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The Places in Between
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 Stewart 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.
299 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Rory Stewart
27 books452 followersRory Stewart was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Malaysia. He served briefly as an officer in the British Army (the Black Watch), studied history and philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford and then joined the British Diplomatic Service. He worked in the British Embassy in Indonesia and then, in the wake of the Kosovo campaign, as the British Representative in Montenegro. In 2000 he took two years off and began walking from Turkey to Bangladesh. He covered 6000 miles on foot alone across Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal -- a journey described in The Places in Between.
In 2003, he became the coalition Deputy Governor of Maysan and Dhi Qar -- two provinces in the Marsh Arab region of Southern Iraq. He has written for a range of publications including the New York Times Magazine, the London Review of Books, the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Financial Times and Granta. In 2004, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire and became a Fellow of the Carr Centre at Harvard University. In 2006 he moved to Kabul, where he established the Turquoise Mountain Foundation.
In 2010 he was elected as a Conservative member of the British Parliament. In 2014 was elected chair of the Defence Select Committee. He served under David Cameron as Minister for the Environment from 2015 to 2016. He served as a minister throughout Theresa May’s government as Minister of State for International Development, Minister of State for Africa and Minister of State for Prisons. He ultimately joined the Cabinet and National Security Council as Secretary of State for International Development. After May announced she would be stepping down, Stewart stood as a candidate to be Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 2019 leadership contest. His campaign was defined by his unorthodox use of social media and opposition to a no-deal Brexit. He stated at the beginning of his campaign that he would not serve under Boris Johnson and when Johnson became prime minister, in July 2019, Stewart resigned from the cabinet.
On 3 October 2019 Stewart announced he had resigned from the Conservative Party and that he would stand down as an MP at the next general election. He initially put himself up to be an independent candidate in the 2021 London mayoral election but withdrew on 6 May 2020 on the grounds of the election being postponed due to COVID-19, saying he could not maintain the campaign so long against the big budgets of the Labour and Conservative campaigns. In September 2020 he became a fellow at Yale University, teaching politics and international relations.
In 2003, he became the coalition Deputy Governor of Maysan and Dhi Qar -- two provinces in the Marsh Arab region of Southern Iraq. He has written for a range of publications including the New York Times Magazine, the London Review of Books, the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Financial Times and Granta. In 2004, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire and became a Fellow of the Carr Centre at Harvard University. In 2006 he moved to Kabul, where he established the Turquoise Mountain Foundation.
In 2010 he was elected as a Conservative member of the British Parliament. In 2014 was elected chair of the Defence Select Committee. He served under David Cameron as Minister for the Environment from 2015 to 2016. He served as a minister throughout Theresa May’s government as Minister of State for International Development, Minister of State for Africa and Minister of State for Prisons. He ultimately joined the Cabinet and National Security Council as Secretary of State for International Development. After May announced she would be stepping down, Stewart stood as a candidate to be Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 2019 leadership contest. His campaign was defined by his unorthodox use of social media and opposition to a no-deal Brexit. He stated at the beginning of his campaign that he would not serve under Boris Johnson and when Johnson became prime minister, in July 2019, Stewart resigned from the cabinet.
On 3 October 2019 Stewart announced he had resigned from the Conservative Party and that he would stand down as an MP at the next general election. He initially put himself up to be an independent candidate in the 2021 London mayoral election but withdrew on 6 May 2020 on the grounds of the election being postponed due to COVID-19, saying he could not maintain the campaign so long against the big budgets of the Labour and Conservative campaigns. In September 2020 he became a fellow at Yale University, teaching politics and international relations.
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September 11, 2007
In theory, it is easy to hate an Eton educated upper class Scotsman who decides it’d be a lark to walk across Afghanistan six months after the fall of the Taliban. The idea reminds me of the stupidity and adventurism I encountered when I went to Palestine with ISM. People vacationing in other people’s misery so they can go home and brag about it is not really my cup of tea.*
But after reading Stewarts book, I have to say it is extremely good. We learn next to nothing about Stewart here outside of the details of daily walking. He is cold, he has dysentery, other than that, the focus is almost entirely on the people he meets, and I cannot think of a travel book that does a better job of honestly relating the lives of the people he meets.
Not every Afghan in this book is a noble tribesman; some are downright unkind to Stewart. Others are incredibly welcoming. Some are Taliban supporters; some are not. Some are drug dealers and some are subsistence farmers. I think the honestly in Stewart’s portrayal of the Afghans he meets is very respectful and his writing of this book is the best outcome of this kind of experience I can imagine.
But after reading Stewarts book, I have to say it is extremely good. We learn next to nothing about Stewart here outside of the details of daily walking. He is cold, he has dysentery, other than that, the focus is almost entirely on the people he meets, and I cannot think of a travel book that does a better job of honestly relating the lives of the people he meets.
Not every Afghan in this book is a noble tribesman; some are downright unkind to Stewart. Others are incredibly welcoming. Some are Taliban supporters; some are not. Some are drug dealers and some are subsistence farmers. I think the honestly in Stewart’s portrayal of the Afghans he meets is very respectful and his writing of this book is the best outcome of this kind of experience I can imagine.
November 30, 2008
It is what it is: a guy walks across Afghanistan. What do you think happens?
A) he encounters very poor and poorly educated tribal/feudal lords
B) he encounters hostile, backward, cruel teens and militia and former soldiers
C) he walks 25 miles a day with not much to describe: rural Afghanistan is rural for a reason
D) all of the above
D, of course D. Well, at one point he does get a dog. Now Rory can describe how Babur likes to sniff and pee and roll in snow.
I give Rory some credit for what he chooses to leave out (complaints--he is quite cheerful about what must have been bitter cold and about eating food that can't have been savory, about going hungry, and the lack of graciousness he encounters) and the genteel way he describes unsavory life realities (his dysentery, the lack of hygiene of his hosts). Toward the end of the book he bemoans that he hasn't gotten to understand the Hazara very well (one of the four ethnic groups in Afghanistan). I don't think that was a fair whine--his practice was to come to a village at dusk, stay one night, and head out in the morning, hardly conducive to sociological study. His goal was never to understand the Afghans by hanging with them--it was to walk across Afghanistan, a huge, formidable, mostly unfertile land, one of the world's poorest. Mission accomplished. But I find people more interesting than both goals and landscapes. I wish Rory did, too.
A) he encounters very poor and poorly educated tribal/feudal lords
B) he encounters hostile, backward, cruel teens and militia and former soldiers
C) he walks 25 miles a day with not much to describe: rural Afghanistan is rural for a reason
D) all of the above
D, of course D. Well, at one point he does get a dog. Now Rory can describe how Babur likes to sniff and pee and roll in snow.
I give Rory some credit for what he chooses to leave out (complaints--he is quite cheerful about what must have been bitter cold and about eating food that can't have been savory, about going hungry, and the lack of graciousness he encounters) and the genteel way he describes unsavory life realities (his dysentery, the lack of hygiene of his hosts). Toward the end of the book he bemoans that he hasn't gotten to understand the Hazara very well (one of the four ethnic groups in Afghanistan). I don't think that was a fair whine--his practice was to come to a village at dusk, stay one night, and head out in the morning, hardly conducive to sociological study. His goal was never to understand the Afghans by hanging with them--it was to walk across Afghanistan, a huge, formidable, mostly unfertile land, one of the world's poorest. Mission accomplished. But I find people more interesting than both goals and landscapes. I wish Rory did, too.
