"you're a fucking nutter"*
I've been reading The Places in Between by Rory Stewart. I've learned more about Afganistan and the people there from this book than any newspaper article or news analysis. It's remarkable how his simple straightforward descriptions (he's trained as an archaologist I think) tease out the character and motivations of the people he meets along the way.
The book is an account of his walk across the mountains of Afganistan very shortly after the US started the war there in 2001. Stewart is one of those people obsessed with walking across regions of the planet unknown to most people. He's done walks across Nepal, Pakistan and Iran prior to this trek. His knowledge of the customs and languages of the region and his humility in trying to get a feeling for the villages and personalities and history allow him more access than most journalists.
It's quite humorous in parts. The description of the ICRC (Red Cross) trying to bring in food to the "hunger belt" hits a nerve. The villagers wonders why the British UN peacekeepers hook their feet onto the bumper of their car and push themselves up and down 200 times, but at the same time admire the breadth of their chests. The hundreds of kilometers of walking through snow wet and cold with diarreha give one a feeling for the actual physical pain of the trek.
---> If you like throughtful travel writing and are interested at all in Afganistan, definitely a good book. It sold out numerous times at the publisher when it first came out, the reviews in the NY Times, LA Times and Wall Street Journal were so glowing.
* how a British relief worker with a cockney accent described the author -- the author was cheered up by this affection
The book is an account of his walk across the mountains of Afganistan very shortly after the US started the war there in 2001. Stewart is one of those people obsessed with walking across regions of the planet unknown to most people. He's done walks across Nepal, Pakistan and Iran prior to this trek. His knowledge of the customs and languages of the region and his humility in trying to get a feeling for the villages and personalities and history allow him more access than most journalists.
It's quite humorous in parts. The description of the ICRC (Red Cross) trying to bring in food to the "hunger belt" hits a nerve. The villagers wonders why the British UN peacekeepers hook their feet onto the bumper of their car and push themselves up and down 200 times, but at the same time admire the breadth of their chests. The hundreds of kilometers of walking through snow wet and cold with diarreha give one a feeling for the actual physical pain of the trek.
---> If you like throughtful travel writing and are interested at all in Afganistan, definitely a good book. It sold out numerous times at the publisher when it first came out, the reviews in the NY Times, LA Times and Wall Street Journal were so glowing.
* how a British relief worker with a cockney accent described the author -- the author was cheered up by this affection