Travel Books

Ms. Simpson, Thank you for not only the thrilling prose, but also for the objective research you did to compile your book.
It is amazingly constructed in so many aspects: the events as they occurred, the human stories from various witnesses, the later lives of some of the passengers. The quotations that highlight all of the chapters are apropos to the text. I like that.
The tribute you pay to Captain Calamai, and the later research/investigations done by marine experts as to the cause of the accident, surely vindicate him.
Mary Lou Rynski - Michigan

I am a member of the Detroit Historical Society and other historical organizations and have read many history books. "Alive on the Andrea Doria" is not only an interesting factual presentation of the events of this historic sea collision, but also a well written and riveting drama describing the human emotions and reactions of passengers, crew, rescuers, the anxious families and friends of passengers and crew, news media, and others involved in this tragedy. It is also the author's fascinating personal story of a young girl pulling up roots in Italy, leaving her town, friends, and school behind to come to America, where all was new and different: family, language, food, school, etc. This book is highly recommended for all.

What a wonderful book (and story). I read it straight through and couldn't put it down. The author, Pierette Domenica Simpson, did a marvelous job especially in recanting so many details (sights, sounds, smells) - and I know how hard that is because an author has it all in their mind and memory but putting in the "reader's" mind, well, that's a different story. As a retired Navy pilot and haven't spent most of my life at sea (and in the air) I really enjoyed reading Chapter 10 and Part II in general for it was extremely detailed and complete about the circumstances surrounding the collision. Moreover, as a story teller, Part I was terrific and moving as well. I was especially enamored with the author's experience as an Italian-American and how we share the stories of our families and their courage in coming to a new land to live the American dream. I write of this as well in my latest book, My Father's Compass: Leadership Lessons of an Immigrant Son, found here on [...].
Again, wonderful story with a happy ending and a must read! Perry Martini, My Father's Compass.

Alive on the Andrea Doria! is a wonderful book. Ms. Simpson, an Andrea Doria survivor, is the new Walter Lord of maritime history. She skillfully uses a wide variety of survivor recollections to retell the story of the sinking of the Andrea Doria, Italy's premier luxury liner in the 1950s, after its collision with the smaller Stockholm. These stories are about a very diverse group of people, both a variety of native Italians settling in the USA and a group of Northern-European-Americans of a variety of backgrounds. Ms. Simpson very frankly and touchingly also shares her own story and developmental history, including the circumstances that led to her and to her maternal grandparents' immigration to the USA on the Doria's final voyage. The second portion of her book details a variety of scientific evidence that explains the sinking of the Andrea Doria from a technical point of view. She provides a strong rehabilitation of the Doria's Captain Calamai, much vilified at the time of the collision, and details frankly the realities of anti-Italian and anti-Italian-American stereotyping that influenced public perceptions of the Andrea Doria disaster.

The book has many strengths. Ms. Simpson includes a great variety of survivor stories, and allows her fellow survivors to tell of their lives in great detail (frankly exceeding the masterful Walter Lord's compelling but very abbreviated depictions of Titanic survivors and victims in A Night to Remember.) She makes an effort to make the technical descriptions of the disaster understandable, she readily acknowledges the influence of her own experience and her own biases on her final text, and she wisely does not translate every word of Italian she presents--this both makes the last moments of the Doria feel more as they actually happened, and is a pleasant challenge for those of us who love the Italian language but are rusty in using same and have to work to self-translate various phrases. Moreover, Ms. Simpson also does a very good job of portraying the symptoms of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) suffered by a number of the survivors (at a time when we didn't yet have a formal diagnosis for that syndrome), and the books includes a number of excellent, evocative photographs. Most importantly, Alive on the Andrea Doria! is a validating remembrance, of the lives lost, the lives saved, the experience of Italian-American immigrants, and the tremendous heroism of those involved. Ms. Simpson, with whom I've had the pleasure of corresponding by email, stresses that this was the greatest sea rescue in history, and makes clear that just because the Doria disaster did not claim the massive number of lives that did the Titanic, the Lusitania, and the Empress of Ireland tragedies, the loss of the Andrea Doria is still a real and moving drama that should be studied and commemorated. Brava, signora, e mille grazie!

I knew little about the Andrea Doria until I read this book. Pierete Simpson has brought the Andrea Doria back to life with her book. This book was compelling and I truly enjoyed all the individual stories. The amount of research that went into this book is astounding. This book is a testament to human triumph and spirit. I highly recommend it for everyone.

