We look forward to seeing you on your next visit to the library. Find a location near you.

Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Published:
Random House Publishing Group 2010
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description
A New York Times Notable Book • Finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction
“Highly readable biography . . . The woman who emerges from these pages is a complex figure—heroic, driven . . . and entirely human.”—Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
Passionate Nomad captures the momentous life and times of Freya Stark with precision, compassion, and marvelous detail. Hailed by The Times of London as “the last of the Romantic Travellers” upon her death in 1993, Freya Stark combined unflappable bravery, formidable charm, fearsome intellect, and ferocious ambition to become the twentieth century’s best-known woman traveler. Digging beneath the mythology, Geniesse uncovers a complex, controversial, and quixotic woman whose indomitable spirit was forged by contradictions: a child of privilege, Stark grew up in near poverty; yearning for formal education, she was largely self-taught; longing for love, she consistently focused on the wrong men. Despite these hardships, Stark’s astonishing career spanned more than sixty years, during which she produced twenty-two books that sealed her reputation as a consummate woman of letters.
This edition includes a new Epilogue by the author that, citing newly discovered evidence, calls into question the circumstances of Stark’s birth and adds new insight into this adventurous and lively personality.
Praise for Passionate Nomad
Passionate Nomad is a work of nonfiction that reads and sings with the drama and lilt of a fine novel. The story of Freya Stark is stunning, inspiring, sad, funny, unique, and moving. Jane Fletcher Geniesse tells it straight, but with a care for delicious detail and a sympathy for the characters that make this a truly special book.”—Jim Lehrer
Passionate Nomad supplies a fascinating individual thread in the tapestry of twentiethcentury Middle Eastern history. . . . [Geniesse] has achieved, in the end, an admirable focus, at once critical and sympathetic. . . . For all Stark’s unresolved contradictions, . . . her distinction as a latter-day woman of letters survives.”The New York Times Book Review
“Compulsively readable . . . [Geniesse] has done a thorough job re-creating the life of a woman many consider to be the last of the great romantic travelers.”The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Also in This Series
Formats
Adobe EPUB eBook
Works on all eReaders (except Kindles), desktop computers and mobile devices with reading apps installed.
Kindle Book
Works on Kindles and devices with a Kindle app installed.
OverDrive Read
Need Help?
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
More Like This
Other Editions and Formats
More Copies In LINK+
Loading LINK+ Copies...
More Details
Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
07/21/2010
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780307756855
ASIN:
B003V4BOZW
Reviews from GoodReads
Loading GoodReads Reviews.
Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Jane Fletcher Geniesse. (2010). Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark. Random House Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Jane Fletcher Geniesse. 2010. Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark. Random House Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Jane Fletcher Geniesse, Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark. Random House Publishing Group, 2010.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Jane Fletcher Geniesse. Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark. Random House Publishing Group, 2010.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
LibraryOwnedAvailable
Shared Digital Collection11
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
d6043935-ac6d-7587-1f4d-8d42474cae90
Go To Grouped Work
Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 16:08:58
Date Updated:
Dec 06, 2020 02:42:24
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 24, 2024 07:32:36
Last Metadata Change:
Jun 04, 2023 09:41:32
Last Availability Check:
Mar 24, 2024 07:32:39
Last Availability Change:
Feb 29, 2024 16:49:28
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Mar 28, 2024 02:11:39

OverDrive Product Record

images
    • cover:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0111-1/{F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05}Img100.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • thumbnail:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0111-1/{F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05}Img200.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover150Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0111-1/F4A/8A5/D7/{F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05}Img150.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover300Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0111-1/F4A/8A5/D7/{F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05}Img400.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
formats
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780307756855
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 59058
      • name: Adobe EPUB eBook
      • id: ebook-epub-adobe
      • identifiers:
            • type: ASIN
            • value: B003V4BOZW
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 59058
      • name: Kindle Book
      • id: ebook-kindle
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780307756855
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 59058
      • name: OverDrive Read
      • id: ebook-overdrive
otherFormatIdentifiers
      • type: ISBN
      • value: 0375757465
mediaType
eBook
primaryCreator
    • role: Author
    • name: Jane Fletcher Geniesse
title
Passionate Nomad
dateAdded
2017-05-04T19:00:00-04:00
contentDetails
      • href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=141&titleID=355074
      • type: text/html
      • account:
          • name: Sacramento Public Library (CA)
          • id: 1151
sortTitle
Passionate Nomad The Life of Freya Stark
crossRefId
355074
subtitle
The Life of Freya Stark
id
f4a8a5d7-9d6e-4497-ba99-13b9e00f9a05
starRating
3.4

