Dervla Murphy is most often described in terms of strength: she is intrepid, strong-minded, compulsive about traveling and writing, and able to endure hunger and exhaustion to reach her goals. She is also a woman of strong opinions who has love and compassion for her fellow humans and a strong Irish sense of humor. Often compared to the intrepid women travelers of the nineteenth century, such as Isabella Bird Bishop and Mary Kingsley, Murphy is, in fact, a decidedly twentieth-century traveler. Like her predecessors, Murphy relates her adventures and misadventures humorously, but she is much less self-deprecating than early women travelers. She more often places herself in the foreground and has no compunctions about appropriate dress or undress, other than the consideration of ease for rough travels or in proving her gender. Her fondness for cigarettes and sampling every sort of alcoholic beverage also separates her from the...