Asia Books

I have told everyone I know who reads a lot to buy this book. It is very good

Excellent book. Gives an amazing view of the country of Pakistan and Afghanistan and its people. Greg Mortenson is one of a kind with his single-mindedness and determination. Many young people, especially girls will have a chance at an education because of him.

Greg Mortenson is an American who was raised by missionary parents in Tanzania. These parents left a legacy in Africa of one of the best hospitals led by African Doctors and a leading international school. They also modeled to a cross-cultural son about aiming high. Greg became a nurse who loved mountain climbing, dreaming of one day also conquering K2.

This is the story of his near fatal attempt to climb that mountain. The failure led him on another journey: to a very poor village in the Karakoram mountains and to the conservative Muslim tribal worlds of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Greg, emaciated and exhausted from his failed attempt, is taken in by a local family and nursed back to health. During his recuperation, he hears of some of their dreams for their village and makes a promise to return to build a school for their girls.

The name of the book derives from what a local village chief said, "Here (in Pakistan and Afghanistan) we drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger; the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything--even die."

Greg is thrown into another cross-cultural world that is far different from his world in Africa. It is a world of tribal chiefs, imams, the poor trying to survive in incredible circumstances and the impact of poverty upon the lives of children. These people wonder why an American would make a promise that looked so impossible to keep and how this turned into Greg's destiny.

'Three Cups of Tea' is a story of wisdom learned from the local culture over the centuries. It is seeing the practical difference that education makes in the lives of poor villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan one school at a time. It is a story of deep, lasting cross-cultural friendships in a world that has been defined by its geo-political and religious divides. Read it and weep......Read it and get involved.

What a tragedy that such an important, enlightening, and inspiring story was written so poorly. I actually didn't get past page 15 because I just couldn't stand the run-on sentences any more. Everyone in my book club loved the book but for me, the way a book is written is just as important as the story itself, and when I have to stumble over every other sentence because it's so awkward, it ruins the experience for me.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ! It makes you want to get up and make the world a better place!!! It is amazing how many lives Greg Mortensen has changed for the better. You are missing out if you do not read this book! Please pass it along to others~!

It's encouraging that this is the #1 book on the topic of 9/11 in Amazon. It deserves to be. Not content with depicting the terrible events of 9/11, Wright brilliantly and logically draws out the origins of the nihilist religious movement that formed the ideological motor of 9/11. The roots of 9/11 are twofold: in the writings of Egyptian expatriate Sayyid Qutb, who ironically wrote his most inflammatory works while an academic guest in Colorado (some of Qutb's works form the Mein Kampf of Islamic extremism); and the toxic Wahhabi Muslim sect in Saudi Arabia. When you finish the chapters on these topics, you will thoroughly understand the repellent underpinnings of Saudi-specific culture, which in fact have very little to do with the humane face of Islam.

Obviously, the central figure in this book is Osama Bin Laden, and you will also find yourself knowing more than perhaps you really wanted to know about this unusually prolific mass-murderer. In Qutb's and Bin Laden's world, the deaths of innocent Muslims are of no more value than blowing your nose in a Kleenex.

The ultimate issue exposed beyond debate in this book is the calamitous incompetence of the CIA, coupled with the hidebound bureaucratic stupidity pervading all levels of the FBI, with its institutional rigidity and lack of acceptance of technology. The lion's share of the blame for the failure of the United States to forestall the attacks really has to be laid at the doors of President Bill Clinton and his CIA directors, who were responsible for the policies disallowing the CIA from sharing any intelligence information whatever with law enforcement authorities inside the US. Secondary blame has to be laid at the door of the Bush Administration, who had ample warning of impending attacks and had absolutely no interest in proceeding even with the lamentably weak anti-terrorism policies of the Clinton administration.

But, ultimately, as I've noted, the CIA is really to blame as an institution for allowing the 9/11 attacks to succeed. It leaves an indelible impression of decadence and decline in America, and that particular institution should be disbanded and those CIA functionaries who did not share vital information with the FBI really should be thrown in prison for the rest of their lives, starting with ex-Director Tenet. There is no excuse for such meretricious incompetence. Absolutely none. My fondest hope is that one or two of the people mentioned in the book as having committed these acts of arrogant stupidity will read these words or those of others on this page. These CIA people have as much blood on their hands as Bin Laden, as far as I'm concerned.

Can you tell I'm really, really angry with these people? You will be too, by the time you finish reading this book. The final chapter, "The Big Wedding," painstakingly describes the attack on the USS Cole and its aftermath, and clearly draws a direct line between that attack and the one that single-handedly (and ironically) ensured George Bush a second term. The book climaxes with a strikingly brief but utterly visual and devastating real-time narrative of the attacks as the ex-FBI man John O'Neill (another central figure in the book, who reminds me strongly of Tony Soprano if Soprano was a big-time FBI man) experienced them. This book will be read and discussed a century and more from now. It is an essential work of our time.