Thought this book was really good. Lots of little tidbits of knowledge that you may have heard or didn't ever think about. Presented for all ages and all skill levels.

I teach a beginning backpacking class for adults and have used several books over the past 15 years. This is the 2nd year that I have used the Allen & Mike's book and it is a much easier read. Students and instructors both like the illustrations as it makes it faster to get through the information. Much more enjoyable than standard textbooks, but with a lot of valuable information.

A friend suggested I read this book before my first backpacking trip. It is a very fast and fun read with tons of useful information. My friend, who is a very experienced backpacker and NOLS alumni, was amazed at the amount of knowledge I acquired just from the book and has since purchased his own copy for reference. I highly recommend this book to any beginner or expert who needs a refresher!

The author shares his substantial experience with the reader in a uniquely entertaining manner, and the illustrator complements the light-hearted style of the author with [occasionally] hilarious visuals. The character of this book will attract everyone in the household; even those without camping or backpacking experience will find it easy-to-read and interesting. For those already bitten by the 'outdoor bug', new insights presented by the author force us to reconsider our position on a variety of subjects.

Unlike so many of its kind, this book is comprehensive without being obscure; no lessons on building water bucket baskets or how to skin and dry moose meat for the winter. This handbook addresses the basics of backpacking with enthusiasm, and it proves contagious for the reader.

Reading this book reminds me that it's possible to learn from all types of backpackers. The book is well written and illustrated. The illustrations have ideas that are not always in the text.

Allen O'Bannon clearly is not in the lightweight backpacking camp, which I am. O'Bannon writes about heavy pack loads (how to properly put on a heavy pack) and leather hiking boots. The book is loaded with ideas that will be interesting to all backpackers. I wouldn't recommend the book to someone just starting out with backpacking. For those readers I would give it just two stars. However, I would recommend it for a current backpacker that wants some fresh ideas or a fairly new backpacker that has read a couple books on lightweight backpacking first. The book isn't loaded with a lot of fluff that can be found everywhere. It is also easy to read and not nearly as boring as many backpacking books.

Review from Ryan Brenizer's Amazon Blog

America at Home
8:45 AM PDT, June 16, 2008, updated at 8:47 AM PDT, June 16, 2008
If millions of photographers around the world have a collective bias, it's this: The more interesting the better. Generally, that's a good thing -- the last thing the world needs are thousands of photo documentaries on "Things I Found in My Belly-Button." But if you're trying to document the way we live, it can be dangerously deceptive. Someone hundreds of years from now looking only at the professional photography of the era might assume we spent most of our time getting married and killing each other, but never went to the store or drove to work.

Photojournalist Rick Smolan tries to ameliorate this with "America at Home." Documenting as broad an idea as American domestic life is a daunting task, but Rick handles it adeptly, with a number of clever flourishes. His curating of the collection is very well-handled. It's unselfish, with his own work playing roles only where it fits best (and one of my favorite photos in the book, of a girl resting on the couch in the dramatic shadows of twilight, is his). With few exceptions, the photos that look best large are given the space to shine, and the photos that can convey messages in smaller sizes are paired up on a page, maximizing visual impact. The work itself tends to be both brilliant and familiar, trending toward subtle compositions that tell a story without being garish, appropriate for the topic.

Where it starts to get clever is in how the book is arranged. There are essays by writers such as Amy Tan and Terry Teachout breaking the book into chapters, but the photos are arranged around prominently displayed salient facts about American life, such as how much TV we watch a day or that the average American woman has one hour less free time per day than the average American man (I tried to hide that page from my wife).

It's a book that's supposed to teach us about us, and Rick wants readers to make it their own -- literally. The book has a companion Web site, MyAmericaAtHome.com, where you can order the book with your own photo as a customized cover. Since this is all about domestic life, I tried it out with a photo of my nephew at the ice cream shop instead of my professional work:

As you can see, the process is well-designed and easy to understand, showing how the final product will look with the headline and logo, as well as whether your photo will have enough resolution to make a good cover print. It's not only an easy process, but a bit addictive, so be careful lest you order 20 different copies of the same book.

This book represents an important topic well-handed, and a copy will be sure to grace my coffee table.
[...]

I have spent hours of enjoyment with this book....losing myself in faces and places unknown to me, yet at the same time hauntingly familiar. Rick Smolan has captured America at the very time when so many of us feel we are losing a connection to the vitality and promise of our country. But in every page and every essay, there are precious reminders of where our strength for the future lies...in America's people and in our homes an communities. Thank you, Rick Smolan.....

