Naomi Mitchison travelled extensively outside Britain, writing freely about her adventures and tribulations, her disturbing experiences and those of others.
This volume includes autobiographical material and newspaper reporting, as well as more detached observations, written from 1929 through to the mid-1980s, and covers every continent except South America.
Geographically, the articles are divided into sections on Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, The Mediterranean and Middle East, and The United States. A broadly chronological arrangement is followed within each section.
Many pieces debate, compare and contrast topics or circumstances, and their location might be considered arbitrary.
Botwana (Bechunaland) occupied much of her attention for a time, and her writing there is collected, separately, in a separate volume.