Looming Tower should be required reading for all Americans. It is by far the best book about Al Qaeda and its antecedents. While it is extremely comprehensive, it is never boring. I find it extraordinary how Wright was able to develop such a book so soon after 9/11. It reads more like a book written 20 years after the fact rather than just 5 years.

Wright is particularly good at "developing the characters of his story." In this it reads more like a great novel, rather than a typical non-fiction book. Wright creates fascinating portraits of Sayyid Qtub (the intellectual founder of modern Jihadism), Abdullah Azzam (the cleric who gave a fatwa calling on all Muslims to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, Ayman Al Zawahiri (the intellectual and organizational founder of Al Qaeda) and finally Osama Bin Laden (the financier and symbolic leader of Jihad), Jamal Al-Fadl (the defector who first told the incredulous FBI of the existence of the Al Qaeda), Ali Mohammed (who infiltrated the US Special Forces, copied their manuals and started the How to wage jihad encyclopedia).

Particularly interesting is how all of these radical leaders came from the upper-crust of Arab societies. One might expect that their anger and violent rhetoric came from very poor people, but that is not the case.

Also interesting is how Al Qaeda's strategy and organization gradually evolved out of a serious of historical accidents - the visit of Qtub to the USA; the imprisonment of Zawahiri after Sadat's assassination; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; Zawahiri's work in a Kuwaiti hospital with radical Jihadi doctors; the near destruction of infant Al Qaeda in one small skirmish with the Soviet army; squabbles within Al Qaeda after the Soviets withdrew resulting in the assassination of Assam; the inability of the Arabs to return to their country after the war due to government hostility against the very people they recruited; the coup in Sudan which gave Al Qaeada a base just when they were losing their old one in Afghanistan; the USA passing up Sudan's offer to extradite bin Laden due to lack of evidence to prosecute him.

Wright also dismantles the myth that Al Qaeda brought down the Soviet Union by destroying their army in Afghanistan. This is a foundational myth for Al Qaeda and key to understand their seemingly irrational desire to attack the USA. Wright shows that only a few hundred Arab troops were actually in combat, and they did so mostly after the Soviets started withdrawing. Arab troops did not come in large numbers until after the Soviets completely withdrew, and they spent most of their time fighting against Afghan Muslims and each other. Even by the end of the war, the organization was just one of dozens of almost irrelevant radical organizations.

Wright somehow manages to maintain an objective perspective despite the murderous rhetoric, thoughts and action of his subjects.

wright prepared an excellent book. it's written as engagingly as a novel, but it is choke full of detail which has been corroborated. this was a fantastic page-turner. it did not provide the kind of detail that i sought regarding the actual attacks of 9/11, how individuals were trained and supported, etc. - it provided a comprehensive background on what was going on and who was involved. looking at the pages of interviews, pages of references, i am convinced of the thoroughness of the author and i appreciate why this book was the winner of the pulitzer prize. outstanding work!!!

A must read for any informed U.S. citizen. We all need to recommend it to our legislators for their reading..

I have read extensively about Islamic terrorism and Al Qaeda and The Looming Tower is by far the most compelling and comprehensive book on this subject. It clearly lays out the social, philosophical and theological progression and foundations that led to 9/11. Though you may not agree, by the end of the book you clearly understand the radical extemist's rationale and the historic time line of the people and events that led to 9/11. Though it provides history, The Looming Tower reads like a novel which I could not put down. It is the seminal book on this subject.

As a WWII history buff I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to see combat from a combat Marines perspective. GREAT!

I really can't say anything better than has already been said in the previous reviews. This is a horrific, and at the same time, fascinating read. Sledge tells it like it was and holds nothing back. The descriptions of the blasted battlefields full of dead is something you won't forget. His descriptions of the fighting conditions will make you thankful for dry clothes, hot coffee and fresh socks every day after reading this. Should be required reading in schools today - an important gift from someone who lived in the horror of war.

I recently read this book for the second time. As others have noted, this is by far the best American memoir of the Pacific Theater. While Sledge's narrative style is straightforward and plain, there is a sensitivity to the work that is not found in other American war memoirs. Sledge was a good Marine, and understood that Japanese brutality had to be answered in kind: he had absolutely no compunction about killing the Japanese and often expresses an extreme hatred towards them. His descriptions of what he witnessed are often horrific--the picture he paints of "Maggot Ridge" on Okinawa is nothing short of a hellscape. And yet a central theme in the book is that in the midst of all the brutality of Peleliu and Okinawa, one had to try to maintain at least a modicum of sensitivity and human compassion. That, I believe, is what makes this such a remarkable record of the war.
I had the privilege of talking to Dr. Sledge about a decade ago, and he was a true gentleman--courteous, kind, and very generous with his time. Indeed, my overwhelming impression was that he was a very gentle person. Perhaps that is why his memoir is so haunting.

Having seen Ken Burns films on WWII and his mention of this book, I decided
to read it. I was not disappointed. Ordinarily I don't like works like this
but Sledge handled his on-the-ground experiences in the Pacific with simplicity
but with elequence. I was very impressed with the book, moved and sometimes
shattered by the bravery and determination of our troups. It makes for
exciting reading, if you're inclined to know what war was like then, and
probably what war is still like for men and women on the ground now. Read it!
You won't be disappointed.

In simple powerful prose, E.B. Sledge recounts the horrors of the war in the Pacific in his memoir With The Old Breed. Dr. Sledge, who was a professor of biology at the University of Montevallo in Alabama for almost fifty years, wrote his book for his wife and children so they could understand what he had endured in combat. His wife realized the importance of his book and convinced him to publish it. It is considered to be the best memoir written by an enlisted man from World War II, and some have even put it in the same cannon of literature as The Red Badage of Courage and All Quiet on the Western Front. It is equaled only by the memoirs of President U.S. Grant.
A native of Mobile Al, Sledge served in the Marines from 1943 to 1946. After boot camp in California, he was shipped to the Pacific. In his memoir, he admits that as his ship was nearing Peleliu, he was so frightened that he was afraid that he would lose control of his bladder and then the other men would know he was a coward. One of the biggest miseries faced by the men was the filth they were forced to live in during combat. Drinking water was too precious to use for bathing and brushing teeth and Dr.Sledge said it brothered everyone he knew.It is an important part of the stress suffered by the men on the battledfield that has not been given much attention by historians or even discussed in memoirs written by veterans. While he watched men die around him, Dr. Sledge survived the war. He was only twenty-two when the war ended but he would never be the same again. There is a picture of Dr. Sledge at the end of the book that was taken in 1946 after he had returned from duty in China. It is of a handsome man in full dress uniform with eyes that are much too sad and old for one so young. As World War II fades into history and passes into legend and myth, first-hand accounts like E.B. Sledge's are vital to understanding the sacrifices made by millions in defeating one of the greatest foes in human history.

I am a former Navy man aboard the USS New Jersey. My brother was one of these Tin Can Sailors. Great book, recommended by one of my doctors. Really brings back memories.

I'm not sure it's possible to find a book written about World War II history that is more captivating and inspiring than this novel. I couldn't put it down. And the men whose lives inspired it deserve an eternal debt of honor for their actions on the fateful day. Well-written, entertaining, and informative, it is definitely a must read--even for those who aren't history buffs.

The best audio book I have listened to because it combines a very good story, very good reading, and very good production. James Hornfischer's account of the encounter between a few escort aircraft carriers and their destroyer escorts with major elements of the Japanese Navy amid the larger backdrop of the Battle of Leyte Gulf is very fast paced, interesting, and entertaining. A layman like myself with an interest in naval encounters of the Second World War or the courage and resourcefulness shown in desperate situations will enjoy it. The abridged audio book can be appreciated without constant reference to a map which is very nice since most of us purchase audio books for times during which reading is impractical. It is probably the best read audio book I have heard: Mr. Gardner has a good speaking voice - not too fast, not too slow, good diction, good emphasis to where, quotations begin and end; all around very good. He was very pleasant to listen to. It was the best produced audio book I have listened to, especially how the volume levels were so consistent between tracks on the CD. You would think that would always be the case with the same person reading - but it never is, except here. As I listen to the books on the treadmill it was so nice to not have to keep reaching for the volume control! Good story, good reading, good producing. What could be better?

"Resolution, sacrifice and success", to quote words attributed to the men who fought what history may record as the greatest naval surface ship battle of the twentieth century. There truly are no words capable of expressing adequately the heroics of these sailors aboard their diminutive but mighty warships, the Tin Cans of the Pacific fleet, and of the aviators of the carriers all of whom comprised Taffy 1,2 and 3. However, Mr. Hornfischer has done a splendid job of recording these historic events so they won't easily be forgotten.

I never knew about this major WW II naval until I read the book. And, I thought I knew about the Pacific naval battles. As an engineer, I like the technical details about the ships and how the operate. There are just enough technical details to keep your interest without being boring. Good read about a battle that "saved" the Pacific Fleet. Even after reading the book, one still wonders how the Tin Cans and Jeep Carriers withstood the Jap battleships. Every one of Sailors and Pilots who took part in the Battle should have gotten a Navy Cross.

