever you are, you are sure to be a severe critic of Fascism, and you must feel the servile shame. But even you are responsible for your inaction. Do not seek to justify yourself with the illusion that there is nothing to be done. That is not true. Every person of courage and honour is quietly working for a free Italy. Even if you do not want to join us, there are still TEN THINGS which you can do. You can, and therefore you must. These unsayable words, printed on leaflets that rained down on Mussolini’s headquarters in the heart of Rome at the height of the dictator’s power, drive the central drama of Possess the Air. This is the story of freed...
Taras Grescoe Three-Book Bundle
Award-winning journalist Taras Grescoe has written books that have changed how we look at illicit food and other substances (The Devil’s Picnic), how we think about the world’s seafood (Bottomfeeder), and how we as commuters hit the road (Straphanger). The Devil’s Picnic is a feast like no other: start with an aperitif of powerful Norwegian moonshine; nibble on a French raw-milk cheese that can carry brain-swelling bacteria; sip some Bolivian cocaine tea and Swiss absinthe; finish off with a puff of a Cuban cigar in a Californian bar. Grescoe travels the world sampling these and other substances that have been legally banned and publicly demonized. Bottomfeeder is a seafood lover’s r...
Shanghai Grand
From award-winning and bestselling author Taras Grescoe comes a highly compelling new book about the twilight of Shanghai before the Second World War Finalist for the 2016 Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction Longlisted for the 2017 British Columbia's National Award for Non-Fiction On the eve of the Second World War, the foreign-controlled port of Shanghai was the rendezvous for the 20th century’s most outlandish adventurers, all under the watchful eye of the fabulously wealthy Sir Victor Sassoon. Emily Hahn was a legendary New Yorker writer who would cover China for nearly fifty years, and play an integral part in opening Asia up to the West. But at the height of the Depression, “Mickey...
Epistolophilia
The librarian walks the streets of her beloved Paris. An old lady with a limp and an accent, she is invisible to most. Certainly no one recognizes her as the warrior and revolutionary she was, when again and again she slipped into the Jewish ghetto of German-occupied Vilnius to carry food, clothes, medicine, money, and counterfeit documents to its prisoners. Often she left with letters to deliver, manuscripts to hide, and even sedated children swathed in sacks. In 1944 she was captured by the Gestapo, tortured for twelve days, and deported to Dachau. Through Epistolophilia, Julija Šukys follows the letters and journals—the “life-writing”—of this woman, Ona Šimaitė (1894–1970). A...
Bottomfeeder
Dividing his sensibilities between Epicureanism and ethics, Taras Grescoe set out on a nine-month, world-wide search for a delicious-and humane-plate of seafood. Along the way, he explains the cultural and commercial implications of fish production on our environment, our health, and our seas. At once entertaining and illuminating, Bottomfeeder is a thoroughly enjoyable narrative about the world's cuisines and an examination of the fishing and farming practices we take too easily for granted.
Dead Seas
There’s simply no limit to the sins people will commit for a tasty meal. The Japanese are notorious for their trade in bluefin tuna, while newlyweds in Bangkok, Shanghai and Singapore devour a gelatinous soup made from poached abalone and fins hacked from living sharks. But surely there’s no need for you to feel bad about ordering sea bass in a London restaurant? Unless, of course, you consider that you may well be enjoying one of the very last members of the species. In Dead Seas we follow acclaimed journalist Taras Grescoe on a year-long, round-the-world trip, as he eats his way from the top to the bottom of the food chain with one purpose in mind: to find out whether he can continue to eat such delicacies in good conscience. As well as painting a vivid and often hilarious picture of the fascinating people Taras encounters, Dead Seas explores the impact we are having on sea life by overfishing and draws our attention to some of the ethical choices we can make. At a time when many of the fish we take for granted are on the verge of extinction, we need to face the fact that very soon jellyfish sandwiches may be all that is left for us to eat.
The Fruit Hunters
A historical account of the role of fruit in the modern world explores the machinations of multi-national corporations in distributing exotic fruits, the life of mass-produced fruits, and the author's experience with unusual varieties that are unavailable in America.
Shanghai Grand
Taras Grescoe spins the true story of a British aristocrat, an American flapper, and a Chinese poet who found themselves trapped in an unlikely love triangle amid the decadence of Jazz Age Shanghai. On the eve of WWII, the foreign-controlled port of Shanghai was the rendezvous for the twentieth century’s most outlandish adventurers, all under the watchful eye of the fabulously wealthy Sir Victor Sassoon. Emily “Mickey” Hahn was a legendary New Yorker journalist whose vivid writing played a crucial role in opening Western eyes to the realities of life in China. At the height of the Depression, Hahn arrives in Shanghai after a disappointing affair with an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter...
