1. ISBN13: 9780156031561
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

Customer Review :

Poignant and poetic

Mr. Stewart's writing style is not lyrical yet it can be said to be poetic, evoking emotions and images of the country through which he walked. All too often, the only images we have of Afghanistan are of war and repression of women. Walking across Afghanistan shortly after the fall of the Taliban, Mr. Stewart writes of a country re-awakening, full of hope for the future, and marked by the years of war...the changes to the culture, the scars on the land-scape. The book is all the more poignant given the subsequent abandoning of the country by the US to focus on Iraq and the inevitable decline in to chaos again. Mr. Stewart paints a vivid yet un-romanticised pottrait of the people, and changing culture of resilient peoples. ùit is not a book about politics or nation-building, but a bok about people and places...the you and I of another place. It is a must-read for anyone who has ever heard the name Afghanistan on the evening news.

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Excellent Read

This book is a fascinating personal perspective of Afghanistan. Stewart allows his readers the opportunity to appreciate the human element of a war torn country as he tells his story of a journey on foot from Herat to Kabul. His insights are a refreshing take on the region and include the historical, political, anthropological, cultural and social strengths of this beautiful country.

I commend Stewart for his resilience and motivations to complete his walking journey through this politically unstable region of the world. This personal journey is an intriguing and inspirational story that will captivate anyone who reads it. This said, it is a book I own multiple copies of and have lent and given to a large number of friends, family and travelers- all of whom have also thoroughly enjoy it.

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Following in Babur's footsteps

"The Places in Between" is the chronicle of Rory Stewart's journey by foot from Herat to Kabul, accompanied by nothing else but the occasional villager or passing soldier and his local dog, named Babur. This is a fitting name because Stewart, who would later be appointed to an important government post in occupied Iraq (The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq), not only wants to explore the beautiful Afghan landscape but also study the traces of its history in the present. The original Babur was one of the few leaders in Afghan history who had united the whole territory and who considered it central to his empire, and he is particularly interesting because he left an autobiographical text which is remarkable for its honesty, its objectivity, and its insight into the norms of those days. With these two Baburs, knowledge of local language and customs, and a bag full of medication, Rory Stewart sets out to traverse the sublime deserts and snow-capped mountains of central Afghanistan.

The tale is very well written and makes for easy and highly compelling reading. It is a telling fact that he makes his journey, which consists in essence out of endlessly repeated harsh day marches from one village chief's tent to the next, interesting to people who have never even been near the area. Stewart is very nonjudgmental overall, probably in part because he is entirely reliant on the kindness of strangers (who are often as hostile as they are hospitable to travellers) in the classic manner of travel writing. The book sheds some light on the highly complicated chain of political and ethnic conflicts within Afghanistan - almost every Afghan male has fought in at least one, if not more, war in the country. It is clear that loyalties are usually not quite as clear-cut as one would like them to be in order to understand them: very often the same feudal lords who had opposed the Taliban later joined them, and sometimes Iran-supported islamists are the greatest enemies of local chieftains, and so forth. Stewart's book does not really delve into political analysis, but certainly shows 'ad oculos' what the real meaning of politics is in Afghanistan.

All this is not to say that Stewart is necessarily an entirely reliable guide. The American edition of the book indicates that Rick Loomis took pictures of him along the way, but having a cameraman along is not mentioned anywhere. Moreover, it is clear from the facts that Stewart has been in the British Army, knows Dari as well as local politics thoroughly, has been involved with the Kennedy School of Government and finally his later appointment as governor in the occupying government in Iraq, that it is highly likely that he is a spy of some sort. Given this fact, the fact that Stewart was allowed to undertake his trip at all is quite remarkable, and it does seem some strings were pulled to make it possible. Of course, he himself says nothing about this. The result in any case is an insightful and highly readable book that will appeal to anyone interested in Afghanistan.

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The place in between

Firstly, once I FINALLY received the product, it was in almost mint condition. So that was definitely a plus.
The downside, however, was that it took almost a month for it to come, no big deal if you're not in a hurry, though, extraordinarily annoying otherwise.

