Synopsis
In the winter of 2002, Scottish writer Rory Stewart made a seemingly suicidal trek across Afghanistan to learn more about the inhospitable country that had leapt so terrifyingly into the global consciousness. Braving icy storms, arid deserts, wolves, warlords, and the still dangerous Taliban, Stewart came to understand the spirit of the Afghan people better than perhaps any other Westerner. His episodic yet brilliant descriptions of his travels are neither romanticized, sentimentalized, or prejudiced: with a clear eye and delicious prose Stewart brings to life a world that few will ever know--the harsh yet marvelous land of Afghanistan.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2006-05-08 |
| Size | | Length: | 336 pages | | Height: | 7.8 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.5 in | | Weight: | 12.0 oz |
Publisher's Note
In January 2002 Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan-surviving by his wits, his knowledge of Persian dialects and Muslim customs, and the kindness of strangers. By day he passed through mountains covered in nine feet of snow, hamlets burned and emptied by the Taliban, and communities thriving amid the remains of medieval civilizations. By night he slept on villagers' floors, shared their meals, and listened to their stories of the recent and ancient past. Along the way Stewart met heroes and rogues, tribal elders and teenage soldiers, Taliban commanders and foreign-aid workers. He was also adopted by an unexpected companion--a retired fighting mastiff he named Babur in honor of Afghanistan's first Mughal emperor, in whose footsteps the pair was following.
Through these encounters--by turns touching, con-founding, surprising, and funny--Stewart makes tangible the forces of tradition, ideology, and allegiance that shape life in the map's countless places in between.
Industry Reviews
"By turns harrowing and meditative, Stewart's trek through Afghanistan in the footsteps of the 15th-century emperor Babur is edifying at every step, grounded by his knowledge of local history, politics and dialects. His prose is lean and unsentimental...."
(02/13/2006)
"Gripping account of a courageous journey, observed with a scholar's eye and a humanitarian's heart."
(03/01/2006)
"If...you're determined to do something as recklessly stupid as walk across a war zone, your surest bet to quash all the inevitable criticism is to write a flat-out masterpiece. [Rory] Stewart did. Stewart has. THE PLACES IN BETWEEN is, in very nearly every sense, too good to be true."
(06/11/2006)
| See an error? Submit a change request |
UgBJ5rhCSlVw~~_7.JPG "Places in Between by Rory Stewart (2006, Paperback)")
UgBJ5rhCSlVw~~_32.JPG "Places in Between by Rory Stewart (2006, Paperback)")
All rights reserved.UgBJ5rhCSlVw~~_0.JPG)
