FAR & AWAY: REPORTING FROM THE BRINK OF CHANGE: SEVEN CONTINENTS, TWENTY-FIVE YEARS Hardcover - 2016

New York City, NY: Scribner's, 2016. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Scribner's, 2016. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 578 pages. Retrospective collection of essays on subject. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Andrew Solomon's "Far & Away: Reporting From The Brink of Change: Seven Continents, Twenty-Five Years". Travel as the best way to learn about The Other, and be illuminated. The Other being the underlying thread running throughout Andrew Solomon's body of work. Collects Solomon's writings about places undergoing seismic shifts: Political, cultural, and spiritual. Provides a unique window into the very idea of social change. With his signature brilliance and compassion, Solomon demonstrates both how history is altered by individuals, and how personal identities are altered when governments change. Takes a magnificent journey into the heart of extraordinarily diverse experiences. Yet Solomon finds a common humanity wherever he travels" (Publisher's blurb). "A beautiful book, inspired by love of 'away' and uncertainty about 'home', a celebration of freedom which valuably warns that freedom must sometimes be learned. Much more than 'travel writing', it's a portrait of our world, made by someone who has been there" (Salman Rushdie). Andrew Solomon has emerged as one of our "wisdom" writers, thinking lucidly and rationally, writing beautifully, and provoking more serious thought. His theme as a writer is the necessary yet elusive relation between Self and The Other: "Home" and "Abroad" are, in the end, reiterations of "Self" and "The Other". He shows us, without appearing to be a condescending scold, that all human beings (especially, but not just, Americans in particular) have too much Self-consciousness, not enough Other-awareness. Solomon has no illusions about awareness of The Other being perhaps the most difficult lifelong project we must undertake as human beings. He also sees it as the only lasting solution to persistent universal miseries such as war and other seemingly insoluble problems that pragmatists, not utopian idealists, must make their life-work. An absolute "must-have" title for Andrew Solomon collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Andrew Solomon. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and despite its imperfection (faint remainder mark on bottom, but it's there) is still in fine condition overall: Every single internal page is clean, crisp, and bright. It is priced accordingly. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are in multiple subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. Solomon did NOT tour to promote the book. So signed copies will always be scarce. A rare signed copy thus. Winner of the National Book Award in 2001 for "The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression". One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ANDREW SOLOMON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1476795045.