“Wanderlust: A History of Walking” by Rebecca Solnit

I read A Field Guide to Getting Lost ages ago, which was also written by Solnit. You can clearly see how the two books came from the same brain, both are about walking/wandering and its place within history and culture.

Solnit looks at how walking has been portrayed throughout history and literature and dissects the underlying meanings within it. She starts with how we evolved to become walkers, and the various theories behind why this happened, and from there goes through the Victorian era, to the twentieth century, and to the present. One of my favorite passages was when she pulls apart different character’s walking habits in Pride and Prejudice and illuminates how this demonstrates their social class and views.

And of course with marches and protests it all spills over into politics, as well as how cities have changed over time to affect our walking habits. There is a really surprisingly diverse range of topics covered in this book, it sounds boring to read a book about walking but she makes it fascinating. Each chapter is accompanied by short snippets of Solnit’s own experiences walking and traveling, as she is an avid walker herself. These bring a personal nature to each of the chapters, and spice up the history.

At first I found this annoying, but what ended up being one of my favorite aspects of the book was how at the bottom of each page there are quotes about walking and famous walkers. The quotes correspond to the subject of the chapters as well, so quotes from literature about walking around cities can be found on the pages where city walking is discussed. And often the works cited in the quotes are not mentioned at all in the chapter, indicating just how much research and effort Solnit put into this. I thought it was a cool way to incorporate other views and insights, especially since so much of the book is about the portrayal of walking in writings of the time.

To no one’s surprise, I would highly recommend any of Solnit’s works, and particularly this one. It is a very thorough overview of all of her research, and very insightful as well. A Field Guide to Getting Lost is shorter and might be more accessible to those who aren’t sure if they are interested in the subject matter, but this book is an excellent deep dive into the subject of walking through the ages.