The Carpet Wars: From Kabul to Baghdad: A Ten-Year Journey Along Ancient Trade Routes - Hardcover

Kremmer, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060097329 ISBN 13: 9780060097325

Publisher: Ecco Pr, 2002

Synopsis

A journalist retraces the ancient "carpet routes" through South Asia, taking readers across Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq in search of a long-dead Islamic civilization and exploring how militarism, terrorism, and Islamic fundamentalism are affecting the culture and economy of the region.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

A fascination with carpets leads Christopher Kremmer to roam the troubled lands where they originate. He encounters a marvellous cast of people, from Iranian carpet salesmen to houseboat owners in Kashmir, displaced Afghan nomads to sometimes shady merchants of the bazaar, as well as political and religious leaders who have become household names.

In the remote Hindu Kush, Kremmer celebrates 'Eid' with the late Afghan guerrilla legend, Ahmad Shah Massoud; he meets the fearsome Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostrum in his fortress headquarters outside Mazar-e-Sharif, and in Kandahar, takes tea with Taliban leaders, and goes hunting for Osama bin Laden. What he finds are Muslim nations hanging by a thread, their people betrayed by despotic leaders, and economies kept afloat by little more than rugs, drugs and oil.

'The Carpet Wars' is an intimate and compelling portrait of one of the most ancient and misunderstood parts of the world, and an impassioned plea for breaking down the barriers of ignorance that separate it from the West.

About the Author:

Born in Sydney in 1958, Christopher Kremmer has spent the past decade exploring Asia nad writing about it for print and broadcast media. His award-winning first book, Stalking the Elephant Kings, unearthed the skeletons of communist rule in Indochina. He lives in Sydney.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco Pr
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0060097329
• ISBN 13: 9780060097325
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464