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More about "the places" than the "in betweens"

Some things don't require explanation. People just do things, perhaps on impulse or some hidden private passion. But partaking in something as daring as walking for twenty months on foot through potentially dangerous territory would, it seems, necessitate some fundamental reason for doing so. But maybe not? In any case, Scottish journalist explorer turned Parliamentary candidate Rory Stewart set out on such a journey in 2001. His bipedal voyage was chronicled in "The Places In Between," which was hailed as a masterpiece and has helped put Stewart into the Academic (he now holds a chair at Harvard) and political spotlight (he is campaigning as a Conservative Party MP). Maybe his walk was inspired merely by the desire to "be somebody?" A sort of distinguishing for the marketplace? Whatever the reasoning behind it, the book's first line provides no illumination: "I'm not good at explaining why I walked across Afghanistan. Perhaps I did it because it was an adventure." He was thankfully good enough at explaining it to Afghans who allowed him to trudge through their volatile war-torn country. Stewart told them that he's retracing the steps of the 16th century Mughal Emperor Babur, that he's writing a book, that he's a history professor, he basically told them whatever he needed to tell them to maintain his quest. Sometimes, and he admits this openly, he lied to secure lodging or to avoid threats. One salient feature about his journey is the amount of tall tales told by Stewart and his companions along the way. One of Stewart's guides tells suspicious visitors that he is an American, and that his metal tipped walking stick can summon American helicopters at a moment's notice. They subsequently leave him alone. At another time a guide tells a host that Stewart is a doctor. More than once Stewart claims that he's an important personal friend of such and such powerful person, which allows him to scramble out of some tough spots. He wisely dodges some questions about his belief in Islam, but when pushed he gives a very Islamic interpretation of Christianity to questioners. This method never gets him in trouble. So apparently a fair amount of truth bending is required for a foreigner to pass through Afghanistan. This isn't surprising considering the state of that country.

Those seeking an ultimate reason for Stewart's journey may remain frustrated throughout the book. They will nonetheless encounter a highly charged and very readable narrative of what must have been a harrowing and perspective-building experience. The trip starts at Herat in western Afghanistan and grinds slowly through rough terrain all the way to Kabul to the far east. Along the way Stewart encounters the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. He meets very few women, veiled or unveiled, and their sighting provides a litmus test for the tolerance of a region. Once he enters a room to see women fly into the shadows. He receives some of the best treatment in places where women appear openly in public. On the last leg of his journey, in Al-Qaeda and Taliban territory, he gets punched in the face and threatened with physical violence. Some amazing landmarks also appear, such as the mysterious Minaret at Jam. He falls down its spiral staircase. People at Jam tell him about excavations, mostly mercenary, in the hills surrounding the minaret. They find antiquities which lead them to believe that Jam was the legendary "Turquoise Mountain." In Chist-e_Sharif he sees the famous hollowed out domes. And at Bamiyan he sees the empty mountain crevices that once held the enormous Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban. Those sites alone were probably worth the trip. In Dahan-e-Rezak he is given a maltreated dog he names Babur and who accompanies him until sickness prompts Stewart to ask Doctors Without Borders officials to drive Babur to Kabul. Stewart eventually catches up with him, but Babur's fate remains uncertain until the epilogue. The walk ends in ravaged Kabul where a local, mistaking him for an Arab, warns him that he just can't walk into Kabul "there are British and American soldiers ahead." He meets up with a well fed Babur in Kabul.

Though "The Places in Between" provides for great travel writing, it does not present a complete or even clear picture of Afghanistan or its people. The book is really about the author's journey. True, those who know nothing about the country will pick up some interesting tidbits, but this isn't an anthropology or an in-depth study in any sense of the word. It's a travelogue, and a highly entertaining one. Those looking for detailed analysis of Afghanistan should look elsewhere. Though he meets many interesting people, Stewart does not see or speak with enough people to consider his story representative of Afghanistan. He spends most of his time walking in unpopulated areas. Also, Stewart himself does not really emerge from the narrative. His focus remains on telling the story of the journey, not on personal introspection, though some of this does appear in smatterings. This somewhat belies the title, which evokes uninhabited landscapes where Stewart did in fact spend most of his time. But ultimately, the book spends more time on "the places" than on the "in betweens." Still, anyone looking for an intriguing story about a lone person in unknown territory will find a good read here. And perhaps we'll hear more about Stewart if he wins the Parliamentary seat and maybe someday he'll either figure out or reveal why he set out on this Quixotic quest.

