From the beaches of Monte Carlo to the hundreds of soaring snow peaks, festooned with glaciers, pastures, and flowering tundra, the Alps straddle the meeting points of rich and developed countries.

Both personal narrative and topical guide, The Alps presents an ambitous synthesis of the entire Alpine region. The broad scope of the book encompasses the region's geography, geology, climate, its snow and glaciers, flora and fauna, ethnic groups, dialects, pastoral life and festivals, home life and folk arts, legends, fiction, visual arts, music and dancing, warfare, summit climbing, trekking, ski touring, and what the authors call psychological ecology. Unifying this kaleidoscope is the authors' deep understanding of the inter-dependence between and within the natural and cultural realms.

The Alps have been a fulcrum of European history from the Caesars and Napoleon to the assassination, Olympics, and massacres at Sarajevo. Along the way, these mountains became the cradle of modern democracy in Switzerland and the crucible of mountaineering from Petrarch, Whymper, and Mummery to Rebuffat, Bonnatti, and Messner. Food, shelter, and good company are offered in hundreds of climbers' huts, from which the highest peaks are accessible by pleasant standard routes as well as by more challenging ones, such as the Mummery Crack, the Petit Dru, and the north face of Eiger. In many places, one can admire how chamois and ibex cavort on the crags while butterflies dance in the wind.

With wide experience throughout the world and more than forty years climbing and studying in the Alps, the Shoumatoffs now offer all these facets of the Alps, each enhanced by their special affection and deep knowledge of these mountains that are the heart of Europe.

The late Nicholas Shoumatoff, an entomologist and mechanical engineer, was Fellow Emeritus of The Explorers Club, member of the American Alpine Club, and coauthor of a monograph on butterflies of Afghanistan. The late Nina Shoumatoff, who marveled at the Alps since childhood, studied literature and philosophy in France, Austria, and the United States.