For all serious students of WW2 in the Pacific, this single book corrects all the errors, exagerations, mistatements, lies and wrong conclusions concerning what happened leading up to and during the Battle of Midway, the turning point of the Pacific war.
The authors worked for several years with documents in Japan and the USA plus interviewing living survivors as well as certain prior authors on the subject. Far different conclusions have been reached in many vital points before , during and after this battle. Vast amounts of personal egotism , face saving and self grandizement are revealed and corrected. Japanese self inflicted shame and Bushido Code behavoir which caused them to report incorrectly in many cases are revealed and corrected plus research into US military reports of the time which stated things incorrectly too frequently and lead to wrong conclusions in the post war period, which in turn mislead all postwar writers and researchers.
This book is the definitive work to date and may possibly never be updated or revised.
Dick Trenk
Pinellas Park, FL

"Shattered Sword" is an excellent analysis of the Battle of Midway which all readers with an interest in this great battle will want to read. Its main strength is its analysis of the Japanese side and its command of detail in this regard. Recommended.

This is not just another war book, but a treaties on how to evaluate a complex situation including a battle. There were lots of new material to me, as I've only read the classic book on the Lexington. But what I found most useful was looking at the battle from a "military doctrine" point of view. How does the organization plan, what happens when the plan meets reality, what happens afterward. Does anyone learn anything from the victory or the defeat? It's pretty clear that the battle at Pearl Harbor shook up the American Navy to the point of learn or die. Not so for the Imperial Navy after Midway.

Students of WWII Pacific battles will love this book whether or not they agree with the findings of the authors. About 1/4 of the book is appendices and bibliography so if you were starting to research this battle this book will lead you to many of the key sources.

I'm off to find a book on the battle of the Solomons next, and you will be too after you read this book.

Picked up my copy at the 65th Anniversary seminar on the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Met Parschall and found him to be very knowledgeable on his subject and very entertaining. The book's coverage of the subjects of why the Japanese carriers were so vulnerable at Midway and the Aleutian diversion theory was as entertaining as it was informative. This is one of the few revisionist history books that I really enjoyed.

Several long-standing myths of the Midway Battle are so deeply ingrained in history books that it's shocking to discover that there is a very good chance none of them are true. For instance:

1. The sacrifice of the Hornet's Torpedo 8 squadron was not in vain since it brought the Japanese fighters down to sea level and permitted the dive bombers unobstructed access to their targets.

2. The late launch of Japanese Scout 4 was the major factor in the Japanese failure to locate the US task force.

3. The US fleet won the battle against overpowering odds. The Japanese outnumbered and outclassed them, but they lost. It was pure luck.

4. Had the Japanese not decided to launch a second attack against Midway and kept their a/c armed with ship-attacking weapons, they'd have been able to attack the US fleet as soon as they found them.

5. The Japanese planes were all set to attack the fleet and were spotted on deck, fully armed and fueled, ready to go, when the US bombs struck.

6. Not only did the Japanese navy lose 4 fleet carriers, they also lost most of their front-line pilots which they were never able to replace, hence Midway was the battle that doomed Japan to defeat.

7. Midway was the last offensive effort made by the Imperial forces. Before Midway, the US never had a victory in the Pacific; after Midway, the US never suffered a defeat.

There are several more such fallacies that have been perpetuated in books by Japanese and American naval historians, and this book addresses them all and, in my opinion convincingly dismembers them.

I won't tell you how this is accomplished. The authors have worked with both American and Japanese participants in the battle and have studied, exhaustively, the techniques employed by both navies in the handling of their aircraft and their methods of conducting battle. Most details surrounding the way the Japanese managed their aircraft aboard their carriers were based on the methods employed by the Americans and/or the British, and are wrong.

This book sets those details right.

It doesn't discredit the US victory one bit. It leaves intact the notion that Midway was an amazing, decisive, and complete victory at a time when it appeared the Japanese Kido Butai (carrier striking force) had been running amok throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans and was undoubtedly the most efficient and powerful naval air attack force in the world. What it does do is explain why the victory was not as incredible as previously supposed and spells out, in detail why and how the Japanese lost - and it was, indeed, a battle that was Japan's to lose.

It's written insufficient detail to satisfy the most statistically and fact-minded reader while retaining enough easy flow of an historical novel to maintain the interest of readers for whom the allure of WW2 naval battles is a bit more casual.

This is a book which, if you are a student of WW2 in the Pacific, is one you must not fail to read.

I think this book comes closest to achieving in literature what Platoon did for the movies, putting you in the war in Vietnam. Im not suggesting after reading this you will have a full grasp of the daily life in the Marine Corps outside Danang in 1965 but, hopefully, its as close as many of us will get. It is a horrible account of the disintegration of the human spirit and the humane sensibility that we all have. It takes us to very dark places and provides no easy answers, only tough questions evoked through powerful and beautiful writing. I have to stress the writing because it is exceptional.
As the author states, it is a memoir of his experiences and not meant to be read as an overview of the war itself, but in many ways it is better than that, for instead of mere numbers, we are given the true nature of the war, one we were slowly pulled into and one we seemed to be unable to get out of. For me, I barely remember the Vietnam War and we barely discussed it in History class, but I think a book such as this would be an important addition to our history classes, especially in high school. Its not a long book. It is very intense and can be quite graphic at times but I was impressed that the author didnt dwell so much on the blood and guts but on the men themselves, who they were at the start and who they became later on. That is the fascinating and disturbing part of the book for me. It is philosophical without forcing it, dramatic in the best sense and one I know I will want to read again. Highly recommended!

