A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts: Journeys in Kurdistan
by Christiane Bird
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Book Summary Information
Author: Christiane BirdEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-06-14
ISBN: 0345469399
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Reviews of A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts: Journeys in Kurdistan
Book Review: Excellent, but...
Summary: 4 Stars
It was hard for me to read the book objectively, as I have spent considerable time in South Kurdistan (Iraq) doing humanitarian aid work. In Bird's journey through Iraqi Kurdistan, every town she visited and every person she met reminded me of just how much I miss and love the Kurdish country and people. Bird's analysis is not deep nor is it political for the most part. What politics are mentioned, it seems are designed to pull out and investigate the Kurdish culture and psyche. Having lived among the Kurds, her interactions with them ring true and accurate.
All this being said, and what is keeping this book from getting a five star review, is that I found the author's semi frequent (once or twice a chapter) pot shots at American politics leading up to the invasion of 2003 to be somewhat tiresome. If you are reading this book, it is because you want to find out what the Kurds think and do, not what the author thinks about American foreign policy.
Summary of A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts: Journeys in Kurdistan
Though the Kurds played a major military and tactical role in the United States' recent war with Iraq, most of us know little about this fiercely independent, long-marginalized people. Now acclaimed journalist Christiane Bird, who riveted readers with her tour of Islamic Iran in Neither East Nor West, travels through this volatile part of the world to tell the Kurds' story, using personal observations and in-depth research to illuminate an astonishing history and vibrant culture.For the twenty-five to thirty million Kurds, Kurdistan is both an actual and a mythical place: an isolated, largely mountainous homeland that has historically offered sanctuary from the treacherous outside world and yet does not exist on modern maps. Parceled out among the four nation-states of Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and Iran after World War I, Kurdistan is a divided land with a tragic history, where the indomitable Kurds both celebrate their ancient culture and fight to control their own destiny. Occupying some of the Middle East's most strategic and richest terrain, the Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the region and the largest ethnic group in the world without a state to call their own.
Whether dancing at a Kurdish wedding in Iran, bearing witness to the destroyed Kurdish countryside in southeast Turkey, having lunch with a powerful exiled agha in Syria, or visiting the sites of Saddam Hussein's horrific chemical attacks in Iraq, the intrepid, insightful Bird sheds light on a violently stunning world seen by few Westerners. Part mesmerizing travelogue, part action-packed history, part reportage, and part cultural study, this critical book offers timely insight into an unknown but increasingly influential part of the world. Bird paints a moving and unforgettable portrait of a people uneasily poised between a stubborn past and an impatient future.
From the Hardcover edition.
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