Bad Lands (Lonely Planet) (Travel Literature)
by Tony Wheeler
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tony WheelerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-04-15
ISBN: 1741791863
Number of pages: 327
Publisher: Lonely Planet
Book Reviews of Bad Lands (Lonely Planet) (Travel Literature)
Book Review: Good Travels, Weak Politics
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is more serious than many of the typical cooler-than-thou Lonely Planet travel guides. Tony Wheeler, as a founder of the franchise, has the experience with dangerous (or at least maddeningly inconvenient) world travel to make this book quite readable initially. Countries that are demonized in the Western press should not be avoided just because they're part of a politician's axis of evil. As Lonely Planet fans will surely know, regular folks and unheralded scenic wonders can make travel to unpopular places surprisingly rewarding.
Here Wheeler delivers the goods on several such nations, finding some charm in forgotten Albania, friendly folks in not-so-evil Iran, and natural wonders in Myanmar/Burma. He also digs up some dirt on the hidden joys offered by the citizens and scenery of the isolated and xenophobic Cuba and North Korea. This makes for good armchair travel reading. The problem is that being an experienced world traveler and keen observer of unappreciated lands do not qualify Wheeler for political analysis, which he proceeds to do anyway for most of the nations covered herein.
While I tend to agree with Wheeler's political viewpoints at a high level, his pronouncements on the complexities of Western foreign policy (especially in chapters on Iraq and Saudi Arabia) are simplistic at best. Wheeler has an unfortunate Michael Moore-like habit of following up quick lists of political grievances with one-paragraph proposed solutions to huge geopolitical crises. Also, this book is nearly ruined by the second-to-last chapter in which Wheeler concocts an "Evil Meter" (TM) in which he assigns his own scoring system to the countries visited. This may have been a tongue-in-cheek exercise but it's unsuccessful as either irony or commentary. The good news is that Wheeler really brings out the rewards of visiting people and places that have been unfairly maligned and ignored because of their overlords. Wheeler should have just stuck to that aspect of travel writing. [~doomsdayer520~]
Summary of Bad Lands (Lonely Planet) (Travel Literature)
In an age of plastic knives on planes, Tony Wheeler can make the extraordinary claim of having visited all the rogue countries currently on newsreaders' lips. Bad Lands is a witty first-hand account of his travels through some of the most repressive and dangerous regimes in the world: Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. Taking into account each country's attitude to human rights, terrorism and foreign policy, he asks 'what makes a country truly evil?' and 'how bad is really bad?' - all the while engaging with a colorful cast of locals and hapless tour guides, ruminating on history and debunking popular myths. Written by the founder of Lonely Planet, this fascinating account of life in these closed-off countries will appeal to anyone with an interest in the state of the world today.Travel Books
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