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Editorial Review :

First time in paperback, with a new Introduction and final chapter

World affairs expert and intrepid travel journalist Robert D. Kaplan braved the dangers of war-ravaged Afghanistan in the 1980s, living among the mujahidin—the “soldiers of god”—whose unwavering devotion to Islam fueled their mission to oust the formidable Soviet invaders. In Soldiers of God we follow Kaplan’s extraordinary journey and learn how the thwarted Soviet invasion gave rise to the ruthless Taliban and the defining international conflagration of the twenty-first century.

Kaplan returns a decade later and brings to life a lawless frontier. What he reveals is astonishing: teeming refugee camps on the deeply contentious Pakistan-Afghanistan border; a war front that combines primitive fighters with the most technologically advanced weapons known to man; rigorous Islamic indoctrination academies; a land of minefields plagued by drought, fierce tribalism, insurmountable ethnic and religious divisions, an abysmal literacy rate, and legions of war orphans who seek stability in military brotherhood. Traveling alongside Islamic guerrilla fighters, sharing their food, observing their piety in the face of deprivation, and witnessing their determination, Kaplan offers a unique opportunity to increase our understanding of a people and a country that are at the center of world events.

Customer Review :

A first rate book on Afghanistan

Kaplan is an American journalist who made several trips into Afghanistan during the time that the Soviet Union had occupied Afghanistan and was intent on turning Afghanistan into a communist country.

In his trips, Kaplan experienced and describes the life common to all mountain peoples, the cruelty and gruesomeness of war especially in its counter-insurgency edition, and the traditions of the different Afghan tribes. He describes the leaders of the resistance, except for the Islamist factions, who are all but ignored, and the various rather eccentric Europeans and Americans who joined their cause.

This book is moving - what else would one expect of a people that was willing to sustain a million fatalities in order to maintain their customs and not be occupied by a foreign power?

To use a colossal understatement, Afghanistan is a very colorful place, nothing at all like American suburbia. Anyone who wants to understand Afghanistan must recognize this fact. The best parts of the book, which alone are worth the price of the book, are the many thumbnail descriptions of the eccentric people and surreal situations that Kaplan found in Afghanistan.

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Please Read Robert Kaplan

Really another outstanding book by Kaplan. In depth and personal view of the mujahidin in Afghanistan in the 80's. Kaplan may be a little biased, or wonder struck by the personalities he interviewed and lived with, and at times is self-congratulatory about his prescience, however, he acknowledges both facts in his re-written foreword. Neither of these points dilute the quality of this book, though. For me, it was a great read that illuminated class and clan struggle in Afghanistan, and a wonderful distinction between religious fundamentalism and politically institutionalized religious extremism.


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Afghanistan: The Superpower Trap created with perfect 20-20 Hindsight

This was one of the first of intrepid reporter, Robert Kaplan's, many timely and insightful Atlantic Monthly articles turned into a book. Kaplan has "made his bones" (and a stellar reputation) going where the action is. And then, even while measuring the temperature on the ground, never failing to raise his head above the trees to see where the forest leads. This ability to place the events on the ground into geostrategic context has made Kaplan a valuable resource to those of us who like to know how we get our superpower tail caught in so many costly and draining strategic traps.

Here, although we are forced to admit that some aspects of geopolitics are inevitable and almost always unforgiving and irreversible, this story is still about as unflattering as a strategic incursion can get: Severely burnt by the dumb anti-Communist domino geopolitics of Vietnam, the U.S., nevertheless could not wait to repeat the act in the most unforgiving and godforsaken land since Alexander the Great was defeated there in the 4th Century BC.

