The author of "Olives" takes readers on a tour of the French countryside and Paris, where he looks at the way the French live through how they cook, eat, and market their cuisine.
In 1986, the author bought a small overgrown olive farm in Provence. With it, he discovered, were 150 neglected olive trees. His neighbours helped him bring his grove back to life - and with it a passion grew in him to discover all there was to know about the olive.
The Secret of the Seine is a rich and quirky travelogue that guides its reader through the history and the heart of France. Mort Rosenblum, world-weary foreign correspondent, takes us aboard his 54-foot launch made of Burmese teak and brass, tied up alongside the barges in the center of Paris. He introduces us to the characters who share his life along the river, ranging from eccentric movie stars and reclusive novelists to the barge families still trying to earn a living moving freight through the canals of Europe. He then hauls in the bow line for an unforgettable tour of the river itself from its source to its mouth. Along the way his focus shifts from the art of navigation to the art of wooden boats to the art of Monet. But above all, The Secret Life of the Seine is about pleasure, a love story between man and boat and the river they live on, a discourse on the sensual beauty of France and the art of living well.
Shows and describes the events leading to the emergence of democracy in Eastern Europe, and depicts what the changes have meant to everyday citizens
A long-time Associated Press foreign correspondent looks at America twenty years after he left it