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Loading... The Places In Between (2004)by Rory Stewart
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Not sure why he did this. Escaping from something? Just last night upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today. I wish, I wish he’d go away. ( ) I came to this book after Rory Stewart’s high-profile campaign in the Conservative Party leadership race. I am not normally one for travel books but was very impressed. It is beautifully written & observed and gives the reader a feeling for the history and complexity of the country. Contrary to some other reviews, I thought the author showed a great deal of respect to the people and their cultures. An impressive achievement and highly recommended. (It is a reminder of how some of the development objectives for the post-invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 - security, democracy, women’s rights etc. - were so ambitious as to be almost fantasy.) A wonderful addition to the travel genre, this book sees Rory Stewart travel on foot across the northern reaches of Afghanistan. The epilogue demonstrates how important it is to see things first hand - Rory is able to add context to world events, but more crucially, he details how seeing Afghanistan changed his whole life. Excellent book, takes you places you'd never imagine and describes them beautifully. The Special Forces opinion on Stewart is one I can certainly ascribe to as one can't imagine actually doing what he did in this book, but I'm glad he did - for what he was able to do thereafter as much at to allow him to write this. no reviews | add a review
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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 he 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, confounding, surprising, and funny--Stewart makes tangible the forces of tradition, ideology, and allegiance that shape life in the map's countless places in between.--From publisher description. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)915.810447History and Geography Geography and Travel Geography of and travel in Asia Central Asia Afghanistan Travel 1919- 2001-2021LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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