Good Transaction.. Received the book quickly and in great condition. Brand new and wrapped nicely.

I found this book to be so raw, and so terrifying that it was difficult for me to put it down. Philip Caputo puts the life of an everyday solider during the Vietnam War into a light that I believe does justice to every veteran of the war. He very articulately describes the horrors, and utter impossibilities of fighting a guerilla war in unfamiliar territory, and does so with a writing style that will make you feel as though you are crouched in a foxhole right next to him in the dense jungles of Vietnam. This book is an absolute must read for anyone interested in the Vietnam War, or for anyone who is sick of the constant "glamorization" of war by Hollywood.

I was very impressed with the order of A Rumor of War. The book shipped quickly and arrived between the 7-14 day window. The service was professional. The book details matched the quality of the book. I am very pleased with the service provided.

Caputo's book doesn't need another review. I will offer mine anyway, if nothing else to contrast it with Wolff's "In Pharoah's Army," an inferior book. First, I wish I could have written "A Rumor of War." I wasn't ready to write about the war soon after I returned from Vietnam, in 1967. Not even after a couple years of college in 1971, when I camped on the mall with 1,200 other Vietnam Vets Against the War (including John Kerry). Caputo had the advantage of education on me. Not just that, I needed a lot more time to experience other things and gain a broader perspective. But he made it all perfectly clear when he had a dialogue in the officer's mess with the chaplain and the doctor, "The chaplain's morally superior attitude had rankled me, but his sermon had managed to plant doubt in my mind, doubt about the war. Much of what he had said made sense: our tactical operations did seem futile and directed toward no apparent end. . . . Twelve wrecked homes. The chaplain's words echoed. That's twelve wrecked homes. The doctor and I think in terms of human suffering, not statistics." AND THIS WAS IN 1965, before things really got going in Vietnam. If you want to know what the BS about body counts was--that ended up in a lawsuit by General Westmoreland against Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes, if you want to know what Vietnam was like because you are too young to have learned about it during that time in America and the world's history, read this book. If you want to know how it relates to more recent events, try my own memoir, Waiting for Westmoreland, that finally came out so many years later.

I have read many military books. This is the best one I have ever read. I suggest the sequel "back in the life" as well as "Weapon" and "Solo". Anything written by Mason is good.

Bob Mason wrote a very eloquent, very eye-opening account of his Vietnam tour as a helicopter pilot.

Having just lost my older brother, who was also a helicopter (slick) pilot in 67-68 with the D Troop 1/10 Cav (Shamrocks) and A Co., 4th Avn Bn (Black Jack), I found just how much he sugar-coated the "war stories" he told myself and our siblings when we were pre-teens/teens. After reading Chickenhawk, it's a miracle that Bob Mason (and my brother) ever made it home at all. It seems that if this war didn't get you physically, it sure got you mentally and emotionally - making you pay one way or another.

From a woman's point of view, I recommend this book to every woman who ever had a son, brother, uncle or husband in Vietnam. This is what our Vietnam heroes went through for US ... somehow, a mere "thank you" will never be enough.

Welcome home, Bob. Thanks for all you gave up for us.

I was in the 1/9th Blues at the time of which this was written. I was in the "Horseshoe LZ", wounded and medivaced. This book is real, like I wish I didn't remember it. We didn't know each other but we were in the same place at the same time. Belive me this guy was there and does a very good job of describing the situation. I sometimes give lectures to classrooms about Vietnam and I always recommend this book, so I recommend it to you readers as well.

Chickenhawk? Yes, these men in their 20s both feared their missions and fought for them to the limits of what their harware allowed them to do, displaying incredible bravery. This story takes you in South-Vietnam and into the world of the Air Cavalry that distinguished brilliantly itself in this theater of operations. Reading this book tells even tricks to better fly the very much famed "Huey Chopper" under extreme conditions. This book is one of the very finest choice for the UH-1D engagement in SEA. Thank you so much Mr. R. Mason!

The author has a easy to read come-a-long with me style of writing that works exceptionally well given that he by-in-large avoids the politics except as they intersect in the daily life of an army pilot making these rare scenes very compelling such as Bob in is Saigon hotel on R&R contemplating the question, "Why don't the Vietnamese fight the VC like the VC fight the Vietnamese?" We share these thought with Bob as if for the first time in spite of the many years that have passed. The understanding that the war was not "winable" the way it was being fought dawns on both the author and the reader and we share the author's dispair.

The air action scenes are the best ever put to pen and the best ever likely to emerge from the SE Asian conflict. The author exhibits a rare and powerful ability to paint vivid scenes with a great economy of words that makes the text both crisp and very fast paced.

Honesty and rye humor coexist with raw human emotions of grief, injustice, fear and anger providing an authentic feel as the author spares no one especially himself a good hard look in the mirror and in spite of his defects the author becomes an unlikely hero who you can't help but like and this makes the closing lines so very painful.

Chickhawk is the best book produced for laymen on airmoble warfare and is certainly in the running for the best book ever about the Vietnam war.

I don't think anybody really supported the Soviets when they invaded Afghanistan in 1979-1980. Most Westerners thought the Soviet action was barbaric. Tamarov in his picture book makes us aware of the human side with the Russian soldiers. Most were following their duty and doing their "international duty". Many were killed in the low grade guerilla war that followed the invasion. Tarmarov was a mine sweeper, and he was constantly exposed to danger. Several of his friends paid the price of their occupation. One wonders about the similarities with American verterans of the Vietnam War. In fact, Tamarov meets some of these verterans at the end of the book, and they have a lot in common.

There is some writing in this large picture book. The writing did not flow smoothly, but the pictures were great. They show the guerrilla war in Afghanistan from the Russian perspective.

Here is a riveting memoir by Vladislav Tamarov. In 1984 men were drafted into the Soviet Army at the age of eighteen. There was no choice. Unless you were in college or disabled, you served. Many men broke their legs to avoid serving. Others, the more wealthy, bribed their way out. Vlad was in college two years when the law changed and he was off to boot camp. Training the men needed, they never received. Training the men did NOT need, they got. (For example, lots of time was spent learning to parachute, even though it was a well known fact that no one used parachutes in Afghanistan.)

Vlad was born January 12, 1965. His "Date of Military Service Application" was April 26, 1984. This memoir really began when an officer walked up to Vlad at a distribution center and asked, "Do you want to serve in the commandos, the Blue Berets?" Vlad kept a tiny calendar where he crossed off his six hundred and twenty-one days, one-at-a-time. Vlad kept detailed records of each mission he participated in. He had his own little code, shown in this memoir. Two hundred and seventeen of those days were spent on combat missions. In addition to Vlad's coded diary, he secretly took many photographs. This book has dozens of the pictures littered throughout, and makes a powerful impact on those who read it.

***** Vlad, a minesweeper, portrays the horrors of war in vivid details. The reader can almost hear the explosions nearby and smell the fear of being shot at. Once you have read THIS book, you will never forget it! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch.

An excellent book! Lots of powerful pictures. Purchased the book from Amazon while serving in Afghanistan. Lots of flash backs/forwards in the story line, which I could have done without. But all together it's a well written, interesting book, which depicts a Soviet Solders tour of duty in Afghanistan.

This is the most amazing book I have read all year! It's not just a story, in his own words, from a young Russian soldier in that terrible place, but it is a photo book full of the most beautiful but tragic black and white photos. You see the haunted faces of Vladimir Tamarov (the author and photographer) and his brother soldiers, many of which did not make it back. And as you read his haunted words, how he came back and could not ever be the same, how his friends who died there visit him in his dreams. They were eighteen and nineteen but they look sixteen. The title "Soviet Vietnam" is quite haunting. I believe if I met the author now I would be reminded of our own boys who were damaged by Vietnam. They also were just draftees (conscripts) in a place where they did not want to be. As for our soldiers who are now in Afghanistan, it's true they are fighting the same vicious enemy as Vladimir did! But, don't our men look ever so much better fed, and organized, and equipped, and trained, then those poor Soviet conscripts? I reccommend this book so highly, I would personally buy a copy for all my friends.

As a paratrooper currently serving my second tour in Afghanistan (and third in the desert overall), I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Soviet conflict of the 1980s. The photographs provide insight into Afghanistan's terrain and climate, and I used this book to illustrate several points to my subordinates as we were preparing for this deployment. The author's writing is heartfelt.

This is another awesome book to show Mount Everest. If you like nice pictures of mountains(especially Mount Everest), this is the best.

As a former climber, I've always been fascinated by Everest. This is a wonderfully written and beautifully photographed account of the ill-fated assault on Everest that took a number of lives.
Especially sad, since as I was reading it yesterday, we got word of the death of Sir Edmund Hillary.

A stunning photo-journal of Everest, focusing on the tragic/heroic month of May 1996. Excellent narrative accompanied by fantastic photographs.

This book is for anyone who has an interest in Mt. Everest. The photographs are magnificent. They show just how small mankind is. Our hopes, dreams and accomplishments are put in perspective. I loved it!

I bought this book for the photography alone: this is as close as I am ever likely to get to the Himalayas.

The photographs are spectacular, and I can see why so many people are challenged to want to make the journey to Base Camp if not further. Appearances can be deceptive: beautiful colour photographs portray a seemingly benevolent picture of Everest which is quite at odds with reality.

Recommended for those with an interest in the Himalayas as well as to those who admire beautiful photography.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Khyber Knights is beyond best seller! It took me wholly to another world. This story is gripping, captivating, and intriguing, one of the best reads I've had in a long while.
Masterfully told, it reaches to the core of humanity while also providing valuable insight into a place and culture that is all but lost to us in recent years of global turmoil. On a contemporary horse journey, the author takes the reader from the crossroads of the ancient silk routes into the forbidden heart of Asia, to the hidden valleys of the Hindu Kush and the Karakorum, to cultures which extend hospitality to all, even the enemy, but also embrace evil and deceipt, as we know it.
O'Reilly calls his work fiction, based on a sequence of actual events, but it could only be written by one who experienced it. It's an artistic weave allowing the author to tell a bold and intimate story, straight from the heart. It encompasses personal dreams and convictions, hopes and delusions, adventure and heartbreak, horses and lovers, and the stark reality of embracing a country and culture that is not one's own.
Horses are the heart of the story, however, the golden mare Shavon, the fleet dun Pasha, the young roan Pukhtoon, and others. It's an account of passion and feeling in the realm of adventure, misadventure, and romance, a tale only a man could write, a story unique in the remarkable relationship of man and horse in journey.
As a horse traveler myself, I could only dream of such adventures, though I would never have survived them, let alone write the tale so boldly and true.
Khyber Knights takes us far beyond adventure, straight into the soul of humanity. The eloquent and vivid descriptions, historical background, poignant documentation, glossary, and superb illustrations contribute to better understanding of a culture so rich and ancient, while allowing the imagination to soar. It's a work of art. I treasure this book.

Today many of us live lives of relative comfort, insulated from the rigors of daily survival by the mechanisms of civilization. The ability to "escape" the confines of modern civilization has become considerably less attainable, making even the most determined explorer's attempts to find isolated and undiscovered locales difficult, if not impossible. No matter the venue or the feat, a safety net of communication and rescue is available even in the most extreme aspects of exploration. Nonetheless, in the1980's, CuChullaine O'Reilly, undertook travel that would seem impossible to most of us. Far from the protections and comforts tacitly assumed in modern travel, CuChullaine ventured into what is still considered one of the most dangerous regions of the world on a true quest to explore bushkazi, the world's most violent equestrian sport.

On horseback, CuChullaine rode into the backlands of Pakistan, isolated from the modern world of technology and social niceties. Reduced to the basic requirements of survival in a primitive and basic culture where the day-to-day concerns center on essentials such as the next meal, dodging the next bullet, lasting the next day in prison, and enduring the next illness, CuChullaine reports on his trek in a reflective and philosophical manner. His use of narrative is artful and compelling; his tale flows unimpeded by complaint or request for sympathy. Riding by choice into a primitive setting, his journey is as much an inner one of self-discovery of personal limits and capabilities as it is a record of overcoming physical hardships in a savage land. As such, Khyber Knights is an astounding chronicle of physical and mental challenge.

Those from the traveling set who seek warm beaches, fine dining, five-star hotels and first-class accommodations might not choose Khyber Knights as their primary travel guide. However, here is a tale of a journey worthy of all types of readers from those who enjoy vicarious experiences from the security of their armchairs to those bold explorers seeking inspiration for their next quest.

Khyber Knights looks like a perfectly normal book from the outside. A handsome painting graces the front cover and the back cover promises an epic journey that it dares you to survive. 'How exciting,' you think happily, sinking into a comfortable position and turning to the first page of what you expect to be a long, richly entertaining memoir into which you can look from the outside.

But to your shock, the saga of Khyber Knights has a peculiar, vivid power. It reaches up to grab you by your very soul with a frightening force. It pulls you down to face it with what courage you find in yourself as you follow the footprint of the author's true odyssey on horseback through one of the most dangerous places in the world in the early 1980s--Pakistan. And you learn soon enough what international journalist turned equestrian explorer Asadullah Khan (CuChullaine O'Reilly), has insinuated about surviving the experience of reading this book.

We converge with the fiery young Khan, a visitor who is so fascinated with the colorful Pakistani culture that he embraces living in Peshawar to carve his way into the soul of this savage, medieval country. When he finds eventually that he has entered, in his words "a portion of the world devoid of mercy," it is the genius of this book that he takes us with him. Perhaps at the start the young Khan has no idea of what a world devoid of mercy is really like any more than the rest of us, we who can deflect the challenges of real life with the shields of our eternal 24-hour conveniences, our enviable rights and privileges, and our almost egregious recourse to any measure to resolve our problems.