November 19, 2017
I am in total awe of this author -- whew! -- to say the least. This is his account of his walk across the length of Afghanistan in 2002, right after 9/11. Need I say more? He's not a perfect writer, not a perfect audio narrator; facts which make his tale all the more compelling.
June 27, 2023
This book covers a walk through Afghanistan, which if completed in sequence, would have been Rory Stewart's epic single journey through Iran, Afghanistan,Pakistan, India and Nepal. 16 months spent walking twenty to twenty fine miles a day, commencing in 2001. In Iran however, his Afghanistan visa was cancelled, and he had to go around Afghanistan. In 2002, after the fall of the Taliban, Stewart is permitted entry to Herat, from which he walks to Kabul.
Regularly asked why he wanted to walk, and why he wanted to walk in Afghanistan, Stewart doesn't really have a good answer. He is clearly a stubborn, or driven individual. He refused rides of all kind - vehicles, horses, etc. Walking provides him with the engagement he seeks with the local people - we all know how little you see and learn from a bus window as you pass by a village.
He realises that the route he follows (which is not the common route, as that bypasses the mountains, often impassable due to snow) was followed by the Mogul Emperor Babur the Great, in 1506. Not only was this route shorter, it limited the Taliban controlled areas he needed to pass though on the longer, flatter route. When asked by officials, and most people, he simply said he was a historian and was following the route of Babur.
P29
This wasn't a long book, at 324 pages, but for me it was well balanced. It is about the walk - and there is no doubt it was a tough walk - deep snow, mud, frozen rivers; - and in tough conditions - poor food, dysentery, lack of sufficient medical supplies, but Stewart would have known that going in. The people of Afghanistan are poor, and out of the cities living in feudal villages or provinces, with little or no knowledge of the outside world, and typically no formal education.
Many times he was treated with the traditional respect of guests, provided with food and accommodation by the village leader, or headman. Many other times he was seen as suspicious (quite rightly) and not made welcome. Often even when welcomed he was given accommodation in the mosque and not a house, and fed only bread and water - likely what the villagers themselves were eating. Because he had adopted a dog (a war-dog - bred for the protection of flocks from wolves, and only semi-domesticated) he had more trouble finding suitable accommodation for him - dogs considered unclean by Muslims.
The dog, who he named Barbur (obviously) was an old dog who a headman of a village begged him to take - they couldn't afford to feed him. These dogs were bred to move around the flock, not to walk 25 miles a day, and he was not in the best health. He had probably never eaten meat, and a diet of bread was not the basis of a fit dog, so he struggled with the walk. He was though, a good companion for Stewart, who was otherwise alone much of the time.
Initially he was provided with government guides - the first couple of weeks. They made his situation much more difficult. They demanded things of the villagers, they invented lies and stories about what Stewart was doing, and threatened the locals. Eventually they tired of the walking and Stewart was able to convince them to go back, and he was able to engage with the locals on his own merit. Many times he was provided with guides, but as often he was alone and Barbur provided comfort and motivation to keep them both going.
So inevitably Stewart compared his journey to Barbur (the emperor) and shares excerpts from Barbur's diary, and compares them to his experiences. He also outlines fairly briefly the history of the region. Where he gets a bit more in depth is the machinations of the current political situation, foreign interventions and NCO setups - this of course is a bit of a foreshadowing of his role and subsequent book about Iraq (also excellent, but very different to this one). What can be seen here are Stewarts willingness to engage and to astutely manoeuvre a conversation in a direction to seemingly achieve an outcome the person was not fully endorsing! Politics!
While others picked some holes in this book, I enjoyed it a lot, and was entertained the whole way through. I can see however, than not everyone will be so enthralled.
For me 4.5 stars, rounded up.
Regularly asked why he wanted to walk, and why he wanted to walk in Afghanistan, Stewart doesn't really have a good answer. He is clearly a stubborn, or driven individual. He refused rides of all kind - vehicles, horses, etc. Walking provides him with the engagement he seeks with the local people - we all know how little you see and learn from a bus window as you pass by a village.
He realises that the route he follows (which is not the common route, as that bypasses the mountains, often impassable due to snow) was followed by the Mogul Emperor Babur the Great, in 1506. Not only was this route shorter, it limited the Taliban controlled areas he needed to pass though on the longer, flatter route. When asked by officials, and most people, he simply said he was a historian and was following the route of Babur.
P29
...Afghanistan was the missing section of my walk, the place in between the deserts and the Himalayas, between Persian, Hellenic and Hindu culture,between Islam and Buddhism, between mystical and militant Islam. I wanted to see where these cultures merged into one another...
This wasn't a long book, at 324 pages, but for me it was well balanced. It is about the walk - and there is no doubt it was a tough walk - deep snow, mud, frozen rivers; - and in tough conditions - poor food, dysentery, lack of sufficient medical supplies, but Stewart would have known that going in. The people of Afghanistan are poor, and out of the cities living in feudal villages or provinces, with little or no knowledge of the outside world, and typically no formal education.
Many times he was treated with the traditional respect of guests, provided with food and accommodation by the village leader, or headman. Many other times he was seen as suspicious (quite rightly) and not made welcome. Often even when welcomed he was given accommodation in the mosque and not a house, and fed only bread and water - likely what the villagers themselves were eating. Because he had adopted a dog (a war-dog - bred for the protection of flocks from wolves, and only semi-domesticated) he had more trouble finding suitable accommodation for him - dogs considered unclean by Muslims.
The dog, who he named Barbur (obviously) was an old dog who a headman of a village begged him to take - they couldn't afford to feed him. These dogs were bred to move around the flock, not to walk 25 miles a day, and he was not in the best health. He had probably never eaten meat, and a diet of bread was not the basis of a fit dog, so he struggled with the walk. He was though, a good companion for Stewart, who was otherwise alone much of the time.
Initially he was provided with government guides - the first couple of weeks. They made his situation much more difficult. They demanded things of the villagers, they invented lies and stories about what Stewart was doing, and threatened the locals. Eventually they tired of the walking and Stewart was able to convince them to go back, and he was able to engage with the locals on his own merit. Many times he was provided with guides, but as often he was alone and Barbur provided comfort and motivation to keep them both going.
So inevitably Stewart compared his journey to Barbur (the emperor) and shares excerpts from Barbur's diary, and compares them to his experiences. He also outlines fairly briefly the history of the region. Where he gets a bit more in depth is the machinations of the current political situation, foreign interventions and NCO setups - this of course is a bit of a foreshadowing of his role and subsequent book about Iraq (also excellent, but very different to this one). What can be seen here are Stewarts willingness to engage and to astutely manoeuvre a conversation in a direction to seemingly achieve an outcome the person was not fully endorsing! Politics!
While others picked some holes in this book, I enjoyed it a lot, and was entertained the whole way through. I can see however, than not everyone will be so enthralled.
For me 4.5 stars, rounded up.
September 1, 2021
It was a good time to revisit this book, given what direction current events have taken. A careful reading of Stewart would lead one to expect something of what we are now seeing. Even if you aren't into the daily news feed, I think that you might enjoy his detailed observance of geography and culture.