I have followed Rick Smolan's books for many years. This book touched me as few others have done. My Czech wife often seems to miss the diversity of the true America. I think all of us that have suffered these past 8 years where we might not have felt proud of our country can find something to feel proud of in this book. Here one can see so clearly and beautifully the diversity, the imagination, the love of family and friends that we who have grown up in America hold to be the true America. I shared this book with my wife who I think was quite surprised to see how many America's there are and to see what the true fabric of our society looks like beyond the slick magazines and endless TV glitz.

This is a book that you can give to someone who wants to see and better understand what America is truly about.

A beautiful and elegant celebration of american life at home.
The authors also offer a great way to personalize the outer cover of the book with your own pictures. Very cool!! Customizing the cover makes a great conversation piece for your home as well as a great gift for friends and family.

I love the warmth of this book. I travel the world and am disturbed by the misconceptions many foreigners have of us here at home. (I can't say I blame them with the present administration having devastated our reputation and the relentless negative news reports.)
I would love to share this book with everyone abroad. It paints honest, touching, personal, everyman images of true Americans in all sorts of everyday activities in their homes.
Whether as a gift to people abroad or enjoyed with friends and family, this beautiful book presents who we are as everyday people. Honest, simple, good, loving Americans.
Thanks to Rick and Jennifer.

When I read the description on the jacket I thought, "No way will this work. He's going to tell us about the 60 rounds he shot, stroke by stroke, such as.... and on the seventh, a tough par five, I got out my trusty three wood etc., etc., etc." It is that but it is more. Slack shares with us the feeling of what it is like to stand at the first tee of a course you have never played on a beautiful spring morning in New England. He introduces us to the people he meets on the course, from the potato farmers of Maine to the Florida "snowbirds" who flew South to escape the Northern winters. Did the book work? I'm getting my clubs ready to try a West Coast version.

Great book on golf. Gives a great look at courses up and down the east coast. There was, however, too much on the history of the towns instead of more on the history of the course and more on the actual rounds he was playing. Was "On The Road" for the golfing enthusiast.

A perfect blend of of travel journal and salute to public golf. Anyone with a high handicap, who has played with bare-chested strangers with even higher handicaps, on crowded bald fairways with bumpy greens, will appreciate this book.

Blue Fairways is thoroughly enjoyable. Slack's sense of humor, coupled with his self-deprecating writing style, make this a must read -- golfer or not. I laughed out loud and also cringed as he described some less-than-stellar golf moments. For those of us who do golf, who couldn't identify with The Look of Pity? Non-golfers will enjoy the way Slack captures what most of us will never have a chance to witness first hand -- the essence of what remains of small towns and hospitality as they teeter on the brink of chain restaurants and cynicism.

If you've ever topped a drive off the first tee or missed a three-footer on 18 while trying record your career low round, you'll be able to identify with Charles Slack's golf game. When it comes to writing, though, he's scratch. One brief example will suffice. Describing the contrast between the front and back nines at the Ponce De Leon course in St. Augustine Florida, he says, "The back nine plunges into the jungle with the suddenness of a Disney ride, into a lush, dark, secretive world of mangrove swamps and ponds curving tantalizingly like lost lagoons. Moving from the ninght to the tenth holes is like putting down a volume of P.G. Wodehouse and picking up Heart of Darkness, all in one morning."

The book is filled with wonderful insights like that one and reminds us on nearly every page of the real reasons why golfers love this sometimes maddening, often magical, game. For those of us who never will have the pleasure of sharing a round with Charles Slack, this book is a delightful substitute.

Don't neeed a thousand words to describe this beautiful map. Great, wonderful and thanks to the publishers for all the information contained.

We have been to Cancun three times now and still find this map and guide invaluable. The information it contains allows even a first time visitor to enjoy all that Cancun has to offer. We will be heading back to Cancun in Jan. of 2001 and this will be the first thing we pack. After that we will order an new one as this one is getting quite worn from all the use. The only thing I have found that I would rate higher is the "Cancun User's Guide" and unfortunately that is only available through the author who has lived in Cancun since 1981.

in making a trip to the Yucatan Penninsula. Excellent coverage of Cancun. The Can-do Maps by the McFarlin family are updated annually and available through Amazon or their www.cancunmap.com website. Maps are available of Cancun, Cozumel, Riviera Maya, Playa de Carmen, and soon Isla Mujeres and Chichen Itza.

