Centred around three journeys to Mount Athos, one of the most important places in Orthodox Christianity, this is both a beautifully nuanced travel book and a journey of self-discovery in a world beset by violence and fear. Mount Athos is the spiritual home of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and for more than ten centuries this monastic community in northern Greece has been a centre for contemplative life, a staging ground for mystical visions and teachings, and a watch tower for Byzantium. A world unto itself, which has existed almost unchanged since medieval times, the theocratic state of Athos is a spiritual haven which stands in dramatic counterpoint to the contemporary world. Even time is calculated differently here - Athos rejects the Julian calendar and clocks are reset every day to Byzantine time - midnight falls at sunset. Christopher Merrill travelled to Mount Athos in search of spiritual renewal and a vision of eternity. At this unique intersection of modernity and Biblical tradition he discovered not only the enduring value of faith but also how much Athos has to teach us about the contemplative life, and found that eternity is located in the here and now. Journey to the Holy Mountain is a book rooted in spiritual crisis, which explores a route to salvation hitherto undocumented in a mainstream Western context. Out of spiritual desolation Merrill came to a deepening sense of the religious life, learning to recognize what have been described as 'the distinctive challenges and calls' of each monastic hour. The world of Mount Athos is closely guarded against intrusion by monk-policemen: no women, or even female animals, are allowed on Athos and the number of visitors is severely restricted. Christopher Merill describes, in vivid scenes and stories, the daily life ritual and scenery of a place which most will never be able to visit.

Journey to the Holy Mountain: Meditations on Mount Athos

Travel

Merrill, Christopher

Specialty Travel

HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd

It has always been difficult to separate Georgia O'Keeffe's art and life from the powerful myths that grew around her. Many recognize her paintings of flowers or desert bones, or know some detail of her interesting life. From the Faraway Nearby attempts to separate O'Keeffe's art and her carefully-marketed public image from her closely-guarded private life. It is a composite biography of critical essays, memoirs, poetry, and photographs from twenty-two artists, writers (including Alan Cheuse and Terry Tempest Williams), and scholars who examine O'Keeffe's life from many different points of view. The first part of the book, "The Work," contains critical essays on various aspects of O'Keeffe's art and career. The second part, "The Woman," looks at the personal life of Georgia O'Keeffe through memoirs and reflections by people who knew her and whose lives were touched by her. The book is highlighted by stunning black-and-white portraits of O'Keeffe. Even though Georgia O'Keeffe died in 1986, the story of her fascinating life continues to unfold. From the Faraway Nearby captures the current position that the artist and her work hold in American culture.

From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe As Icon

Arts & Photography

Individual Artists

Addison-Wesley

Nearly everyone recognizes her paintings of flowers or desert bones, or knows some detail of her fascinating life, but it has always been difficult to separate O'Keeffe's art and life from her public image. Now comes a broad-ranging examination of her personal life and artistic legacy through memoirs, poetry, photographs, and essays.

From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon

Biographies & Memoirs

“If I had learned anything during the war, it was that our walk in the sun is brief, and so I resolved to wander from monastery to monastery, a sojourner in the world of last things.” So poet and journalist Christopher Merrill tells us near the beginning of this gripping account of the transforming pilgrimages he made to Mount Athos, in Greece, in the aftermath of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. “It was time for me to come to terms with the way my life had turned out: the love I had squandered, the misgivings I had about my vocation and my faith, the dread I felt at every turn.” In despair and out of a longing to end his spiritual desolation, Merrill became one of a handful of visitors permitted entry to Mount Athos–a mysterious land that for more than a thousand years has been the secret heart of the Eastern Orthodox Church. There, amid the beautiful terrain, the ancient rhythms, and the spiritual rigor of this holy place, he found a haven in dramatic contrast to the rest of the world. As Merrill’s story unfolds, we, too, hike the rough trails of Athos, exploring a place and a way of life scarcely altered since medieval times. We share encounters with monks, wolves, and spiritual seekers; visit Athos’s twenty monasteries, where exquisite art treasures are sequestered; make our way to lonely hermitages that clutch the cliffs above the sea. And like Merrill, we come to consider existence in a new and different light. Part journal of personal discovery, part meditation upon the history and traditions of the contemplative life, Things of the Hidden God takes us where the temporal and the eternal intersect, where community and solitude coexist, and where centuries-old practices provide insight for how to live today.

Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain

Religion & Spirituality

Random House]

Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars

Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars is a chronicle of poet and critic Christopher Merrill's ten war-time journeys to the Balkans from the years 1992 through 1996. At once a travelogue, a book of war reportage, and a biography of the imagination under siege, this beautifully written and personal narrative takes the reader along on the author's journeys to all the provinces and republics of the former Yugoslavia―Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and Vojvodina―as well as to Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, and Turkey. His journeys provide the narrative structure for an exploration of the roles and responsibility of intellectuals caught up in a decisive historical moment, many of whom either helped to incite the war or else bore eloquent witness to its carnage. What separates this book-the first non-native literary work on the conflict-from other collections of reportage, political analysis, and polemic, is its concern for capturing the texture of particular places in the midst of dramatic change-the sounds and sights and smells, the stories and observations of victim and perpetrator alike, the culture of war. Here is a literary meditation on war, a fascinating portrait of the poetry, politics and the people of the Balkans that will provide insight into the past, present, and future of those war-torn lands. Hear an interview with the author on NPR's Weekend All Things Considered, February 20th, 'Balkan Poets.'

Arts & Literature

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

The Grass of Another Country: A Journey Through the World of Soccer

An evocative look at the world's most popular sport journeys behind the scenes of soccer on an international odyssey that begins in Santa Fe, New Mexico and ends in Rome, at the final match of the fourteenth World Cup.

Sports & Outdoors

Henry Holt Co.

A look at the world's most popular sport journeys behind the scenes of soccer on an international odyssey that begins in Santa Fe, New Mexico and ends up in Rome, at the final match of the fourteenth World Cup

Soccer

Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars is a chronicle of poet and critic Christopher Merrill's ten war-time journeys to the Balkans from the years 1992 through 1996. At once a travelogue, a book of war reportage, and a biography of the imagination under siege, this beautifully written and personal narrative takes the reader along on the author's journeys to all the provinces and republics of the former Yugoslavia―Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and Vojvodina―as well as to Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, and Turkey. His journeys provide the narrative structure for an exploration of the roles and responsibility of intellectuals caught up in a decisive historical moment, many of whom either helped to incite the war or else bore eloquent witness to its carnage. What separates this book-the first non-native literary work on the conflict-from other collections of reportage, political analysis, and polemic, is its concern for capturing the texture of particular places in the midst of dramatic change-the sounds and sights and smells, the stories and observations of victim and perpetrator alike, the culture of war. Here is a literary meditation on war, a fascinating portrait of the poetry, politics and the people of the Balkans that will provide insight into the past, present, and future of those war-torn lands. Hear an interview with the author on NPR's Weekend All Things Considered, February 20th, "Balkan Poets."

Landscape photographs accompany selections from McPhee's writings about Switzerland, Alaska, the West, and the Pine Barrens

Outcroppings

Science & Math

Till, Tom

McPHEE,John

Earth Sciences

Gibbs-Smith

"If I had learned anything during the war, it was that our walk in the sun is brief, and so I resolved to wander from monastery to monastery, a sojourner in the world of last things." So poet and journalist Christopher Merrill tells us near the beginning of this gripping account of the transforming pilgrimages he made to Mount Athos, in Greece, in the aftermath of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. "It was time for me to come to terms with the way my life had turned out: the love I had squandered, the misgivings I had about my vocation and my faith, the dread I felt at every turn." In despair and longing to end his spiritual desolation, Merrill became one of a handful of visitors permitted entry to Mount Athos--a mysterious land that for more than a thousand years has been the secret heart of the Eastern Orthodox Church. There, amid the beautiful terrain, the ancient rhythms, and the spiritual rigor of this holy place, he found a haven. As Merrill's story unfolds, we, too, hike the rough trails of Athos, exploring a place and a way of life scarcely altered since medieval times. We share encounters with monks and spiritual seekers; visit Athos's twenty monasteries, where exquisite art treasures are sequestered; make our way to lonely hermitages that clutch the cliffs above the sea. Like Merrill, we come to consider existence in a new and different light. Part journal of personal discovery, part meditation upon the history and traditions of the contemplative life, Things of the Hidden God takes us where the temporal and the eternal intersect, where community and solitude coexist, and where centuries-old practices offer insight for how to live today.

Wipf and Stock

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Books by Merrill, Christopher

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Merrill, Christopher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Journey to the Holy Mountain: Meditations on Mount Athos

From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe As Icon

From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon

Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain

Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars

The Grass of Another Country: A Journey Through the World of Soccer

The Grass of Another Country: A Journey Through the World of Soccer

Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars

Outcroppings

Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain