A Journey through Afghanistan

by David Chaffetz

Overview

Shortly before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, David Chaffetz slipped from the protection of Western culture and immersed himself in the customs, fears, and hopes of the Afghan people, setting out by car and on horseback for a long journey through the northwestern quarter of the country. A Journey through Afghanistan is the story, told in vivid, descriptive prose, of his experience—an account that reveals more about the Afghan people themselves than most books written either before or since.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226100647
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	01/01/2002
Edition description:	1
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

David Chaffetz, educated at Harvard University, has written for scholarly journals and lectured extensively on the Middle East.

Willard Wood is the English translator of several French texts, including Andre Raymond's Cairo and Jean-Christophe Ruffin's The Abyssinian.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Willard Wood

Chapter One: Portals to a Land
Islam Qala
Dasht, Bagh, Bazaar
Days and Nights in a Fasting Season
Celebrating the Feast

Chapter Two: Waiting for Transfer
Afghan Truck
Light
Samovar Talk
The Div's Castle
At the Bell
On the Steppe

Chapter Three: On Pilgrimage
Mazar-i-Sharif
Graves of Giants
The Cave of Sleepers

Chapter Four: Heart of an Oasis
The Old City
A Grand Gesture
A Keepsake
Holiday Bath
Abraham's Sacrifice

Chapter Five: On Horseback
Ganj Bazaar
Kabud, Ablaq
Riding Out

Chapter Six: The Journey
Eastward
On the Road
The Storm
Prophetic Talk
Under the Earth

Chapter Seven: In the Valley
A Very Small World
By the Riverside
Life of the Tribes
A Strange Ritual
The Shāh of Mashhad

Chapter Eight: Leaving Afghanistan
A Handful of Dust
Madmen
Echoes & Apologies

Glossary

Editorial Reviews

The best thing I have read for giving the feel of Afghanistan and its varied people, social classes, religious sects. . . . Chaffetz wins confidence with the easy simplicity of his narrative. . . . What emerges from a charmingly simple story . . . is the warning—at least to this reviewer—that one must be cautious about using the term ‘Afghan nation’ as it is used in the west.

Washington Post Book World - Owen Lattimore