Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia

Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia
by Tony Horwitz

Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia
List Price: $16.00
Our Price: $2.53
You Save: $13.47 (84%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.48 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Tony Horwitz
Edition: Paperback
Published: 1992-01-01
ISBN: 0452267455
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Plume

Book Reviews of Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia

Book Review: Culture Meets Culture
Summary: 4 Stars

BAGHDAD WITHOUT A MAP is a series of articles Tony Horwitz wrote while trying to spark a freelance journalism career in the Middle East. The title is somewhat misleading as the articles cover a wide spectrum of Middle Eastern countries.

Horwitz does not always have an assignment as was the case when he visited Yemen, one of the most unusual countries in the book. Almost everyone in Yemen is high on Qat, a hallucinogenic shrub that the inhabitants chew like tobacco. Horwitz, who's always game for anything, samples the shrub, losing the feeling in his arms and legs when he does.

One of the most enlightening episodes was when Horwitz got an assignment to cover the tanker war on the "Strait of Hoummos." Horwitz hitches a ride on a sixty-foot Bombay boat. On board, Horwitz met the ship's engineer, a man named Jesudasyn "with the unflinching bluntness of a four-year-old." Jesudasyn wanted to know if it was true that men and women lived in America without getting married, and, if so, how could the women still be virgins when they married. In India the woman must be a virgin. They go on to discuss reincarnation and the use of condoms. This conversation goes on for all of two pages, but with culture meeting culture, there was enough material for a book of its own.

Cairo, Egypt, was almost a home base for Horwitz and his wife, noted author Geraldine Brooks. There's a concept called "Malesh" in Egypt, loosely translated to mean "whatever." Even new building in Cairo begin to fall apart almost immediately as there isn't much maintenance. There are constant blackouts and the elevators don't work in the apartment buildings. The idea that you couldn't do anything about these inconveniences anyway was prevalent in Egyptian society. After awhile even Horwitz began to experience "Malesh."

Most of the places Horwitz visited, such as The Sudan and Libya, were pretty desolate places, but then there was the Arab Emirates, one of the richest places on earth where the natives have free health care, free education, and an assurance of a job, if they want one. Guest workers outnumber natives five to one. Dubai's port was "duty free, regulation free, everything free." Compared to The Sudan, Dubai would be Heaven, The Sudan hell.

Tony Horwitz won the Pulitzer for his travelogue style writing. Other writers might emulate his ability to communicate with the native peoples, despite his inability to speak the language in some cases.

Summary of Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia

Horwitz has the touch, the ability to astutely capture the ludicrous essence of an experience while filling in all the pertinent socio-historic details. He chews qat with the Yemenis, plays soccer with the Sudanese Dinka refugees and listens to an endless refrain of "You are the perfume of Iraq, oh Saddam" in Baghdad. Horwitz' eye and wit are equally sharp, and his book is an exceptionally good read.

Biographies & Memoirs Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Best Books of 2008, So Far
Shavetail: A Novel ImageShavetail: A Novel
by Thomas Cobb
Scribner; Published: 2008-02-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.97
Price in other shops: $25.00
Then We Came to the End ImageThen We Came to the End
by Joshua Ferris
Fig Tree; Published: 2007-03-01; Paperback; Book
So Brave, Young and Handsome: A Novel ImageSo Brave, Young and Handsome: A Novel
by Leif Enger
Atlantic Monthly Press; Published: 2008-04-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.50
Price in other shops: $24.00
Obedience: A Novel ImageObedience: A Novel
by Will Lavender
Shaye Areheart Books; Published: 2008-02-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops: $24.00
The First Patient ImageThe First Patient
by Michael Palmer
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-02-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops: $25.95
Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia ImageBaghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia
by Tony Horwitz
Plume; Published: 1992-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.39
Price in other shops: $16.00
No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith ImageNo Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith
by Fawn M. Brodie
Vintage; Published: 1995-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.75
Price in other shops: $18.00
Knots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus Novels) ImageKnots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus Novels)
by Ian Rankin
St. Martin's Paperbacks; Published: 1995-12-15; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops: $7.99
Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front ImageBill Mauldin: A Life Up Front
by Todd DePastino
W. W. Norton; Published: 2008-02-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.54
Price in other shops: $27.95
Into the Wild ImageInto the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
Anchor; Published: 2007-08-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.37
Price in other shops: $13.95
Similar Books and other products
The Devil May Care: 50 Intrepid Americans and Their Quest for the Unknown ImageThe Devil May Care: 50 Intrepid Americans and Their Quest for the Unknown
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2003-10-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: $28.00
People of the Book: A Novel ImagePeople of the Book: A Novel
by Geraldine Brooks
Viking Adult; Published: 2008-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.03
Price in other shops: $25.95
Motoring with Mohammed: Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea ImageMotoring with Mohammed: Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea
by Eric Hansen
Vintage; Published: 1992-02-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops: $14.95
Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over ImageForeign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over
by Geraldine Brooks
Anchor; Published: 1999-01-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.40
Price in other shops: $13.95
Cold Beer and Crocodiles: A Bicycle Journey into Australia (Adventure Press) ImageCold Beer and Crocodiles: A Bicycle Journey into Australia (Adventure Press)
by Roff Smith
National Geographic; Published: 2001-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops: $14.00
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women ImageNine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women
by Geraldine Brooks
Anchor; Published: 1995-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.47
Price in other shops: $14.95
A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World ImageA Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World
by Tony Horwitz
Henry Holt and Co.; Published: 2008-04-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.90
Price in other shops: $27.50
Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before ImageBlue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before
by Tony Horwitz
Published: 2002-10-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops: $26.00
One for the Road: Revised Edition ImageOne for the Road: Revised Edition
by Tony Horwitz
Vintage; Published: 1999-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.34
Price in other shops: $13.00
Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War ImageConfederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War
by Tony Horwitz
Vintage; Published: 1999-02-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops: $14.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories