Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on
bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
DK Eyewitness Top Ten Lisbon
by Tomas Tranaeus
A compact illustrated guide in the popular series, featuring favorite attractions.
Baltasar and Blimunda
by Jose Saramago
This tale of two unlikely lovers in Inquisition-era Portugal is arguably Saramago's masterwork: a philosophically charged, intellectually rigorous historical drama which is also a captivating read.
Portugal Map
by Michelin
At a scale of 1:400,000, this fully indexed map also includes insets of Madeira and city maps.
The Book of Disquiet
by Fernando Pessoa
When the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa died in 1935, he left behind a trunk full of unpublished writings. Culled from those unclassifiable papers, this book is a unique collection of short, aphoristic paragraphs comprising the "autobiography" of Bernardo Soares, one of Pessoa's many alternate selves (he called them "heteronyms"). Part intimate diary, part prose poetry, part descriptive narrative, this melancholic masterpiece is captivatingly translated by Richard Zenith.
A Traveller's History of Portugal
by Ian Robertson
A lively, admirably concise survey from prehistory to the present, great for travelers to Portugal who would like an overview of the country's history and culture.
Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empirer
by Roger Crowley
This epic narrative history by bestselling author Roger Crowley (City of Fortune, MED185) chronicles the rise of Portugal as the small nation forged a dominant share in the global spice trade. His cast of characters (the ambitious King Manuel I, marauding governors and intrepid seamen) built a trade monopoly with the ferocity of a holy crusade, forever shifting Europe's center of power from the Mediterranean to Western Europe.
Journey to Portugal, In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture
by Jose Saramago
Jose Saramago's richly detailed account of his journey across Portugal in 1979. He combines his vivid impressions of the Portuguese landscape and people with a dose of history, fiction and meditations.
Small Memories
by Jose Saramago
In this contemplative memoir, the Portuguese Nobel laureate recalls a childhood both dark and magical, split between the growing city of Lisbon and the tiny village of Azinhaga.
Eyewitness Guide Portugal
by Eyewitness Guides
A compact, visual travel guide to the country featuring hundreds of photographs and drawings, an excellent overview of the culture and history of Portugal and good information about where to go and what to do. With many excellent regional, local and neighborhood maps.
Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-1945
by Neill Lochery
Despite Portugal's neutrality during WWII, the city of Lisbon endured untold amounts of pressure, propaganda and espionage from both the Allies and the Axis powers. Lochery's well-researched chronicle is sheathed in a cloak-and-dagger atmosphere as he uncovers sordid and fascinating accounts of the backstage role the Portuguese capital played in the conflict that raged on all sides.
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
by Jose Saramago
This nuanced novel, written in Saramago's smooth style, follows Ricardo Reis, one of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa's invented characters, around the rainy streets of Lisbon. Pessoa has just died, and Saramago builds his plot around the premise that characters live on nine months after their author's demise
Lonely Planet Portuguese Phrasebook
by Clara De MacEdo Vitorino
A handy pocket phrasebook for Portuguese basics, covering pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler.