OverDrive MetaData

isPublicDomain
False
formats
      • fileName: PassionateNomad_9780307756855_355074
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 12650487
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780307756855
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 59058
      • rights:
            • type: Copying
            • value: 0
            • type: Printing
            • value: 0
            • type: Lending
            • value: 0
            • type: ReadAloud
            • value: 0
            • type: ExpirationRights
            • value: 0
      • name: Adobe EPUB eBook
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-epub-adobe
      • onSaleDate: 7/21/2010
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-epub-adobe
            • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-410/0111-1/F4A/8A5/D7/PassionateNomadTheLifeofFreyaStark9780307756855.epub
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
      • fileName: PassionateNomad_355074
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 0
      • identifiers:
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 59058
            • type: ASIN
            • value: B003V4BOZW
      • name: Kindle Book
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-kindle
      • onSaleDate: 7/21/2010
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-epub-adobe
            • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-410/0111-1/F4A/8A5/D7/PassionateNomadTheLifeofFreyaStark9780307756855.epub
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
      • fileName: PassionateNomad_9780307756855_355074
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 0
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780307756855
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 59058
      • name: OverDrive Read
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-overdrive
      • onSaleDate: 7/21/2010
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-epub-adobe
            • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-410/0111-1/F4A/8A5/D7/PassionateNomadTheLifeofFreyaStark9780307756855.epub
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
keywords
      • value: Biography
      • value: Historical
      • value: non fiction
      • value: Middle East
      • value: culture
      • value: BIOS
      • value: society
      • value: non-fiction
      • value: Social Studies
      • value: memories
      • value: women
      • value: Social History
      • value: true story
      • value: Inspirational
      • value: inspiration
      • value: Advice
      • value: Travel
      • value: biographies
      • value: History
      • value: historic
      • value: cultural history
      • value: narrative nonfiction
      • value: Motivational
      • value: Travel writing
      • value: Arabia
      • value: True stories
      • value: Biographical
      • value: motivational books
      • value: nonfiction books
      • value: history books
      • value: freya stark
      • value: History book
      • value: books about history
      • value: biography autobiography
      • value: historical non fiction
      • value: historical non fiction books
      • value: non fiction history books
creators
      • role: Author
      • fileAs: Geniesse, Jane Fletcher
      • bioText: Jane Fletcher Geniesse is a former reporter for  The New York Times whose writing has been featured in The Washington Post, New York magazine, and Town & Country,  among others. She is the author of a novel, The Riches of Life, and lives in Washington, D.C.
      • name: Jane Fletcher Geniesse
imprint
Modern Library
publishDate
2010-07-21T00:00:00-04:00
isOwnedByCollections
True
title
Passionate Nomad
fullDescription
A New York Times Notable Book • Finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction
“Highly readable biography . . . The woman who emerges from these pages is a complex figure—heroic, driven . . . and entirely human.”—Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
Passionate Nomad captures the momentous life and times of Freya Stark with precision, compassion, and marvelous detail. Hailed by The Times of London as “the last of the Romantic Travellers” upon her death in 1993, Freya Stark combined unflappable bravery, formidable charm, fearsome intellect, and ferocious ambition to become the twentieth century’s best-known woman traveler. Digging beneath the mythology, Geniesse uncovers a complex, controversial, and quixotic woman whose indomitable spirit was forged by contradictions: a child of privilege, Stark grew up in near poverty; yearning for formal education, she was largely self-taught; longing for love, she consistently focused on the wrong men. Despite these hardships, Stark’s astonishing career spanned more than sixty years, during which she produced twenty-two books that sealed her reputation as a consummate woman of letters.
This edition includes a new Epilogue by the author that, citing newly discovered evidence, calls into question the circumstances of Stark’s birth and adds new insight into this adventurous and lively personality.
Praise for Passionate Nomad
Passionate Nomad is a work of nonfiction that reads and sings with the drama and lilt of a fine novel. The story of Freya Stark is stunning, inspiring, sad, funny, unique, and moving. Jane Fletcher Geniesse tells it straight, but with a care for delicious detail and a sympathy for the characters that make this a truly special book.”—Jim Lehrer
Passionate Nomad supplies a fascinating individual thread in the tapestry of twentiethcentury Middle Eastern history. . . . [Geniesse] has achieved, in the end, an admirable focus, at once critical and sympathetic. . . . For all Stark’s unresolved contradictions, . . . her distinction as a latter-day woman of letters survives.”The New York Times Book Review
“Compulsively readable . . . [Geniesse] has done a thorough job re-creating the life of a woman many consider to be the last of the great romantic travelers.”The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: she exulted as the SS Abbazia tossed through the rough Mediterranean. It did not matter that a cargo ship was all she could afford. She watched pigs, sugar, even once a Marconi telegraph machine being off-loaded between stops that grew more...
      • content: In November 1927, Freya had embarked on a cargo ship for Beirut, leaving behind what she had long concluded was an unacceptable life. "It is so wonderful to be away, really away; a new land opening out every morning,"
      • premium: False
      • source: Great Britain would supervise Mesopotamia, Transjordan, Palestine, and Egypt, while France would look after Greater Syria, including Lebanon. As for Persia, long the target of foreign influence, postwar turmoil would spark a coup against the old...
      • content: In 1920 Freya sensed a path quietly open. In April of that year everyone on the Italian Riviera was riveted by the events taking place at San Remo, only a few miles from Freya's home. The victorious Allies were gathering in that coastal town, and anyone who could tried to get a glimpse of the British prime minister, David Lloyd George, as he hurried back from and forth to meetings with Premier Georges Clemenceau of France. The purpose of the conference was to dispose of the sprawling territories of the defeated enemy, the Ottoman Empire. Because the United States refused to sign on to the League of Nations, the British and French were free to slice up the Middle East to their own imperial satisfaction. The Arab lands governed for over 467 years by the Grand Turk were to be "mandates" until such time as they "could stand on their own."
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        August 30, 1999
        A celebrated explorer, mapmaker, ethnographer, amateur archeologist and prolific memoirist, British travel writer Freya Stark (1893--1993) crisscrossed the Middle East, breaking bread with villagers, sleeping in nomads' tents and undertaking colorful and daring adventures. Former New York Times reporter Geniesse credits Stark with fostering a sympathetic understanding of diverse peoples, yet also views Stark's nomadic life of nonstop wandering as an escape: she sees Stark as a successor to mid-Victorian romantics who perceived the exotic East as an alternative to the West's soulless commercialism. During WWII, Stark, fluent in several languages, helped Britain create a propaganda network stretching from Cairo to Baghdad, aimed at persuading Arabs to support the Allies or at least remain neutral. In retaliation, Mussolini imprisoned her aged mother. In 1943, the British government sent Stark, a longtime anti-Zionist, on a tour of the U.S. with the aim of deterring Washington from supporting the creation of Israel. Defending Stark against charges of anti-Semitism, Geniesse writes: "She foresaw that the creation of a Jewish homeland that displaced Arabs to fulfill the dream would spawn a legacy of violence lasting for years to come." With a psychologist's acumen, Geniesse provocatively portrays Stark as a charismatic maverick with a ruthless, competitive streak, a voraciously needy woman of fragile self-esteem. Photos.

popularity
49
links
    • self:
        • href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BWwAAAA2I/products/f4a8a5d7-9d6e-4497-ba99-13b9e00f9a05/metadata
        • type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
id
f4a8a5d7-9d6e-4497-ba99-13b9e00f9a05
starRating
3.6
images
    • cover:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0111-1/{F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05}Img100.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • thumbnail:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0111-1/{F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05}Img200.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover150Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0111-1/F4A/8A5/D7/{F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05}Img150.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover300Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0111-1/F4A/8A5/D7/{F4A8A5D7-9D6E-4497-BA99-13B9E00F9A05}Img400.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
isPublicPerformanceAllowed
False
languages
      • code: en
      • name: English
subjects
      • value: Biography & Autobiography
      • value: History
      • value: Travel
      • value: Nonfiction
publishDateText
07/21/2010
otherFormatIdentifiers
      • type: ISBN
      • value: 9780375757464
mediaType
eBook
shortDescription
A New York Times Notable Book • Finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction
“Highly readable biography . . . The woman who emerges from these pages is a complex figure—heroic, driven . . . and entirely human.”—Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
Passionate Nomad captures the momentous life and times of Freya Stark with precision, compassion, and marvelous detail. Hailed by The Times of London as “the last of the Romantic Travellers” upon her death in 1993, Freya Stark combined unflappable bravery, formidable charm, fearsome intellect, and ferocious ambition to become the twentieth century’s best-known woman traveler. Digging beneath the mythology, Geniesse uncovers a complex, controversial, and quixotic woman whose indomitable spirit was forged by contradictions: a child of privilege, Stark grew up in near poverty; yearning for formal education, she was largely self-taught;...
sortTitle
Passionate Nomad The Life of Freya Stark
crossRefId
355074
subtitle
The Life of Freya Stark
publisher
Random House Publishing Group
bisacCodes
      • code: BIO022000
      • description: Biography & Autobiography / Women
      • code: HIS015000
      • description: HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General
      • code: TRV015000
      • description: Travel / Middle East / General