There is a group of people out there who really do feel the history of a place while traveling. I am not sure how big that group of people is, but I do know that I consider myself among that tribe. You may be a member if you sit down on old stones to soak in the feel of an ancient place, hear the voices of old as you walk beneath decaying fortifications, or pause as you realize that you just walked down a path that Roman emperor may have strolled on his way to the Coliseum.
Hiking through History: Hannibal, Highlanders & Joan of Arc is a book written by Kirk Ward Robinson which will appeal to anyone in this tribe of history oriented travellers. Hiking through History was originally written in the early 2000s and released in 2011. More recently, the Highland Home publishing house has released an updated anniversary edition, and this updated 2026 release is the edition that I was fortunate enough to read.
Robinson is an American writer who has published a range of nonfiction books about history and travel (usually involving bikes or hiking), as well as a number of works of fiction. He hails from the great state of Texas, although he has lived in a number of other US states.
The book basically follows Robinson's adventures in three different locations: Italy, Scotland and France. In Italy and France, Robinson follows the footsteps of two of the most well known figures in history - Hannibal and Joan of Arc. At least, he does his best to follow those steps, and as much as possible by foot. In Scotland, we have a more general wandering in the highlands where William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and, centuries later, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Highland clans all fought the English in the ways of their times.
The three thematic sections are fairly separate and could be read independently if you had a specific interest, although there are fairly subtle connections. For example, characters in a French campground that we were introduced to in the first section (Hannibal) show up again in the third (Joan of Arc), and so it would be helpful to have read the section on Hannibal first. But, doing so is not strictly necessary as I say.
Each of the sections basically alternates between Robinson's personal travels, on the one hand, like his struggles to get from place to place without command of the language and with minimal financial resources, and the actual history of the events that occurred at locations that he is passing at the time. For example, as Robinson relates his journey up through the mountains and passes used by Hannibal to move his army into the Italian peninsula, he intersperses the actual history of Hannibal's crossing of those same passes, the challenges, the conflicts with the Celtic tribes in the area, overcoming that last mountain pass with the remnants of his army.
I actually really liked how that juxtaposition played out as I really got a sense of what it must have actually been like crossing through the mountains, the feeling you might have had as a regular soldier in the Carthaginian army. I already knew the general history, the movement of people and elephants, the clashes with hostile tribes. But traditional history books rarely speculate on what individuals might have been feeling during these struggles, what they might have been seeing as they were attempting to cross a river with an opposing army on the opposite shore. It's hard for traditional histories to spend much time on that kind of speculation. But in a travel writing format like Hiking through History, taking the personal perspective is the perfect way to add a new layer to the existing story, if not just connect current travels with the past.
And so this pattern repeats itself over and over again as we move along the path with Hannibal, following his great victories, and with Joan of Arc as she rallies against the English until she is finally arrested, tried and burned at the stake.
I also enjoyed the personal stories Robinson related of his journey through Italy, France and Scotland. He travelled with minimal resources, living out of a backpack and trying to meet and talk to people along the way. I found his stories honest and relatable, particularly to someone who has travelled by themselves across countries where the language is difficult, the people sometimes nice and sometimes awful. Standing alone in the rain trying to navigate public transport while nobody is inclined to help is a story many of us can relate to.
Mixing travel writing and history might be a pretty niche genre, and it's the first time I have read something quite like Robinson's book. That said, I did enjoy it quite a lot and I will keep my eye out for similar types of books in the future.
Publication date: 2026 | Publisher: Highland Home | Page Count: 327
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