Thus there is a kind of poetic symmetry that after Vietnam, our next foreign policy folly would be Afghanistan. That it is an unforgiving trap that all the history we know of (and have actually experienced ourselves) tells us it is, with perfect 20-20 hindsight, we nevertheless willingly walked into the same trap. [The Russians must be laughing under their collectivist breaths.]

Because of our colossal ignorance of the lands and peoples we pretend to be assisting while actually in pursuit of our own geopolitical goals, we had no choice but to enlist and rely on the Pakistan intelligence service (CIS) as a proxy in our global plan to eject the Soviets from Afghanistan. This barely transparent plan apparently worked to perfection, except that none of the "after conflict loose ends" were tied up. It seems that it is a hallmark of U.S. foreign policy that loose ends are never tied up. The conflicts are just allowed to peter out, with the hope that the details will somehow work them selves out in the end. [Remember the last scene in "Charlie Wilson's War?]

As usual, the Pakistani CIS exacted a price for serving as our geopolitical proxy. The price was that they be allowed to hijack our strategic success for their own internal purposes. As a result, in the aftermath of the victory over Russia, the CIS had us back the wrong Afghan tribal horse. When the dust settled, the internecine virus called Afghanistan warlords, had metastasized into Osama bin Laden, who immediately turned on his erstwhile superpower arms supplier and backer.

Nine-eleven sealed the deal and enshrined this folly for perpetuity. Now, we cannot get out, no matter how much its costs in U.S. blood and treasure. There is nothing left to do but to allow it to run its costly and indeterminate course. The loose ends can never be tied up. Obama is not in the driver's seat; the tribal warlords are: as they have always been. We are just a hapless superpower again being dragged around by our tail by a ragtag bunch of "Soldiers of God." God help us. Five Stars

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The Many Worlds of Afghanistan

I read Soldiers of God at the same time that I read The Bookseller of Kabul (for book club) and found Soldiers to be an enlightening companion read because while Bookseller focused on one family in Kabul, its interpersonal dynamics, and how religion and culture affected its members, Soldiers gave a broader view of various groups and their political and personal dynamics in Afghanistan. Also, both books were written by Western journalists, which gave the books a somewhat similar (though by no means identical) perspective on Afghanistan, although differing in scope.

Specific to Soldiers, I enjoyed Robert Kaplan's story telling (part travelogue, part reportage), his ability to gain access to some very insular groups, and his obvious desire to present them and their goals as accurately as possible. It was compelling reading for me as I knew little about the country, its myriad elements and history.

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Not the best book on Afghanistan or War-reporting, but not a total waste of time either

I developed quite a dislike for Kaplan as I read this book, but the subject matter was sufficiently fascinating to help me forgive his not-entirely-subtle dislike of Asians. This book provides an on the ground view of the Soviet Invasion and subsequent chaos. The glimpses of Afghani society, although mostly confined to men involved in war, and the physical descriptions of Afghanistan's landscape were captivating. Kaplan seems quite enamored of the Pashtun culture, especially in comparison to Pakistan, which is portrayed unflatteringly but not entirely unfairly as a potential terrorist breeding ground. He seems to see himself as a brave, hugely suffering war reporter, although the most extreme suffering he appears to undergo is occasional separation from soft drinks. Obviously my disinclination for the author colored my view of the book, but I feel it was worthwhile reading as it increased my knowledge of the Soviet-Afghan war and my conviction that terrorism has its roots in poverty and desperation rather than pure ideology

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1. ISBN13: 9780195325607
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Review :

In 1933, the delightfully eccentric travel writer Robert Byron set out on a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad and Teheran to Oxiana, near the border between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. Throughout, he kept a thoroughly captivating record of his encounters, discoveries, and frequent misadventures. His story would become a best-selling travel book throughout the English-speaking world, until the acclaim died down and it was gradually forgotten. When Paul Fussell published his own book Abroad, in 1982, he wrote that The Road to Oxiana is to the travel book what "Ulysses is to the novel between the wars, and what The Waste Land is to poetry." His statements revived the public's interest in the book, and for the first time, it was widely available in American bookstores. Now this long-overdue reprint will introduce it to a whole new generation of readers. This edition features a new introduction by Rory Stewart, best known for his book The Places In Between, about his extensive travels in Afghanistan.
Today, in addition to its entertainment value, The Road to Oxiana also serves as a rare account of the architectural treasures of a region now inaccessible to most Western travelers, and a nostalgic look back at a more innocent time.

