Luggage traces a narrative history of the things we bring with us when we travel: our luggage, or our baggage. The materials of travel – the suitcases, carry-on bags, totes, trunks, and train cases of the past and present – have stories to tell about displacement, home, gender, class, consumption, and labor. Luggage explores bags as carefully curated microcosms of our domestic and professional selves. It charts the evolution of travel in literature, art, and film. A simple suitcase, it turns out, contains more than you might think. (Bloomsbury, March 2018)
"Susan Harlan writes with empathy and erudition about the things we lug, haul, pack, and leave behind. This little book – compact enough to throw in your carry-on for your next flight – is edifying and entertaining in equal measures. I loved it." – Rosie Schaap, Author of Drinking With Men
"For those of us who travel for a living, luggage is all things in one: tool, companion, talisman. I think about luggage a lot. Probably too much. But I've never read anything that – forgive me here – unpacks the meaning of luggage with the same depth and verve as Susan Harlan does." – Nathan Thornburgh, Co-founder of Roads & Kingdoms
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