Incredible Determination, and a Bit Too Much Bravery!

books:

	• The Places In Between Rory Stewart Harvest Books, 2006 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 157 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Audio and book versions

The book was first published as a hardcover by Picador in England on 4 June 2004 (ISBN 0330486330). A second revised edition was published as a paperback in England on 1 April 2005 (ISBN 0330486349). On May 8 2006 a further revised American paperback edition was published by Harvest Books (ISBN 0156031566). An audio recording was made in 2006 narrated by Rory Stewart while he was in Kabul and published by Recorded Books (ISBN 1428116702) based on the Harvest Books edition. I believe all three books have seen slight improvements with each new edition.

The audibook version is highly recommend as a supplement to the text. It is narrated by Rory (from a studio in Kabul) and his pronunciations of Afghan names and places are priceless, as well as his overall character and tone.

Comments: Scottish author and historian Stewart walked across some of the most difficult mountain terrain in Afghanistan in the early winter months of 2002 right after 9/11 (and lived to tell about it). He saw a land of contrasts: a culture based on feudal-like systems living in mud huts -- but with modern weapons and vehicles. Villages were people never traveled more than a few miles from home their whole life -- but had seen international forces from the USSR, USA, NATO and elsewhere pass through. People who were one step away from starvation willingly giving food to a passing stranger -- then shooting at him for sport and fun the next.

Afghanistan has always been resistant to understanding, but Rory, by traveling and living with the mountain tribe people who account for most of the countries population, comes as close as any to pulling back the curtain and revealing the character of the country in their own words and actions. A classic of travel literature, anthropology.

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Incredible Determination, and a Bit Too Much Bravery!

Stewart decides to WALK across Asia, presumably to get a good feel for other nations, and Afghanistan is the last segment of his trip. Despite the Taliban having been overthrown only two months prior, Stewart undertakes the journey - on foot, even after being warned innumerable times about deep snow, extreme cold (eg. -40 degrees F.) and wind, millions of land mines and weapons remaining from 24 years of constant war, wolves (locals recounted recent stories of attacks on humans), and general lawlessness. Stewart insists on completing the ENTIRE journey on foot.

During his trek, Stewart runs into numerous close calls due to the number of tribes and vendettas involved (one native stated such a trip would be impossible for an Afghan), suspicion of anyone European/American (at the end, Stewart is mistaken for a native, and warned about British and American soldiers in Kabul), dysentery and diarrhea (locals lack even outhouses, and use rocks to clean after relieving themselves), poor food (dry bread and sugar water or tea were the most common meals), general illiteracy (one group was killed because locals could not read the "Aid" designation on their jeep), thin air at 14,000 foot mountain passes, etc. Despite the high level of suspicion, Stewart's command of at least two local languages, his habit of getting to know the names of leaders in upcoming villages and obtain letters of recommendation where possible, the assistance of locals (eg. food, places to sleep, and guides), and Stewart's overall calmness in stressful situations gets him through and provides Stewart with insight into Afghanistan that few, if any other non-natives attain - especially those assigned U.N. or U.S. positions to aid the country.

Bottom Line: Stewart's courage and determination are without question, though he never makes clear his reason for the trek. The "bad news" (actually a tragedy) is that Stewart lacked adequate photographic equipment - only a black & white film camera, instead of today's handy pocket digital photo cameras, and much of his limited film was wasted by a curious Afghan.

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21st century Insights into a 19th century culture

Mr. Stewart literally retraces the steps of a former medieval era Islamic leader,Babur. The author walks from west to east (Herat to Kabul) across central, mountainous Afghanistan during the winter shortly after the Taliban's dispatch by Coalition Troops in 2002. Stewart's mission to walk the entire Asian Sub-continent cannot be concluded until he finished the Afghan portion which at first blush borders on the dangerous, if not sheer lunacy. But his trek affords the reader an objective perspective of a part of the world most Westerns are ignorant. Stewart's keen eye for historical perspective matches his obvious love of the natural world. His 2 month walking marathon is full of suspense, the reader marches into remote, almost inaccessible mountain villages to encounter tribal leaders, common villagers and warlords. Mr. Stewart is never certain of a welcome or a threat by his Muslim hosts but the adventurous reader will learn much about a remote and ancient Afghani civilization that has conquered and suffered deprevations from friend and foes.
Walk-on Rory Stewart, walk-on!

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'Into the wild' Places In Between.

"I sat down and wrote a long letter to my parents, in case I was killed," Rory Stewart writes in THE PLACES IN BETWEEN. "In the past sixteen months I had bribed, flattered, pried, bullied, begged, and wheedled in order to continue my walk. I was more of a tramp than a mystic, but as I wrote I felt at peace. I described to my parents the moments on the way that seemed to have a deep, unified relation to my past. I wondered if walking was not a form of dancing. I was happy then and I slept well" (pp. 115-16).

Stewart's mesmerizing travelogue recounts his long walk across most of Afghanistan in early 2002, immediately after the fall of the Taliban. Having just completed a walk across Iran, Pakistan, India, Stewart follows the footsteps of the 15th-century emperor Babur from Herat to Kabul, encountering chest-deep snow in the mountain passes of Hazarajat, dysyntery, and life-threatening confrontations along the way, but also local villagers and tribal elders, Taliban commanders and teenage soldiers, foreign-aid workers and dangerous rogues. With little more than his canine companion (a retired fighting mastiff, "Babur") and a walking stick (a "dang"), Stewart becomes immersed in the isolated, devastated, unsafe landscape around him, an unsettled landscape that can only be described as a work in progress. Stewart's journey into the wild PLACES IN BETWEEN offers an edifying portrait of Afghanistan and the people who inhabit it. One of my favorite books of 2006.

G. Merritt

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Travels with Babur...

... in search of Afghanistan. Stewart's odyssey, and description thereof, through the heart of Afghanistan is utterly amazing. What prompts a 30-something-year-old man to undertake such a journey by himself? Unfortunately, the reader never quite figures out why he is doing this. Wanderlust? Insatiable curiosity about a war-torn nation? Hatred of Scottish winters? Who knows. But, fortunately, there is so much else to like about this book that that hole does not diminish the overall effect. Stewart describes a nation, a people, and an existence that is hard for most Western readers to understand. The book has a several emotional peaks, including Stewart's description of the amazing Jam minaret, the sadness over what has been lost with the Taliban's destruction of the Bamiyan buddhas, two or three quite dangerous encounters within small villages, and, finally, a sad and ironic ending. Stewart is a wonderful, descriptive author. This book would have merited a fifth star had Stewart turned some of that observance on himself and described what motivated him to take this astounding trip.

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reviews: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, page 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

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