_______________________________________
It has been almost twenty years since Stewart “walked across Afghanistan” just before the USA decided to retaliate for the 9/11 attacks. The succeeding years have shown that America (and particularly its government) should have taken the opportunity to study Stewart’s observations.
Perhaps, the most central anecdote to the book is the similarity of his experiences as he travels along his trail. In almost every case, wherever he is, he is welcomed with great hospitality and, in the Muslim tradition, given full guest privileges. And while he is enjoying that, he is being told to beware of the next tribe along his journey because they are “thieves and scoundrels.” Each group sees itself as the injured party and the font of respect for the Koran.
My takeaway is that things will change slowly, if at all, in this country. The USA’s attempt to foster democracy, empower women and integrate Afghanistan into the larger world may well crumble with the departure of “the Coalition.”
But that isn’t what Stewart’s book is about. A very intimate portrait of peoples by an articulate observer.
_______________________________________
It has been almost twenty years since Stewart “walked across Afghanistan” just before the USA decided to retaliate for the 9/11 attacks. The succeeding years have shown that America (and particularly its government) should have taken the opportunity to study Stewart’s observations.
Perhaps, the most central anecdote to the book is the similarity of his experiences as he travels along his trail. In almost every case, wherever he is, he is welcomed with great hospitality and, in the Muslim tradition, given full guest privileges. And while he is enjoying that, he is being told to beware of the next tribe along his journey because they are “thieves and scoundrels.” Each group sees itself as the injured party and the font of respect for the Koran.
My takeaway is that things will change slowly, if at all, in this country. The USA’s attempt to foster democracy, empower women and integrate Afghanistan into the larger world may well crumble with the departure of “the Coalition.”
But that isn’t what Stewart’s book is about. A very intimate portrait of peoples by an articulate observer.
January 3, 2009
Rory Stewart walks across most of Afghanistan. I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, Stewart’s total disrespect for the customs of the people he meets along the way interfered with any enjoyment I might find in the story of his journey.
He feels a sense of entitlement towards their hospitality. He expects to show up and be provided with the best accommodations and the best food. That he does this in an area where people often have a difficult time feeding themselves is irresponsible.
Stewart is aware that dogs are offensive to most Afghans, but he simply doesn’t care. Even in more canine loving cultures, showing up with a large dog and expecting your hosts to accommodate it is nothing less than insensitive.
His walk is self-indulgent. Not only does he put himself at risk, he also knows that the tradition of hospitality will require some Afghans to undertake the same cold and dangerous conditions, despite the fact that these individuals will have to walk back to their villages and they do not possess proper footwear.
It was interesting to read this after recently finishing Three Cups of Tea. Stewart and Mortenson are complete opposites. Mortenson is a doer and clearly passionate and respectful of those he encounters. Stewart is a critical, judgmental chronicler.
I also got a little annoyed with his final high and mighty bit not accepting a ride for the last 71 km to Kabul as dangerous as it might be, because “I could not explain why I was determined to walk every step of the way…I did not feel I could give up so close to my goal.” Yet somehow he conveniently forgets that his goal of connecting his walks across Iran and Pakistan, as stated in the preface, has gaps from at least the Iranian border to Herat in the west and Kabul to the Pakistani border.
On a stylistic note, his frequent use of lengthy footnotes is annoying. Since he’s inconsistent about using them to expand on the historical context of his walk, they appear to be the result of lazy writing and poor editing.
He feels a sense of entitlement towards their hospitality. He expects to show up and be provided with the best accommodations and the best food. That he does this in an area where people often have a difficult time feeding themselves is irresponsible.
Stewart is aware that dogs are offensive to most Afghans, but he simply doesn’t care. Even in more canine loving cultures, showing up with a large dog and expecting your hosts to accommodate it is nothing less than insensitive.
His walk is self-indulgent. Not only does he put himself at risk, he also knows that the tradition of hospitality will require some Afghans to undertake the same cold and dangerous conditions, despite the fact that these individuals will have to walk back to their villages and they do not possess proper footwear.
It was interesting to read this after recently finishing Three Cups of Tea. Stewart and Mortenson are complete opposites. Mortenson is a doer and clearly passionate and respectful of those he encounters. Stewart is a critical, judgmental chronicler.
I also got a little annoyed with his final high and mighty bit not accepting a ride for the last 71 km to Kabul as dangerous as it might be, because “I could not explain why I was determined to walk every step of the way…I did not feel I could give up so close to my goal.” Yet somehow he conveniently forgets that his goal of connecting his walks across Iran and Pakistan, as stated in the preface, has gaps from at least the Iranian border to Herat in the west and Kabul to the Pakistani border.
On a stylistic note, his frequent use of lengthy footnotes is annoying. Since he’s inconsistent about using them to expand on the historical context of his walk, they appear to be the result of lazy writing and poor editing.
August 17, 2010
Stewart is an upper class Brit who sustains the English tradition of adventurism. He has worked in Iraq (and done other things I cannot recall here) and in this book he tells of his walk across Afghanistan. It was an interesting tale, one in which he offers a picture of what life is like for many of the locals. It is not a happy existence, having to survive on land that is not very productive, at the edge of poverty for a lifetime, subject to the whims of the local warlords and bandits. One thing that stood out was the widespread activities of the Taliban, the degree of their atrocities, the thousands they had killed and how pervasive was their effect. They terrorized the nation. What was also notable, sadly, was how many of the people Stewart encountered had been members and even officials when it had been profitable to be a Taliban. One heart-wrenching piece here was Stewart’s adopting a very large, old, and run-down dog, who became his travel companion and who he wanted to take home with him to Scotland. Stewart comes from the moneyed and connected class, having gone to school with Tony Blair’s kid, yet he does not come across as full of himself or at all arrogant. Britain seems to produce adventurers and outdoorsmen as a normal part of their popular strain. Stewart is clearly a full-fledged member of that fraternity, carrying on a rich tradition. He would have gotten along swimmingly with Rudyard Kipling. The book is not wonderful. It drags at times. Stewart is a competent but not exceptional writer. But there is the richness of his enterprise here, and I expect that we will be hearing plenty more from Mister Stewart before he is done.
March 16, 2012
Just weeks after the fall of the Taliban in January of 2002 Scotsman Rory Stewart began a walk across central Afghanistan in the footsteps of Moghul conqueror Emperor Babur and along parts of the legendary Silk Road, from Herat to Kabul. He'd find himself in the course of twenty-one months encountering Sunni Kurds, Shia Hazala, Punjabi Christians, Sikhs, Kedarnath Brahmins, Garhwal Dalits, and Newari Buddhists. He said he wanted to explore the "place in between the deserts and the Himalayas, between Persian, Hellenic, and Hindu culture, between Islam and Buddhism, between mystical and militant Islam." He described Afghanistan as "a society that was an unpredictable composite of etiquette, humor, and extreme brutality."
And he conveys all that in a way that only someone having taken such a journey, taken step by step, burning shoe leather, could have given us. This didn't impress me much at first, when he begins it I wasn't hearing much about Afghanistan I didn't know. But certainly by the time I got a third way through I was much more impressed. He had a gift for vividly describing the people and the landscape.
I have to admit, I found heart-breaking to read how dogs are treated in Afghanistan. It's said Muhammad once cut off part of his own garment rather than disturb a sleeping cat. Unfortunately, he didn't feel equal affection for dogs, and they're "religiously polluting." They're not pets, and they're never petted. A quarter of the way in his journey Stewart has a toothless mastiff pressed upon him by a villager and he named him Babur. The evidence of past abuse could be seen in missing ears and tail, and someone told Stewart the dog was missing teeth because they'd been knocked out by a boy with rocks. Stewart found the dog a faithful companion and said he'd call him "beautiful, wise, and friendly" but that an Afghan, though he might use such terms to describe a horse or hawk would never use it to describe a dog.
Then there was how Afghanistan's precious historical and cultural legacy was being destroyed. I think many Westerners certainly know about how the Taliban dynamited the giant Bamiyan Buddha statues over a millennium old because they considered them "idols." Just as profound a loss is discovered by Stewart in his travels. There is a legendary lost city, the "Turquoise Mountain" of the pre-Moghul Ghorid Empire. Archeologists couldn't find it--but when passing through the area, Stewart had found villagers who had, and were looting artifacts with no care for the archeological context or the damage they were doing to the site, selling the priceless wares for the equivalent of a couple of dollars on the black market. This is what he tells us about his discussion with the villagers about the lost city:
"It was destroyed twice," Bushire added, "once by hailstones and once by Genghis."
"Three times," I said. You're destroying what remained."
They all laughed.
Many a time I wished George W. Bush and Tony Blair could have taken that journey with Stewart and learned the lessons he did. He gives you a sense of the complexity and diversity of the culture and of Islam--and just how ludicrous and ignorant were the assumptions and goals imposed on the country by the invading Westerners. I certainly know that, especially as a woman, this wasn't a journey I could have personally taken, so I felt all the more privileged to look over Rory Stewart's shoulder as he took the journey across Afghanistan.
And he conveys all that in a way that only someone having taken such a journey, taken step by step, burning shoe leather, could have given us. This didn't impress me much at first, when he begins it I wasn't hearing much about Afghanistan I didn't know. But certainly by the time I got a third way through I was much more impressed. He had a gift for vividly describing the people and the landscape.
I have to admit, I found heart-breaking to read how dogs are treated in Afghanistan. It's said Muhammad once cut off part of his own garment rather than disturb a sleeping cat. Unfortunately, he didn't feel equal affection for dogs, and they're "religiously polluting." They're not pets, and they're never petted. A quarter of the way in his journey Stewart has a toothless mastiff pressed upon him by a villager and he named him Babur. The evidence of past abuse could be seen in missing ears and tail, and someone told Stewart the dog was missing teeth because they'd been knocked out by a boy with rocks. Stewart found the dog a faithful companion and said he'd call him "beautiful, wise, and friendly" but that an Afghan, though he might use such terms to describe a horse or hawk would never use it to describe a dog.
Then there was how Afghanistan's precious historical and cultural legacy was being destroyed. I think many Westerners certainly know about how the Taliban dynamited the giant Bamiyan Buddha statues over a millennium old because they considered them "idols." Just as profound a loss is discovered by Stewart in his travels. There is a legendary lost city, the "Turquoise Mountain" of the pre-Moghul Ghorid Empire. Archeologists couldn't find it--but when passing through the area, Stewart had found villagers who had, and were looting artifacts with no care for the archeological context or the damage they were doing to the site, selling the priceless wares for the equivalent of a couple of dollars on the black market. This is what he tells us about his discussion with the villagers about the lost city:
"It was destroyed twice," Bushire added, "once by hailstones and once by Genghis."
"Three times," I said. You're destroying what remained."
They all laughed.
Many a time I wished George W. Bush and Tony Blair could have taken that journey with Stewart and learned the lessons he did. He gives you a sense of the complexity and diversity of the culture and of Islam--and just how ludicrous and ignorant were the assumptions and goals imposed on the country by the invading Westerners. I certainly know that, especially as a woman, this wasn't a journey I could have personally taken, so I felt all the more privileged to look over Rory Stewart's shoulder as he took the journey across Afghanistan.
February 21, 2022
I generally enjoy "walking" books but for me this one was just "OK". I almost gave up initially. Rory was given, against his will, government type militia to accompany him. To start with there were 2 and 2 more joined them. The first third of the book felt it was really only about these 4 men and Rory's views on them. Fortunately they decided they would go no further with him just before I gave up. The book was better then. I still felt it was often disjointed though and reading it felt very uneven. Parts were genuinely very interesting. The remains of old buildings and the story of the Turquoise Mountain were parts I really did enjoy. This was not an easy journey by any stretch of the imagination. The author's life was in danger from both the population at times and the difficulties of the walk. Not a bad read - not a great read.
October 17, 2012
Graham borrowed my copy and didn't return it. Graham is a friend from the pub. He's retired and he often forgets many things. I bet he forgot he borrowed The Places In Between. The arrogance of the Westerner is on full display in this romp just after the NATO/Northern Alliance victory over the Taliban in 2001. Rory has a dog and the pair walk around. Rory finds many of the locals lazy or selfish. These same locals routinely give him food and shelter, this in the aftermath of an invasion. It is dumb luck that Rory wasn't stoned to death for being an insensitive ass. Rory's dog died, though to be clear he wasn't stoned by locals either. He later went to walk in Iraq. Poor Rory.
Graham, you may as well keep my copy.
Graham, you may as well keep my copy.
July 27, 2015
Excellent especially to read while I was working in Afghanistan. Good guy in real life too.
August 25, 2007
I found out about this charater from a magazine article at the time of the book's release. A scotsman who, for a variety of personal reasons not really revealed (a nice change of privacy in this world). begins walking across Afgahnistan.
He intersperses historical entries of a previous walker & conquerer between tales of hospitality and snow and destruction of antiquities.
I don't imagine I will ever have the opportunity to go to the places he writes about. So much of it was unfamiliar that the read was astonishing for that alone.
But for all the political sensitivies he ably writes about and exhibits...I can't escape a certain irritating ballsiness of enitlement. He embarks on this journey PLANNING to rely on the proverbial kindness of strangers because that is an Islanmic cultural and religious value. And really, since he succeeds in his journey, he is evidence of an astonishing degree of hospitality and generosity.
He says this too, but I cannot imagine anyone walking across America, or Scotland for that matter, who would believe that he was entitled to expect food, shelter and assistance because he asked for it.
I guess I am flummoxed by his concept of need. Kindness to strangers has it roots in fear that the strangers might be gods or their messengers alongside the pragmatic need that strangers in a strange land might need assistance.
But to plan a trip just because people will, presumably, shelter you? It just seems somehow to take advantage of something that you can never repay.
All that being said, I am utterly in awe of man who walks with himself. That is worthy of a journey.
Quite a read. And quite a humbling recognition of a world we are destroying that has been destroyed many times over time.
He intersperses historical entries of a previous walker & conquerer between tales of hospitality and snow and destruction of antiquities.
I don't imagine I will ever have the opportunity to go to the places he writes about. So much of it was unfamiliar that the read was astonishing for that alone.
But for all the political sensitivies he ably writes about and exhibits...I can't escape a certain irritating ballsiness of enitlement. He embarks on this journey PLANNING to rely on the proverbial kindness of strangers because that is an Islanmic cultural and religious value. And really, since he succeeds in his journey, he is evidence of an astonishing degree of hospitality and generosity.
He says this too, but I cannot imagine anyone walking across America, or Scotland for that matter, who would believe that he was entitled to expect food, shelter and assistance because he asked for it.
I guess I am flummoxed by his concept of need. Kindness to strangers has it roots in fear that the strangers might be gods or their messengers alongside the pragmatic need that strangers in a strange land might need assistance.
But to plan a trip just because people will, presumably, shelter you? It just seems somehow to take advantage of something that you can never repay.
All that being said, I am utterly in awe of man who walks with himself. That is worthy of a journey.
Quite a read. And quite a humbling recognition of a world we are destroying that has been destroyed many times over time.
October 6, 2020
Great book on a journey few of us would even think possible. I really enjoy Rory's writing style, I read his The Prince of the Marshes first and fell in love with it. He has the knack for presenting the absurd without hysterics. All in all a great travelogue.
August 22, 2007
I'm not quite sure how to classify this book. It's not exactly a travel book, nor is it "current affairs." So perhaps I'm not judging fairly by seeing it air more on the side of travel than any other genre.
Anyway, a good travel book, in my opinion, should make you vaguely want to go to a place. Even if it's a wretched journey (as in In the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O'Hanlon). Even if the trip is perhaps beyond your financial or physical means. Even if you know what's being described on the page no longer exists or has changed beyond recognition (as with Norman Lewis's books about Southeast Asia). You should want to experience a place for yourself.
Before reading this book, I had absolutely no desire to go to Afghanistan. And after reading this book, I had absolutely no desire to go to Afghanistan. My husband declared that he wanted to go and report in Afghanistan after he finished reading The Places in Between, and I had to admit to him that I was really puzzled by his response. "But the book seems to be a series of scenes where Stewart is sitting in a dark, oppressive room with a bunch of taciturn men with beards," I said. "Interrupted by periods of extreme cold and bouts of diarrhea." The people -- or rather, the men, because women barely make an appearance (no fault of Stewart's) -- are either truculent or devious or simply backwards. The food is basically hunks of greasy mutton or, more often than not, nan-like bread on its own. And the landscape is snowy and bare. Or snowy and blighted. Or just plain snowy.
The writing, too, wasn't spectacular. Plain to the point of dullness. A lot of "I did this" and "I felt that." But then again, given his general isolation, perhaps that's also not entirely his fault.
So, again, I'm puzzled. A lot of people whose opinion I highly esteem rate this book quite highly. What is it that I'm missing? Or were they just taken by the single-mindedness of the journey?
Anyway, a good travel book, in my opinion, should make you vaguely want to go to a place. Even if it's a wretched journey (as in In the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O'Hanlon). Even if the trip is perhaps beyond your financial or physical means. Even if you know what's being described on the page no longer exists or has changed beyond recognition (as with Norman Lewis's books about Southeast Asia). You should want to experience a place for yourself.
Before reading this book, I had absolutely no desire to go to Afghanistan. And after reading this book, I had absolutely no desire to go to Afghanistan. My husband declared that he wanted to go and report in Afghanistan after he finished reading The Places in Between, and I had to admit to him that I was really puzzled by his response. "But the book seems to be a series of scenes where Stewart is sitting in a dark, oppressive room with a bunch of taciturn men with beards," I said. "Interrupted by periods of extreme cold and bouts of diarrhea." The people -- or rather, the men, because women barely make an appearance (no fault of Stewart's) -- are either truculent or devious or simply backwards. The food is basically hunks of greasy mutton or, more often than not, nan-like bread on its own. And the landscape is snowy and bare. Or snowy and blighted. Or just plain snowy.
The writing, too, wasn't spectacular. Plain to the point of dullness. A lot of "I did this" and "I felt that." But then again, given his general isolation, perhaps that's also not entirely his fault.
So, again, I'm puzzled. A lot of people whose opinion I highly esteem rate this book quite highly. What is it that I'm missing? Or were they just taken by the single-mindedness of the journey?
February 1, 2008
The Places in Between by Rory Stewart has to be one of my favorite books. Rory has this gift to tell stories in such a brutally honest way that you find humor in even the most mundane life experiences. Although, I wouldn't generally categorize walking across Afghanistan 2 months after the Taliban fell, mundane. Yet, nothing about this book was breathtaking. Nothing was romantized, nothing placed on a pedestal. He spoke openly and honestly of all the people he met, those friendly, and those that would've preferred to rob him and leave him dead in a ditch. He's truthful and humorous, and I found myself walking alongside him, a sort of ghost following his rugged trail through mountains, valleys, and Buddhist monastaries.
Rory Stewart is now living in Kabul, working on a project called Turquoise Mountain. He (and his sponsers) are re-creating the "downtown" river district and restoring it to it's former glory. They're opening schools for people to re-learn the ancient arts of carving, weaving, architecture, etc. They're restoring city blocks that have been covered in 7 feet of trash, and restoring homes where families have lived for centuries. And all for free. The Afghan aren't quite sure what's going on still, wondering why someone would be doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, but that's what so great about it. Look it up online at http://www.turquoisemountain.org/ and go through the picture gallery for some fun shots.
So, Jon and I want to go to Afghanistan. Not sure when, not sure where, but once you get the ache to see it with your own two eyes, you can't deny it. Just ask Rory.
Rory Stewart is now living in Kabul, working on a project called Turquoise Mountain. He (and his sponsers) are re-creating the "downtown" river district and restoring it to it's former glory. They're opening schools for people to re-learn the ancient arts of carving, weaving, architecture, etc. They're restoring city blocks that have been covered in 7 feet of trash, and restoring homes where families have lived for centuries. And all for free. The Afghan aren't quite sure what's going on still, wondering why someone would be doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, but that's what so great about it. Look it up online at http://www.turquoisemountain.org/ and go through the picture gallery for some fun shots.
So, Jon and I want to go to Afghanistan. Not sure when, not sure where, but once you get the ache to see it with your own two eyes, you can't deny it. Just ask Rory.
June 7, 2015
I saw this author interviewed on PBS and quickly decided I had to read his book. So glad that I did. This man, a former British soldier who now works at Harvard, walked across Afghanistan entirely on foot in 2002-03. His story is a deep look into the culture of Afghanistan outside the cities. Basically what we hear about on the news takes place inside the cities. But most of the country is comprised of villages. When we talk about "winning" in Afghanistan we need to realize what that means. This book gives a very important insight into that reality.
Rory Stewart is advising President Obama about a better way to approach the idea of "success" in Afghanistan. I think he would be wise to listen and incorporate his insights into our plans there.
Great book... great read... I recommend this book for every American who wants to really know what is going on in another part of the world completely different from ours.
Rory Stewart is advising President Obama about a better way to approach the idea of "success" in Afghanistan. I think he would be wise to listen and incorporate his insights into our plans there.
Great book... great read... I recommend this book for every American who wants to really know what is going on in another part of the world completely different from ours.
February 3, 2017
Enjoying every step of the journey. Rory Stewart's perceptive acceptance of a foreign world, leaves me shaking my head in admiration. I'm reading the book slowly, a chapter every few days. The author's desire to understand and experience things around him, overtakes his sense of self preservation. The book gives us an insight into the journey of an incredibly kind, brave and intelligent human being. His book has given me a window into the way things are in Afghanistan, and showed me a little of the structured hierarchy within village life. #slowtravel
March 24, 2021
You've read the blurb above, right? It was a remarkable trip, if pretty dumb, and Stewart is lucky he didn't die, or get killed. In 2002, he walked thru some of the high mountains of Afghanistan in midwinter, just after the Taliban were defeated. He carried just his clothes and a sleeping bag (and money), trusting that the villagers along the way would put him up for the night and feed him. He got very sick (diarrhea and/or dysentery), was at constant risk of freezing to death in the mountains, and had some very unpleasant encounters with Afghan soldiers in the last few days, after rejecting very strong advice not to walk through this section.
That said, he had interesting encounters with the locals, and he writes well. And he was lucky. Britain has a long tradition of "holy fools" who survive long odds in hellish surroundings, but none come to mind who made such a pointless trip.
I'd previously read and enjoyed his "Prince of the Marshes", an account of his time as a British diplomat during the Iraqi war, and that's a much better book. Start there before you read this one, is my advice.
That said, he had interesting encounters with the locals, and he writes well. And he was lucky. Britain has a long tradition of "holy fools" who survive long odds in hellish surroundings, but none come to mind who made such a pointless trip.
I'd previously read and enjoyed his "Prince of the Marshes", an account of his time as a British diplomat during the Iraqi war, and that's a much better book. Start there before you read this one, is my advice.
December 23, 2008
I started out thinking I was going to really, really like this book. It is about a fascinating part of the world and one that is extremely important to us - and important that we understand - Afghanistan. It's a travelogue of Stewart's walk across that country, from Herat to Kabul after September 11, 2001.
In the last couple of years, I have read Khaled Hosseini's fictional books about his native land and I found them very revealing and sympathetic. I had hoped for a broadening of that experience with this non-fiction book, and indeed there were moments of revelation and increased understanding, but in the end, I found that it left me cold. Literally. I felt the need to wear a sweater while reading it.
In large part, that was because this is - necessarily, I guess - a very one-sided and one dimentional story. It's the story of the male population, or at least a segment of the male population, of Afghanistan, and it is a story of unrelieved hardship and squalor, not just physically, but intellectually and spiritually. While that may be the truth, it was very hard for me to read.
I couldn't help wondering throughout about the missing characters - the women. What must it be like to be a woman in these Afghanistan villages? "A Thousand Splendid Suns" gave us a glimpse of their lives but there is little hint of the lives of these invisible people here, and very little thought seems to be given to them by the author.
In the last couple of years, I have read Khaled Hosseini's fictional books about his native land and I found them very revealing and sympathetic. I had hoped for a broadening of that experience with this non-fiction book, and indeed there were moments of revelation and increased understanding, but in the end, I found that it left me cold. Literally. I felt the need to wear a sweater while reading it.
In large part, that was because this is - necessarily, I guess - a very one-sided and one dimentional story. It's the story of the male population, or at least a segment of the male population, of Afghanistan, and it is a story of unrelieved hardship and squalor, not just physically, but intellectually and spiritually. While that may be the truth, it was very hard for me to read.
I couldn't help wondering throughout about the missing characters - the women. What must it be like to be a woman in these Afghanistan villages? "A Thousand Splendid Suns" gave us a glimpse of their lives but there is little hint of the lives of these invisible people here, and very little thought seems to be given to them by the author.
April 2, 2021
I found the majority of this book dry and didn't particularly enjoy Stewart's Hemingwayesque style - 'I put on my boots. I walked out the door.' etc but the narrative really picks up after he adopted poor Barbur (the dog)and there is a sense of real peril when he meets the Taliban. The epilogue is also well argued. Three stars for achieving the feat but the book left me wondering why he did it: following in the footsteps of Barbur (the emperor) didn't entirely convince.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 13, 2013
The author walked across Afghanistan! Yes, all the way on foot. The book covers his travels from Herat to Kabul over the mountains in the winter of 2001, after the US invasion. Rather foolhardy/dangerous, but I enjoyed hearing about his meetings with the Afghans of different ethnic groups. A Afghan mastiff became his companion, which added a heartfelt touch.
October 18, 2015
This Stewart guy has a pair of big brass ones-walking across Aghanistan in the shadow of the Taliban's defeat. He doesn't write as well as Robert Kaplan, another trekker of the world, but his stories are interesting nonetheless. There aren't many people in this story you want to meet but you get the clear description of one of the remotest parts of the world. Intriguing country. If I had the chance, I would like to visit the Hazara people and Bamiyan area. He paints an intriguing picture here. Definitely a worthwhile read.
February 27, 2016
This book received a glowing review in The New York Times when published. The reviewer called it a “striding, glorious book”. This quote appeared on the front of the old-school paperback copy I acquired. I understand that the reviewer liked the book, but…. striding? You know, now that I think about it, I've read reviewers complain that it's difficult to find new, fresh ways to praise a book, but still, “striding” is a fail. Does it mean the book is fast-paced? Leaves your breathless, as after a long walk? Takes great steps in aiding one's understanding? Vigorous?
The advent of the 'net has brought an avalanche of new ways to waste time. One of my favorites is to read one-star book reviews on Goodreads. I noticed that this book seemed to be trashed more frequently by women than men. I counted the reviews on randomly selected pages of one-star reviews. Women outnumbered men by six-to-one. (Compare five-star reviews: random sample of large data set, fairly evenly distributed between men and women, perhaps more men.) What makes this book obnoxious to distaff Goodreaders?
Assumption, unsupported by fact: Men and women who posted reviews of this book on Goodreads are reflective of men and women generally.
One hypothesis: Women are more likely to be annoyed by books written by people of privilege, like the author, especially when writing about those less privileged than themselves. (Read about Rory Stewart here.) Women are more likely to identify and sympathize with the less privileged. Dislike the author, dislike the book.
Alternative hypothesis: I remember reading in a book by Deborah Tannen about a social science experiment wherein men and women watched videos of children at play and asked for their opinions. Women were more likely to be critical of boys doing cruel and childish things (like bullying, shouting). Women wanted boys to behave with consideration and kindness, i.e., like adults (theoretical adults, anyway). Men tended to be amused and remark “boys will be boys” or something similar. Children being childish struck men as natural, unavoidable.
Instead of a video about children being childish, this is a book about a man being mannish, that is, embarking on adventure for the sheer butt-headed thrill of it all, to be able to say you've done it, to set yourself some arbitrary but difficult goal and then fulfill it. (From pg. 1: “I'm not good at explaining why I walked across Afghanistan. Perhaps I did it because it was an adventure.”) You're miserable on your adventure? Of course you are! You offend others? They'll get over it! You put your own life in jeopardy? It's your life to waste, and nobody else's!
I tend to sympathize with adventurers, so I didn't mind this book, even if the author seemed a little too eager to find fault in others (see, for example, p. 159, where the author takes the Western archaeological establishment to task for not adequately protecting an isolated site from looters). However, it's a grim and serious book – look elsewhere for light-hearted adventure.