Customer Review :

Elegiac travel adventures

To dispose with one of the criticisms leveled at this book below: it was in fact written by a highly cultured man who went to Eton and Oxford during a time when those institutions were at their peaks. If you don't know what "elegiac" means, or have the energy to look it up in a dictionary, you won't like this book. If you're looking for funny stories about how the Yak ate somebody's hat, you will be disappointed. Go read something by a Lonely Planet cretin and be happy. This is a serious work of literature, which is why a man like Paul Fussel wrote the introduction.

For those interested in reading high travel literature, or about the history of Jerusalem, Baghdad, Syria, Afghanistan and Persia, this book is wonderful. Because Byron was a highly cultured man, he doesn't merely relate a catalogue of sights he's seen, people he has met, and things he's done. His memoir is as much a survey of the history and anthropology of the places he visited as it is "travel book." Many of the monuments he visited are victims of savagery, and the lead Afghanistan had over Persia in those days in terms of modernization has been lost, perhaps forever.

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The Road to Oxiana


The book is fine, but there was a glitsch in the ordering process;
I ended up with two copies of the book, which I had to pay for.
Correcting this sort of problem is anything but obvious.

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"Oxiana" a trip worth taking

I have read about how great "Oxiana" is for a long time, so finally reading it is like arriving at a new place after a long journey. The author, who spends most of the book trying to cross Iran in order to get to Afghanistan, makes that country very interesting, especially now 70 years later it is back in the headlines. He intermixes his story with what he has read about "Oxiana." In particular, the ancient civilization in Afghanistan is represented by tombs that are built like towers with a crypt at the top. It is like nothing else I have ever heard of, and I've been reading about Afghanistan for about six years now. Obviously, the trip was very difficult, but the author lets the facts speak for themselves, and always keeps in front of himself and us the glories of a lost world. One of his most interesting stories is of a queen, who seems to have been the Elinor of Aquitaine for the Afghans.

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Unhampered by unjudgementalism...

Byron had an hysterical knack for seeing right into the souls of the various persons he met on his journeys...it didn't matter who the person was or of what ethnic group or nationality - none were spared the naked opinions of Mr. Byron, and the result is perhaps one of the best books I have read in the last decade. The serious looks at the peoples and places of a part of the world that remains today mysterious and troubled are enlightening when seen in the historical flow. Byron was interested in a type of Islamic architecture that through his writing became known to the West and I hope more appreciated in the lands he traveled.

I urge you to read this book. My copy is a small edition brought out by a now defunct publisher back in the 90s, and I waited about ten years before I got around to reading it. DO NOT take this long! If you are a reader who wants more than just the latest best seller, and you don't shy away from learning - this book is for you!

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Time travel

If you harbour any thoughts of venturing via Iran into Afghanistan you might want this glimpse into former times. The writing never fails to excite, the humour is exquisite; some of the author's recounting of people and social interraction will have you falling about, though I suspect you'll have had to have had some actual cross cultural experiences to fully appreciate his position. Most poignant, his descriptions of architectural edifaces, of interior decoration, of bridges etc. is enthralling. Many of these places either no longer exist, or exist is a much reduced state. Clearly, he is enthralled by Persepolis and Isfahan and the glories of kufic script. Pp 188-189 elicit his responses to the former, and his reveries about the friday Mosque and the Royal Mosque in the latter, form some of his most sublime utterances(pp195-200). He makes no effort to conceal his disdain for Indians and India, for fellow travellers, be they Russian, American, or German; though his judgements are gently humorous. Given the journal entry mode of the book, there's a wonderful immediacy about this read. Why he records the elevations of his many stop-overs, I have no idea.This is a great read, conveys the rigours of travel back in the 30s, and is a sweet glove fit with contemporary travellers like Thubron.

