Author walks across Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban ( )

Mad dogs and Englishmen (well, Scots) walking across Afghanistan in mid-winter after the war with Russia and the bombing of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban. This is a spare and undramatic tale of encounters with villagers noble and ignoble, village dogs, adoption of a mistreated mastiff, and demolition of the notion that Afghans are anything but brutal. ( )

Rory Stewart walks across Afghanistan and in the process shows us the beauty and contradictions of the landscape and people. With a large half-wild mastiff, Babur, at his side, he brings the story of the remote, mountainous areas and their people to a Western audience. A non-political examination of culture and history.

Learning how other people live.: I enjoyed this book very much,it an easy read explaining a great deal of the history of Afghanistan and the mentality of the people.I found the history a great help to understand the present war going on i.e. the Taliban way of thinking,it also gives an insight to the present day Iranians their religons and how the various tribes have conflicts with one another.
The auther's stamina and the way in which he spent time with the local people describing their way of life and atitude towards foreigners from far off places such as Scotland of which they had never heard.Rory Stewart also writes about the local architecture such as it was, and the poverty with which the people have to live.One can understand that the Afghans do not want to give up the growing of the Opium Poppies which they know, and seem to be able to sell how ever harmful it is in the world.This book is quite an education.

You don't expect to find Afghanistan included in today's travel writing books, which is what drew me to this fascinating book. It is the story of a truly adventurous young man's 36 day trek across Afghanistan in 2002 after the fall of the Taliban. This is more than just a memoir, it is story of survival told with humor and keen observation of the stark landscape and Afghani customs.
Stewart's in-depth knowledge of Persian dialects and understanding of Muslim customs strengthens the power of his journey. As he said, he represented a culture that many of the people he met along the way hated. Yet, in more than five hundred village houses, he was "indulged, fed, nursed, and protected by people poorer, hungrier, sicker, and more vulnerable than he". And he didn't meet only saints, he encountered thugs, too, but he maintained his humor and bravery and wisdom.

This powerful book is rich and descriptive balanced by Stewart's knowledge of history. As I shall never trek across Afghanistan in my lifetime, I say thank you, Rory Stewart, for making the journey and telling the tale. ( )