Stewart’s hazardous trek across Afghanistan in 2002 is lyrically rendered in this evocative and moving book which blends the boundaries between politics and travel writing.
Winner of the RSL Ondaatje Prize
Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award
‘A striding, glorious book . . . A flat-out masterpiece’ TheNew York Times Book Review
Caught between hostile nations, warring factions and competing ideologies, Afghanistan was in turmoil following the US invasion. Travelling entirely on foot and following the inaccessible mountainous route once taken by the Mughal emperor Babur the Great, Rory Stewart was nearly defeated by the extreme, hostile conditions.
Only with the help of an unexpected companion, and the generosity of the people he met on the way, did he survive to report back on his journey with unique insight on a region closed to the world by twenty-four years of war.
‘This evocative book feels like a long-lost relic of the great age of exploration’ The Guardian
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781035052189
Number of pages: 400
Weight: 274 g
Dimensions: 197 x 131 x 25 mm
This is traveling at its hardest and travel-writing at its best - David Gilmour
With a deft, at time poetic vividness, he describes an awesome landscape, scarred by a present and a past of violence and death . . . His encounters with Afghans are tragic, touching and terrifying - Daily Telegraph
[Stewart] must have balls of steel, but he writes like and angel all the same - Giles Foden
This evocative book feels like a long lost relic of the great age of exploration - Guardian
An astonishing achievement: a unique journey of great courage - Colin Thubron
Wise, funny and marvelously humane - Michael Ignatieff
An insight into the country that few could match - New Statesman
Thank goodness for brave people doing crazy things and for a writer in the tradition of Thesiger and Thubron - Spectator
This book deserves the highest praise. Its writer has a deep knowledge and understanding of the people he met in his arduous trek across Afghanistan. The hardships he endured make his account all the more convincing,... More
There is much to admire here, both with this book itself and the people of Afghanistan. It is an account of the author’s walk from Herat to Kabul after the invasion of 2001. The confusion and intricacies of the... More
Having read this practically in a week end I recomended this to a friend who had just left hospital after 3 months and was a "bit low " to say the least. He read the book and it seemed to put his... More
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