Frommer's Australia 2009 (Frommer's Complete Series)
Author: Lee Myln
America’s #1 bestselling travel series
Written by more than 175 outspoken travelers around the globe, Frommer’s Complete Guides help travelers experience places the way locals do.
- More annually updated guides than any other series
- 16-page color section and foldout map in all annual guides
- Outspoken opinions, exact prices, and suggested itineraries
- Dozens of detailed maps in an easy-to-read, two-color design
Completely updated every year (unlike most of the competition), Frommer’s Australia features gorgeous full-color photos of the Outback vistas, curious wildlife, and white-sand beaches that await you. Our authors have lived in and written about Australia for years, so they’re able to provide valuable insights and advice. They’ll steer you away from the touristy and the inauthentic and show you the real heart of the land Down Under. Let them take you to exciting cities, Aboriginal homesteads, Barossa Valley vineyards, and natural wonders, from the Wet Tropics Rainforest to Uluru (Ayers Rock)to the Great Barrier Reef.
You’ll travel Australia like a pro with our candid advice and in-depth history of the culture. Also included are accurate regional and town maps, up-to-date advice on finding the best package deals, a free color fold-out map, and an online directory that makes trip-planning a snap!
Table of Contents:
List of Maps.What’s New in Australia.
The Best of Australia.
Australia in Depth.
Planning Your Trip to Australia.
Suggested Itineraries.
Sydney.
New South Wales.
Brisbane.
Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef.
The Red Centre.
The Top End .
Perth & Western Australia.
Canberra.
Adelaide & South Australia.
Melbourne.
Victoria.
Tasmania.
Appendix: Fast Facts, Toll-Free Numbers & Websites.
Index.
Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths
Author: Bruce Feiler
In this timely, provocative, and uplifting journey, the bestselling author of Walking the Bible searches for the man at the heart of the world's three monotheistic religions — and today's deadliest conflicts.
At a moment when the world is asking, “Can the religions get along?” one figure stands out as the shared ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. One man holds the key to our deepest fears — and our possible reconciliation. Abraham.
Bruce Feiler set out on a personal quest to better understand our common patriarch. Traveling in war zones, climbing through caves and ancient shrines, and sitting down with the world's leading religious minds, Feiler uncovers fascinating, little-known details of the man who defines faith for half the world.
Both immediate and timeless, Abraham is a powerful, universal story, the first-ever interfaith portrait of the man God chose to be his partner. Thoughtful and inspiring, it offers a rare vision of hope that will redefine what we think about our neighbors, our future, and ourselves.
Book Magazine
Feiler's 2001 bestseller, Walking the Bible, took readers on a spiritual tour through the lands of the Bible. Its sequel is a spiritual biography of Abraham, the father of the three great monotheistic religions. Jews, Christians and Muslims all trace their origins to Abraham, who, as the story goes, led his family out of Mesopotamia and into Canaan (possibly in the early second millennium B.C.) and, during the journey, had several decisive encounters with God. God's outrageous requests—like asking Abraham to sacrifice his son—are, in the holy books that recorded them, templates for faith. Over time, each tradition has reinvented the patriarch to serve its own needs and sees its rivals as having betrayed his legacy. Feiler's travels through violence-ridden cities like Hebron (in the West Bank) and the New York of September 11 reveal the depths of the rift that divides Abraham's modern heirs. While this is an engaging, timely book, Feiler's final plea for an updated Abraham on which all three faiths can agree sounds like wishful thinking.
Publishers Weekly
Feiler, who penned last year's bestseller Walking the Bible, once again offers a winning combination of history, travel and spiritual memoir. Arguing that Abraham, the purported "father" of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, "holds the breadth of the past and perhaps the dimensions of the future in his life story," Feiler sets out to recover Abraham as he is portrayed in all three religions. The book's first half addresses what the Bible and Koran say about Abraham, his call to monotheism, and his sons Isaac and Ishmael. Particularly fascinating are Feiler's discussions of how the three religious traditions invented stories about Abraham to supplement the rather skeletal canonical version and even borrowed these stories from one another, as when Muslim traditions about Abraham and Ishmael began appearing in eighth-century Jewish commentaries. The second half very poignantly delves into each faith tradition and discusses how the Abraham narratives relate to contemporary religious and political conflicts. No one writes description quite like Feiler. His claim, for example, that "the Holy Sepulcher is to a church what Picasso is to a portrait a cubist vision of fractured beauty" is an arresting and perfectly imagined analogy, and he mellifluously depicts the Arabic language as "flowing, evolved, [and] sculpted, like a dune." More important than Feiler's masterful wordsmithing is his passionate engagement of the subject matter. Italics are everywhere, yet they don't feel overused; Feiler has a keen sense of what is at stake when these three religions claim Abraham as their father. This is a joy to read.
Rayna Patton - VOYA
In this insightful study of Abraham, patriarch of three religions, the author explores what unites and what divides those religions today. Feiler begins with the Genesis account of Abraham, who can rightly be called the founder of monotheism. He examines the various Jewish and Muslim explications that enlarge on the biblical story and the nature of God's call to Abraham. The sons of Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac and what Abraham did with and to them mark the beginning of the divisions between Islam and Judeo-Christianity. Feiler is an excellent writer who carries the reader along as he visits the Middle East, seeking not only the historical Abraham but also the Abraham who has been reinvented by the various faiths. He has met with distinguished Jewish, Christian, and Muslim clerics, and finds that these leaders agree on the fundamental importance of Abraham and recognize that his message is inclusive, not exclusive. This agreement is very relevant today. Religion, as much as politics, divides Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Unfortunately, this book, although written by an experienced writer and reporter, is unlikely to find a significant audience in most public schools. It is too theological, even spiritual, to appeal to most students seeking either a biography or even an easy look at current Middle East turmoil. It could be useful, however, as an offering in a course in religion and politics. VOYA Codes: 5Q 2P S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being any better written; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2002, Morrow, 224p,
Library Journal
Feiler (Walking the Bible) is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio and writes for both the New York Times and Washington Post. Understanding that Abraham is the shared ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Feiler set out on a hejira with the intention of taking a closer look at the biblical patriarch. Asking himself, "Can the religions get along?," the author questions the fears he's encountered regarding the religions that had their roots in the Middle East with the hope of finding answers leading to reconciliation. He traveled into war zones and visited caves, ancient shrines, and outposts to which most Americans have never given a second thought. He spoke with some of the world's great religious minds, discovering multiple views on "Father Abraham," a man whose story defines what it means to be "one of the faithful" for over half the citizens of the planet. Along the way he took a look at his own as well as the universal fears in America. Feiler's historical perceptions of Abraham offer a vision of hope for reconnecting among the world's religious groups. His storytelling is immediate and thoughtful. Recommended for public libraries with large religion collections.-Pam Kingsbury, Florence, AL
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