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Editorial Review :

Thanks to 20 years of civil war and its association with terrorism, Afghanistan is now unjustly thought of in the West as a barbarous backwater. Afghanistan: A Traveler's Companion & Guide aims to dispel this image in a comprehensive introduction to 3,500 years of Afghan culture. Starting with a full history of the country from 1500BC, each chapter looks at the major cities and regions, describing their distinctive cultural and ethnic traditions, their associations with poets, artists, musicians, travelers and holy men, as well as warriors and conquerors. Ancient and modern sources from Afghanistan are extensively quoted, as well as the thoughts, musings and experiences of writers from America, Europe, Russia, China, India and the Middle East, including such luminaries as Wilfred Thesiger and Bruce Chatwin.

Experienced Afghan traveler Matthew Leeming contributes detailed information for those who intend to visit the country as tourists, with guides to specific cities and areas, as well as more general advice. A number of short specialist appendices by leading experts further illustrate matters such as archaeology, architecture, carpets, miniature painting, calligraphy, music, flora and fauna.

Wonderfully illustrated with superb images from world-renowned photographers such as Michael Yamashita and Roland and Sabrina Michaud. Also includes engravings, etchings, paintings and priceless museum artifacts.

This lavish guide reveals the immense treasury of cultural, historical and natural wealth-too frequently forgotten-that is Afghanistan.

• Written by authors with both academic and first-hand knowledge of the country
• Essential reading for anyone with an interest in Afghanistan's history
• Includes stunning contemporary photography from world-renowned photographers such as Michael Yamashita and Roland and Sabrina Michaud
• Rare archive material includes black-and-white photography by Wilfred Thesiger
• Literary excerpts from Herodotus to Robert Lowell, Robert Byron, Peter Levi and Bruce Chatwin
• The most comprehensive coverage, from Alexander the Great to the new constitution
• 110 stunning color photos
• 512 pages of invaluable information on Afghanistan

Customer Review :

Great Book!

This is a great informative book about the history and culture of Afghanistan. Lots of nice photos too! It's compact and they fit a lot of info into this fairly compact book. Also has some travel advice for tourists. Paperback.

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My ripped apart book

My order arrived with the book torn apart. The outer package was undamaged...which meant the book was either damaged before it was inserted into the package or ripped apart by whoever packed the book.

I have emailed asking how to return the damage book for a replacement...but have heard nothing from A1 or Amazon.

Which is all disappointing as I am in Kabul...and was looking forward sharing this book with my Afghani friends.



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A great book on the subject, minus the binding

I really enjoyed this book. Considerably bulkier and heavier than other travel guides, this guide is nonetheless a value for its comprehensive coverage and its infusion of history and literary references. Filled with beautiful pictures and quotes/passages from notable sources, the author does a great job of communicating the rich cultural history and beauty of the "Crossroads of Asia," that unfortunately has suffered from decades of war.

I bought this book prior to deployment to Afghanistan figuring that while my duties would prevent me from seeing much of the country I could get a better feeling overall. By the time "the adventure" had commenced I was much more educated. It is filled with fantastic pictures and worthy addition to a travel library.

I would recommend this book to travellers to the region. Granted, it's heavy and somewhat bulky. Minus one star for the binding - both mine and a friend's ripped on the inside cover (the binding was poor - there were too many pages!).

The text - the authors have done a great job not only delivering traveller information, but communicating Afghanistan as it has been seen throughout the ages. Providing exerpts from Quintus Rufus, Chatwin, Byron, Newby, Burnes, and a host of others, once can see Afghanistan through the eyes and through the ages. Evocative, thorough, and richly photographed.

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Invaluable Deployment Companion

This is not your typical guide book. "Go here, stay here, visit this museum, etc...". This is a comprehensive field guide with detailed information on every aspect of culture, traditions and history of the people and land of Afghanistan. The book is a daunting 768 pages, but it is very managable. It is broken down regionally with emphasis on ethnicity. This is especially valuable when trying to understand the intracacies of modern Afghanistan, i.e. Dealing with a Hazara is differnt from dealing with a Pashtun as they have different cultural backgrounds. This book has helped me survive two deployments to Afghanistan. It has also helped me to appreciate and respect the people and land, so that I fully understand the importance of saving this beutiful land and vibrant culture from descending back into the darkness of taliban rule.