But in the epic Khyber Knights, Khan takes no prisoners with his readers. As he journeys across Pakistan with his companions and he learns about the spectrums of mercy and brutality, love and hate, courage and cowardice, strength and weakness, and much more, so do we. We struggle as he does to understand the foreign mind. We too fall in love with the exotic, the perfumed, the alluring and exciting, the curious, the sensuous, the astounding beauty of the remote geography, his loyal and passionately loved horses who accompany him sometimes to their cost despite his extreme efforts to keep them safe. Alongside Khan we are betrayed by corruption and barbaric, sadistic cruelty, exhausted to near death by ever-present danger, fear and the inhuman strain of the barren wasteland, bewildered by mercenary greed and inhumanity, heartbroken in despair, loss and loneliness. It is no exaggeration to say that Khan's collective experiences are unimaginable to the average postmodern.

Here we have the opportunity to realize how much dimension and richness of living we have lost in our sanitization of the authentic sweat, dirt, blood and tears that we have just about made extinct in our society. Many times during the reading of Khyber Knights I had such dread about what was going to happen next that I realized I was tensed, cold and stiff. At these times I had to force myself to keep reading. I happened to know that the author was still alive today, but what of the other people and the horses I had grown to care about? What had happened to them? I dreaded to know, but I had to. When I finished the book I felt that in a way I didn't just accompany Khan, I had made my own passage.

So at the same time that we are reminded what a joke the caricaturized Schwartzenager-esque "mow-em down" killer-hero has become, who destroys everything in his path, the good with the bad, we recall an older wisdom about the hero. This wisdom concerns not only the mythological or legendary figure or warrior of divine descent endowed with great strength and ability who performs acts that save the community from harm, or the man admired for his achievements and noble qualities. The hero is also the individual who shows great courage.

And in this sense Khan grows so visibly in strength and spirit and understanding, though no such achievement is claimed by him. The reader who is searching for meaning can read between the written lines and see beyond any possible doubt a young man who demonstrates steadfastness and pure heroic courage through trials that would simply destroy most people.

You will not only learn how safe and sheltered your life and will look at it with new eyes, you will get so used to looking at the world through Asadullah Khan's eyes, if you are an awake, aware person, by the end of this tale you will find yourself taking a hard look at your mirror to see who looks back. I did. And what I truthfully wondered, looking back as best I could into the eyes of my own image, was if I had a right to the pure luxury of standing there looking at myself in a mirror. Meeting Asadullah Khan made me question why I wasn't out there living instead of even for a moment watching my own image as if it were a symbol of my own self, something hanging in a dark closet behind closed doors.

Khyber Knights is a recounting of true events skillfully, realistically yet colorfully and compellingly, even passionately told, and in all these ways it is a work of art. And certain acts of creative imagination that we define as art call home the parts of our soul that linger outside us, as silk broken from a spider web rides a soft breeze. They reach into our longing for wholeness and for a moment, pull a sense of loss into our awareness as a bittersweet cosmic loneliness. Since art is so confused today with the media's distractions and entertainments, it is a rare work that has the power to trigger a shift in consciousness like this book.

Khyber Knights has a great deal of power indeed and it will force you to question many things. What they are depends on you. Yet, as 19th century Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle wrote, "Thought once awakened does not again slumber."

Dare to explore this antidote to postmodern complacency.

Khyber Knights is a rattling good account of high adventure in wild - and not so wild - places that could, with a little chronological adjustment, have been lifted straight out of the Great Game at the height of the British imperial raj. Almost in fact what the British used to call a ripping yarn. It keeps faith with the derring-do of Henry Pottinger, Arthur Conolly, Alexander Burnes and Josiah Harlan and in some instances exceeds them. Indeed it is almost a study of imperialist behaviour without the imperialists. When I came to the end, I felt that real sense of loss that invariably comes with the last page of a really good read. Wonderful stuff. Kipling would have loved it. If this doesn't get armrchair travellers out of their chairs and heading off in search of peak to climb or a desert to explore, then nothing will.
Derek O'Connor, author of The King's Stranger.

I spent the last two days reading Khyber Knights.
I couldn't put the book down and now that I have read the last sentences I feel orphaned. What an amazing account of even more amazing adventures.
Expecially the second part of the book captured me, the words were no longer words,
they were an avalanche, a tidal wave, a hurricane.
I read so fast that I must have missed sentences - I indulged in the raw beauty and horror of what was written. The book is not your usual superficial travelbook, no, it takes you to the heart of the matter. While we travel with CuChullaine on his splendid horse through the wild wild north of Pakistan we search our soul and we ask ourselves what risks we are prepared to take to find fulfilment and to live life to the full.
CuChullaine's love for horses brought tears into my eyes, the loyalty to his friends made me
wonder if it was madness or courage that made him do what he did, the descriptions
of nature gave my heart wings, the craving for freedom and the longing to follow
the wind obliterated the doubts I sometimes have about my nomadic life style.
Khyber Knights is a must read and I must warn you, after you've read the last pages you won't be able to read another book for a while.
Arita Baaijens, Dutch desert explorer and writer