The advent of the 'net has brought an avalanche of new ways to waste time. One of my favorites is to read one-star book reviews on Goodreads. I noticed that this book seemed to be trashed more frequently by women than men. I counted the reviews on randomly selected pages of one-star reviews. Women outnumbered men by six-to-one. (Compare five-star reviews: random sample of large data set, fairly evenly distributed between men and women, perhaps more men.) What makes this book obnoxious to distaff Goodreaders?
Assumption, unsupported by fact: Men and women who posted reviews of this book on Goodreads are reflective of men and women generally.
One hypothesis: Women are more likely to be annoyed by books written by people of privilege, like the author, especially when writing about those less privileged than themselves. (Read about Rory Stewart here.) Women are more likely to identify and sympathize with the less privileged. Dislike the author, dislike the book.
Alternative hypothesis: I remember reading in a book by Deborah Tannen about a social science experiment wherein men and women watched videos of children at play and asked for their opinions. Women were more likely to be critical of boys doing cruel and childish things (like bullying, shouting). Women wanted boys to behave with consideration and kindness, i.e., like adults (theoretical adults, anyway). Men tended to be amused and remark “boys will be boys” or something similar. Children being childish struck men as natural, unavoidable.
Instead of a video about children being childish, this is a book about a man being mannish, that is, embarking on adventure for the sheer butt-headed thrill of it all, to be able to say you've done it, to set yourself some arbitrary but difficult goal and then fulfill it. (From pg. 1: “I'm not good at explaining why I walked across Afghanistan. Perhaps I did it because it was an adventure.”) You're miserable on your adventure? Of course you are! You offend others? They'll get over it! You put your own life in jeopardy? It's your life to waste, and nobody else's!
I tend to sympathize with adventurers, so I didn't mind this book, even if the author seemed a little too eager to find fault in others (see, for example, p. 159, where the author takes the Western archaeological establishment to task for not adequately protecting an isolated site from looters). However, it's a grim and serious book – look elsewhere for light-hearted adventure.
August 14, 2015
I'll be honest, The Places in Between was not at the top of my to-read list for this year. The book description was great, but when I read the about-the-author synopsis and saw that Rory Stewart was an Oxford graduate with a background in politics, I grew skeptical and hesitated to order it. I feared the author would be snobby and out-of-touch and the writing would be a dry fundraiser for various political causes and agendas. Boy was I wrong!
Stewart is a very good writer and the book was never dull. Even in difficult circumstances due to which he admits to being irritable, his writing rarely takes on a whiny tone. He is respectful of the people he meets and the bevy of cultures he encounters. In fact, there is very little information given about the author himself, as throughout the book he focuses on Afghanistan: its people, history, and culture. This detached approach may have been inspired by the medieval Emperor Babur whose journey through the mountains in January Stewart is somewhat unintentionally retracing. Stewart deftly weaves Afghanistan's colorful history into his own adventures through short extracts from Babur's diary and compares and contrasts modern and ancient Afghanistan in a way that is educational yet still interesting and entertaining. He also includes some of his sketches to give the reader a picture of the people he meets.
This book was anything but a disappointment for me, I enjoyed it from beginning to end. It provides some nice glimpses of life in Afghanistan's heart. While I doubt it will be my favorite read of the year, I have a feeling it will still rank in the top ten and I look forward to reading The Prince of the Marshes.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good honest travel memoir without the emotional clutter and whine.
Stewart is a very good writer and the book was never dull. Even in difficult circumstances due to which he admits to being irritable, his writing rarely takes on a whiny tone. He is respectful of the people he meets and the bevy of cultures he encounters. In fact, there is very little information given about the author himself, as throughout the book he focuses on Afghanistan: its people, history, and culture. This detached approach may have been inspired by the medieval Emperor Babur whose journey through the mountains in January Stewart is somewhat unintentionally retracing. Stewart deftly weaves Afghanistan's colorful history into his own adventures through short extracts from Babur's diary and compares and contrasts modern and ancient Afghanistan in a way that is educational yet still interesting and entertaining. He also includes some of his sketches to give the reader a picture of the people he meets.
This book was anything but a disappointment for me, I enjoyed it from beginning to end. It provides some nice glimpses of life in Afghanistan's heart. While I doubt it will be my favorite read of the year, I have a feeling it will still rank in the top ten and I look forward to reading The Prince of the Marshes.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good honest travel memoir without the emotional clutter and whine.
June 24, 2015
Rory Stewart walked through India, Pakistan and Nepal in 2002, a time that was very unstable given the events of 2001 and the subsequent war. He decided that he wanted to walk through the heart of Afghanistan as well. He met with a lot of bureaucracy, but he was eventually given permission to undertake his journey on the condition that several soldiers accompany him. He sets out across Afghanistan in winter, towering mountains and layers of snow between him and his final destination of Kabul.
I was a little disappointed in this and I'm having a hard time putting my finger on why, exactly. I think I expected more interaction with people? He's on foot and relies on the kindness of strangers for shelter and food. It's not like there are Holiday Inns on every street corner in Afghanistan. Heck, for that matter, there aren't even any streets to form corners in the rural areas he travels through. Just spending a night or two in one place, I felt like I didn't get a good sense of what the average people were really like. Which is kind of stupid to say. People are people. Afghans are like people everywhere--mean or kind, religious or not, apathetic or passionate. The one thing they are is crushingly poor. The country has been at war for so long, and I believe there's been a terrible drought that has dried up everything, so there's no chance to grow crops or lead a normal life. Anyway, I guess I didn't get a feel for what an average day in the life of an average Afghan is really like. Mr. Stewart mostly saw other people at night, when they'd settled in the house for what little dinner they could scrape together. What do they do with their time? I have no idea. What do they hope for or dream of? I don't know that either. It just felt like a lot of, "I walked, begged for shelter and food, then we all fell asleep. I left early the next morning, dragging my dog behind me." I'm not being entirely fair, but that's closer to the truth than I hoped for when I picked this book up.
There were a few things that stood out. There's an ancient civilization based in Afghanistan that archeologists haven't been able to find traces of. Mr. Stewart believes that villagers have found the ancient capital city and are looting it mercilessly. He describes untrained people digging through rubble, breaking what are probably priceless antiquities in their ignorance and rush to get items sold on the black market for a little more money to survive a few more days. Who can really blame them? He says that he tried to bring attention to the site when he left the country but no one was interested. I guess it's just too unsafe. Meanwhile, the knowledge and history to be gained is lost. There are other sites where the same kind of thing is happening, either due to unintentional harm or neglect.
Overall, the book was easy enough to read and I did learn about a country that is very foreign to me and the different ethnic groups that live there. I just somehow wanted more out of it.
I was a little disappointed in this and I'm having a hard time putting my finger on why, exactly. I think I expected more interaction with people? He's on foot and relies on the kindness of strangers for shelter and food. It's not like there are Holiday Inns on every street corner in Afghanistan. Heck, for that matter, there aren't even any streets to form corners in the rural areas he travels through. Just spending a night or two in one place, I felt like I didn't get a good sense of what the average people were really like. Which is kind of stupid to say. People are people. Afghans are like people everywhere--mean or kind, religious or not, apathetic or passionate. The one thing they are is crushingly poor. The country has been at war for so long, and I believe there's been a terrible drought that has dried up everything, so there's no chance to grow crops or lead a normal life. Anyway, I guess I didn't get a feel for what an average day in the life of an average Afghan is really like. Mr. Stewart mostly saw other people at night, when they'd settled in the house for what little dinner they could scrape together. What do they do with their time? I have no idea. What do they hope for or dream of? I don't know that either. It just felt like a lot of, "I walked, begged for shelter and food, then we all fell asleep. I left early the next morning, dragging my dog behind me." I'm not being entirely fair, but that's closer to the truth than I hoped for when I picked this book up.
There were a few things that stood out. There's an ancient civilization based in Afghanistan that archeologists haven't been able to find traces of. Mr. Stewart believes that villagers have found the ancient capital city and are looting it mercilessly. He describes untrained people digging through rubble, breaking what are probably priceless antiquities in their ignorance and rush to get items sold on the black market for a little more money to survive a few more days. Who can really blame them? He says that he tried to bring attention to the site when he left the country but no one was interested. I guess it's just too unsafe. Meanwhile, the knowledge and history to be gained is lost. There are other sites where the same kind of thing is happening, either due to unintentional harm or neglect.
Overall, the book was easy enough to read and I did learn about a country that is very foreign to me and the different ethnic groups that live there. I just somehow wanted more out of it.
February 13, 2018
I love a good adventure story about the limits of human endurance, but through this whole book I felt like something was a bit off. I just never got a sense of who the author was as a person, he gave very little background for himself and little personal history. He quotes more from Babur's ancient journals than he does from his own past or even his most recent trips. I never really felt like I understood his journey at its heart, in fact, Babur's motivations and personality are more distinct by the end. Because I never got a real sense of him, he comes off as a bit of a masochistic looking for some sort of dreary sufferfest complete with endless dysentery and landmines, and a contrarian who just willfully does things because other people tell him he'll die if he tries. He also reeks of privilege, hiking through Afghanistan just after the fall of the Taliban, exploiting Muslim traditions of hospitality to crash on the floor of complete strangers, eating the bread and rice of people so poor they clearly can barely feed themselves, berating and shaming anyone who rebuts him, and generally deciding it's a good time to have a little hike through rural Afghanistan when clearly the local population, decimated by endless war, is distinctly uninterested in his project. His conversations with people never seem quite real, lacking a certain amount of empathy and humanity that you can feel from the writing of someone like Dexter Filkins. I think the whole thing came into focus when I looked up Rory Stewart and discovered he's landed gentry who went to Eton and Oxford, tutoring Prince William and Prince Harry, and now is a minister in Theresa May's Conservative Party. To have omitted any mention of this background from the book feels like obfuscation, but does a great deal to put his book in perspective.
February 13, 2016
Read this book for GeoCAT and because I thought it was a PBT 100 NF but I was wrong on that last point. This is the travel writing of Rory Stewart, a Scotsman (Born in Hong Kong, raised in Malaysia and Scotland). Wiki describes him "British academic, author, diplomat, documentary maker and Conservative politician presently serving as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)." In 2002, he walked across Afghanistan shortly after the Taliban were defeated. I enjoy travel writing. This is also a feat of endurance as walking across Afghanistan in the winter was an additional danger besides the fact that he walked across a country of many different tribes and peoples with varying loyalties alone and his dog Barbu he picked up along the way. Barbu was the first Mughal emperor who also walked across Afghanistan in the same route. I gained knowledge of the history of the area, the peoples, and the geography. I also learned about the author. Interesting man, born in 1973, has accomplished a lot in his life.
May 5, 2013
It's amazing that anyone would even attempt this... walking across Afghanistan in the winter with a war going on. It is quite staggering, how many different ways he could die... war casualty, fights with officials, accidents, frostbite/exposure, starvation, food poisoning...
The desolate landscape is hard to envision, although the photos helped. How does one step forward in 4 feet of snow? Temperatures are cited well below zero at night, so besides unease provoked by the well armed people he's sleeping with, how does he sleep with undoubtedly cold wet feet?
The descriptions do not bring the walk, the towns or the people alive. Abdul Haq was the only character drawn in a memorable way. Stewart comes to know others, be they guards, hosts or aid workers that surely had a story, but there is dearth of text about them. Some things mentioned in passing crave more description, such as the soldiers with eyeliner or how his food is prepared. Not only are women nearly absent from the text, their absence is not discussed by Stewart.
The book disappoints not by what is in the text, but how much more should be there. A few of the drawings and quotes from historic texts helped elaborate, but most appeared to be filler.
Perhaps it's not fair to to Rory Stewart that I had just finished reading Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown" about an equally dangerous journey before reading his book. Theroux is a master travelogue writer. "While The Places In Between" is highly readable, is not up to the Theroux standards for this kind of writing.
For me, this is a 3 star book, but I'm giving it 4 stars because of what the author accomplished, more than what he wrote about it.
The desolate landscape is hard to envision, although the photos helped. How does one step forward in 4 feet of snow? Temperatures are cited well below zero at night, so besides unease provoked by the well armed people he's sleeping with, how does he sleep with undoubtedly cold wet feet?
The descriptions do not bring the walk, the towns or the people alive. Abdul Haq was the only character drawn in a memorable way. Stewart comes to know others, be they guards, hosts or aid workers that surely had a story, but there is dearth of text about them. Some things mentioned in passing crave more description, such as the soldiers with eyeliner or how his food is prepared. Not only are women nearly absent from the text, their absence is not discussed by Stewart.
The book disappoints not by what is in the text, but how much more should be there. A few of the drawings and quotes from historic texts helped elaborate, but most appeared to be filler.
Perhaps it's not fair to to Rory Stewart that I had just finished reading Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown" about an equally dangerous journey before reading his book. Theroux is a master travelogue writer. "While The Places In Between" is highly readable, is not up to the Theroux standards for this kind of writing.
For me, this is a 3 star book, but I'm giving it 4 stars because of what the author accomplished, more than what he wrote about it.
August 1, 2007
rory stewart, a scotsman, decided to walk across Afghanistan in January of 2002, on foot, by himself. if you'll recall, January 2002 was about 3 weeks after we installed the new government in Afghanistan. it was and still is a terribly unsafe place for westerners. as it turns out its even unsafe if you're an Afghani. Afghanistan is a country that is primarily still medieval: tribes based on ethnicity, religion, and location are constantly battling each other. this book is rory's travel diary of the trip, and in short i have a man-crush on this guy. equipped only with his knowledge of the local language and an amazing craft to avoid trouble when it is staring him in the face, he nearly dies (twice) and survives on a piece of bread daily for days at a time while hiking 60km a day. this was the look at Afghanistan that I was looking for that the Kite Runner only could provide in part.
October 17, 2021
Sort of a travel log and a dialog on current events. Written within half a year of the Taliban's collapse Rory Stewart records his foot travels from Harat (in far Western Afghanistan near the Iranian boarder) to Kabul. For me Mr. Stewart missed on both accounts if indeed the book was to be a travel log and current events discussion. I enjoy reading a travel log or diary when it objectively focuses on the flora, fauna, landscape and weather. When the majority of the narrative is a subjective account of travels it is a bit of a bore and that was the case with The Places in Between. Mr. Stewart's narration of the historical context and impacts of current events always seems to be cut and pasted into the story - very abrupt with little to no transition between travels and other events.
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