"A river is not contaminated by having a dog drink from it." Afghan proverb

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Review from Kabul

I am stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan and I love the book. I can't get outside the gate much but I do have daily contact with Afghan nationals. The book allows me to have conversations about their country and to get their insights when we do a point and talk conversation over the pictures in the book.

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1. ISBN13: 9780060505271
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Review :

Twenty-one-year-old Christina Lamb left suburban England for Peshawar on the frontier of the Afghan war. Captivated, she spent two years tracking the final stages of the mujaheddin victory over the Soviets, as Afghan friends smuggled her in and out of their country in a variety of guises.

Returning to Afghanistan after the attacks on the World Trade Center to report for Britain's Sunday Telegraph, Lamb discovered the people no one else had written about: the abandoned victims of almost a quarter century of war. Among them, the brave women writers of Herat who risked their lives to carry on a literary tradition under the guise of sewing circles; the princess whose palace was surrounded by tanks on the eve of her wedding; the artist who painted out all the people in his works to prevent them from being destroyed by the Taliban; and Khalil Ahmed Hassani, a former Taliban torturer who admitted to breaking the spines of men and then making them stand on their heads.

Christina Lamb's evocative reporting brings to life these stories. Her unique perspective on Afghanistan and deep passion for the people she writes about make this the definitive account of the tragic plight of a proud nation.

Customer Review :

Stories of people who have shaped Afghanistan

Each book that I have read on Afghanistan takes a slightly different tact. I read many that focused on the military and political history. These were interesting books for general knowledge. Then there books like The Places in Between and Christina Lamb's book The Sewing Circles of Herat. Christina Lamb was a foreign correspondent for the London Sunday Telegraph who wrote about Afghanistan during both the Mujahideen war with the soviet and immediately after the fall of the Taliban.

Like all books about Afghanistan there are stories of immense sadness and death but also of immense kindness and determination. The title of the book comes from a professor who held secret classes for women in Herat during the rule of the Taliban. They were under the guise of women getting together to sew. Under the sewing materials were their forbidden books. But the title story is just one of many similar stories. One of the most poignant is of Abdullah, the last person executed by the Taliban. He risked his life to gather information on the atrocities of the Taliban and to call in bomber strikes as US and coalition forces fought the Taliban in Kandahar.

Like her modern countryman Rory Stewart and countless British participants in the "great game" she shows an amazing courage to go to any lengths to tell stories of Afghanistan. She went on missions with the Mujahideen when the fought the soviets, went to the madrasses in Pakistan that produced Omar (the leader of the Taliban), met with senior Taliban officials, Zahir Shah (the former king of Afghanistan), the head of the Pakistani ISI that masterminded the mujahideen fight, Hamid Karzai and countless other figures.

Christina Lamb frankly admits that what she saw was just a small piece of the conflicts that she covered and yet it can not diminish the amazing breadth of stories. If one wants to get a sense of what Afghanistan is today and how it got there, they could do no better than to read this book.


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Interesting Info, Hard to Read at Times

Sewing Circles of Herat contained a lot of interesting information. My problem with this book was wading thru all the information to get anything from it. There was a lot of jumping from what was 'present day' to a 5 page history lesson and back. There were also a lot of names that were very hard to keep track of. If you can get thru all of this and pull out the information you should take from it. When starting this book, I knew very little about Afghanistan, and I learned what a beautiful country it was in the past and how things changed within the past 20 years and are changing even more in recent days.

