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Patti Isaacs

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

https://secondlongmarch.com

Twitter

IsaacsWriter

Genre

Nonfiction, Memoir, History

Influences

Carl Hiaasen, Minnesota poet Bill Holm, Peter Hessler.

Member Since

June 2012

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Patti Isaacs is a cartographer and writer who lives in Stillwater, Minnesota.

She grew up in a family that loved to travel. They planned trips by train or car with a road atlas or state map laid out on the dining room table. Through the family subscription to National Geographic she became aware of the wider world. Every month she pored over the magazine’s photos, articles, and maps—especially the maps!

Patti’s great aunt, a missionary nurse, was stationed in China briefly in the 1920s before spending the rest of her career in India. She wrote frequent letters and visited the family on her furloughs, bringing with her stories of dire poverty but also small, intricately crafted keepsakes: a bit of iridescent sari silk, an exquisitely embroider Patti Isaacs is a cartographer and writer who lives in Stillwater, Minnesota.

She grew up in a family that loved to travel. They planned trips by train or car with a road atlas or state map laid out on the dining room table. Through the family subscription to National Geographic she became aware of the wider world. Every month she pored over the magazine’s photos, articles, and maps—especially the maps!

Patti’s great aunt, a missionary nurse, was stationed in China briefly in the 1920s before spending the rest of her career in India. She wrote frequent letters and visited the family on her furloughs, bringing with her stories of dire poverty but also small, intricately crafted keepsakes: a bit of iridescent sari silk, an exquisitely embroidered coin purse, a tiny filigreed silver box. Her stories fueled Patti’s imagination.

In college, Patti majored in art and physical geography. She met her husband Gauss, who was majoring in Chinese, on a canoe trip through the university's outing club. Her zest for travel and interest in Asia meshed with his.

In 1981, they lived in the city of Xian, Shaanxi Province. Mao had died only five years earlier, and although his successor, Deng Xiaoping, had given approval for the first steps toward a market economy, most of the country still operated under the old collective economic system. During that year she witnessed the last days of communism and the very beginning of China’s emergence on the modern world stage.

Once back home in the states, Patti realized one of her childhood dreams, working for the National Geographic society. She and Gauss had two sons, and she established her own cartography business.

In 2005, she returned to Xi’an to work for two months and was able to revisit many of the same places and document, in photographs, how they had changed. She also found several of her former students; people who, as it turned out, were among the architects of China’s modern economic miracle.

Ms. Isaacs’s maps have appeared in publications with national distribution including National Geographic Traveler magazine and many textbooks. Her writing has appeared in Adventure Cyclist magazine, the Minneapolis StarTribune, and Concrete, an anthology of essays about Chinese cities published by the Shanghai Literary Review.

A lifelong Minnesotan (with stints in China, California, DC, and Vermont) Patti loves winter weather and is happiest on the rocky shores of Lake Superior. When she's not writing or making maps, she loves all kinds of outdoor activities from biking to paddle boarding to skiing; travel; music; and cooking with friends. ...more

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Patti Isaacs’s books

Average rating: 4.5 · 14 ratings · 5 reviews · 1 distinct work • Similar authors

The Second Long March: Memoir from a Witness to China's Transformation

4.50 avg rating — 14 ratings — 2 editions

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Patti rated a book it was amazing Bliss Road: A memoir about living a lie and coming to terms with the truth by Martha Engber (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
An engaging and satisfying book. It educates through story, the author gradually piecing together memories of her father as she was growing up. There's science in here as well, self-reflection, and redemption, as she realizes the impact her upbringin ...more
May 02, 2025 12:15PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Bliss Road by Martha Engber. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Bliss Road by Martha Engber <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Patti liked Judy Middleton's review of The Second Long March: Memoir from a Witness to China's Transformation: "Patti was in the right place at the right time to document life under communism in the 1980s. If that isn’t fascinating enough (and Patti is a captivating story-teller), she returns 24 years later to compare and contrast a mind-boggling change in cul" Read more of this review »
May 14, 2024 10:55AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Second Long March by Patti Isaacs. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Second Long March by Patti Isaacs <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">