The first ascent of Everest. The fall of the Berlin Wall. The Eichmann trial. The handover of Hong Kong.





Award-winning travel writer and reporter Jan Morris 'was the twentieth century' (Sara Wheeler). An eyewitness to the most dramatic events of the era, Morris' journalism is unmatched for its unique style: its impressionistic descriptive flair, its humour, its wisdom, and its emotional perceptiveness.





Spanning five decades and the entire globe - from New York to Venice, Sydney to Berlin, Baghdad to Barbados - this landmark collection of her most famous adventures invites you to take an epic armchair journey through modern history with an extraordinary guide.



'This is Morris at her best' Independent

'A matchless chronicler of our age' Guardian



Jan Morris was born in 1926. Soldier, journalist, historian, author of forty books, she witnessed the first ascent of Everest, Suez Canal Crisis, Eichmann Trial, Cuban Revolution and so much more. She was the celebrated author of many bestselling works of travel writing, autobiography and diaries, including modern classics Coronation Everest, Venice, Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere, the Pax Britannica trilogy and Conundrum. She spent her last years with her partner Elizabeth Morris in Wales, where she died in 2020.