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A woman's love affair with a tortured land

In these memoirs the author writes about her experiences in Afghanistan, a country with which she has come to care deeply about and to explore intimately.
She details her experiences with people she has interviewed and come to know in Afghanistan and what she has come to witness in her years there.
Through the book she shapes a history of Afghnanistan, a rich land of many nations which has been invaded by many from the armies of Alexander the Great, the Persians and Mongols, the British and Russians/Soviets and most recently the Arab and Pakistani Islamists.
We learn that most of the Taliban were not Afghans at all but Arabs and Pakistani Islamo-Nazis barging into a county were they found it easy to wage their nihilist jihad and foist Islamo-Nazism on a hapless population.
The author explores the totalitarian and insane laws forced on the people by the Taliban in Afghanistan during the Taliban reign of terror, there, such as forcing women to be covered by a burka, to be not allowed out unless accompanied by a male relative, any woman who had her nails painted was to have her fingers cut off, and any woman who showed her ankles was to be whipped.

Music was banned, laughing in public was baned, chess was banned, card were banned, flying kites were banned, keeping any pets including birds was banned.

Of course the people of Afghanistan welcomed the American liberation of that country from the Taliban hell, even if Islamic jihadis and left wing fanatics around the world did not.
The people of Afghanistan wanted to be free, even if the likes of Noam Chomsky and the Satanic Stalinist Workers World Party in America or George Galloway's 'Respect' did not.

The author highlights memoirs of the holocaust perpetrated by the Soviets on the Afghan people, Isn't it ironic that the same Communist rabble around the world that supported Soviet atrocities in Afghanistan should be the same ones who loudly join in the hyena chorus against the USA for liberating Afghanistan from Taliban terror.
And why are radical feminists in the West so silent about atrocities against women in Islamic states, by the same Islamists these Western radicals are so quick to champion.

We also learn how the Afghans yearned for the peace and claim of the reign of the enlightened King Zahir Shah before 1973.
Zahir Shah had spilled no blood and allowed a peaceful and enlightened country to flourish in which women enjoyed full rights.
Afghanistan was plunged into the hell of the Soviet holocaust and then Islamist tyranny from 1978 when the Communists were foisted by the Soviets like a bacillus onto Afghanistan.

A very colourful, highly readable and exciting window into the tragedy of Afghanistan and it's liberation.
It was beautiful to read of the freedom enjoyed by women and girls after the Taliban were forced to flee.
Young women could wear lipstick and trousers and enjoy a full range of freedoms under the presidency of Hamid Karzai.
But still that country struggles under the terror of Islamist terrorism and the fear that the Taliban and Al Qaeda may regain control and reinstall their regime of terror.



Rating :

Great reporting from someone who knows Afghanistan

Christina Lamb is a journalist who spent several years in Afghanistan in the 1980s and then returned after the US-led invasion in 2001. She is clearly an adventurous type, and ended up hiding in ditches with mujaheddin under fire, among other things. Some of her friends ended up in the Taliban, while another (Hamid Karzai) is now the post-Taliban president of the country.

The book combines stories from both periods, as well as stories from friends about life under the Taliban. You'll meet a torturer for the Taliban, women who organized secret schools, mullahs who use motorbikes to scoot around the country because Soviet soldiers can't spot bikes easily, and a lot of Afghans trying to live their lives in a war-torn country. Lamb's experiences in the country over several decades make this book stand out among the many other Western accounts.

No matter how many books about Afghanistan I read, I continue to be amazed by how violent this society is, especially Pashtun society. Violence and brutality begin in the household and continues into public spaces and up into the political system. As a middle-class Brit, you'd expect Lamb to be highly critical - - and she is, in a way, but she prefers to take on the role of a reporter with many Afghan friends and a lot of sympathy for the people of the country.

Some people will find these stories depressing, and of course many of them are. Some stories will be hard for people to read. But I think it's ultimately an optimistic book, grounded in a love of the country and its people despite the horrors that insiders and outsiders have inflicted upon it.

Highly recommended.


Rating :

A chick with balls

I like narrative non-fiction. It takes me to places I haven't been and if the story is written well I feel like I'm there-sounds, smells and all. I read this before deploying to Afghanistan to get a feel for the land and the complex tribal makeup of the country and found it very useful. Lamb's description is spot on and she does a good job enticing the reader along on her journey where most women (and men for that matter) don't have the courage to go. I especially appreciated her insight into the early days of the Taliban and Hamid Karzzai's involvement with them. Though the book wanders off subject a few times, it's still a good read for anyone wanting to understand such a backward culture.

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