They practically tumble off the shelves in an avalanche of stars and toques, bursting open with emphatic recommendations and indignant dismissals in unprecedented profusion; if they could talk, there would be an argument. The best hotel in Paris? The finest painting in the Prado? The tastiest little trattoria in Trastevere? Guidebooks, those quirky, opinionated and impassioned travelers' aids tout the virtues of everything from a stroll down the Strand to a tour of the catacombs. A sampling of the more comprehensive:
Europe 1983 edited by Stephen Birnbaum; Houghton Mifflin; $13.95. This is the pick...
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