I buy new maps yearly, because the changes year to year are so drastic. Get one or all before you go!

This map, along with the others they publish, is the one thing you must have before travelling to Cancun. It will make your trip so much more enjoyable, because you will never be lost.

This map proves very helpful to know where you are and how to find where you are going. The price guide lets you know what to expect to spend once you get there. It also has the locations of the bus stops listed. This is a very easy way to travel and knowing where you can get on and off is very handy. The map made us look like we had been there many times when it was only our first trip. I also know what I missed so I can see those things next trip. You will not be disappointed in the map once you get there. It is amazing how much information is packed on this little map.

I bought this book for my mother in law just before her trip to Italy and she loved it. She said she used it as a resource there and it was very interesting. I gave it 4 stars because it wasn't something I would buy for myself but my mother in law adored it to pieces! Great gift for any Italian or someone planning to visit Italy.

I'm glad this guide book exists. I have found it helpful and informative. I am currently living in Germany, and I find pilgrimages to be a far more meaningful way of exploring Western Europe than more traditional tours. With this in mind, I would like to respectfully suggest some revisions for future editions. First, I would really appreciate more and better maps. A simple blank map of each country with dots representing the pilgrimage locations would have been extremely helpful--- as would better directions and ideas of distances between major sites. More pictures would also be helpful. I plan on eventually visiting most of these sites, but the book on its own is not enough.

A very good book full of information. The only thing i didnt like is that they talk about certain images of The Blessed Virgin , but dont show her. Only the builing... I think more pictures of the statues at the shrine and less of the outside of them would be better. But i gave it five stars for the information. It great for that reason only.

I spent two semesters in Europe and this book was immensely helpful in deciding which pilgrimage sights to go to and then finding them! I love the little maps that are shown for the various shrines. At Franciscan University's campus in Austria, this book in particular is very popular, because it tells about the history of the place and how to find it. If you know a Catholic who is going to Europe and wants to visit shrines, then I highly recommend this book.

My brother and I both lived in Europe (in different places) and we both used this book extensively. The book unabled us to visit shrines that otherwise we would not have known existed. The book was easy to use and included the history of each shrine, directions on how to get there, where to stay and how to contact the shrine. There is also a picture of each shrine, with made it easy to choose which shrines we wanted to see. Our stay in Europe was greatly enriched by the use of this book.

I am a 21 year old event organizer, I have been in this field for about 2 and a half years, and as a young organizer thats trying to get ahead in this market i found this book an absolute must have.
if you in this field, want to get into it, or just need help planing your daughters wedding, this book is indispensable.

It is a helpful book for first timers and newcomers. For someone who has been in the field for 6 years it isn't very good. It is just reading the same things over again. I would reccomnd this for anyone just trying to get something togther and not wanting to hire an event planner. The info is good and doesn't miss much. Just do not buy it for a refresher if you have done this time and time again, it won't help

This book is a fount of knowledge. Its simple to read and easy to follow. I thought it would be a person spouting about how great they are and not alot of practical information. But I was wrong. This book is helpful in many ways: for the beginner it provides a practical guideline to get started; for the intermediate planner it provides further ways to improve what they have begun; and for the advanced planner it hones their skills with the latest ideas and information.

For myself as an advanced even planner, it confirms that I am right on track with the trend for event planning. The CD with the forms and such are very useful and easy to customize for each planner or event.

I have already recommended this book to a large organization to use to train other event planners!

This is a great high level overview of event planning. I am still looking for a reference with more detailed checklists and events of a more civic nature. But it was great to get the accompanying CD to use to start making your own checklists. And a great way to see all the possible areas that could be involved with planning events, especially large ones.

Having to plan an event? First time or old pros needing a refresher go no further than this book. Shannon Kilkenny has outdone herself here with step by step instructions and tips to walk you through the whole process of planning and executing even the most difficult event you've ever faced. I found the charts, lists and forms both in the text and the copies on the CD ROM for easy print out to be the most beneficial.

I think the best thing about this book is that you can take away something from reading the whole book cover to cover. But you can also take away information from individual chapters if the whole book doesn't apply to you. The best example of this I can give is that my mother was panicked last week over trying to plan my little sister's 16th birthday. I told mom that while I'd only read this book last week for a friends baby shower that I thought she might want to take a peek at it. When I came over the day before my sister's party to help with setup my mom said that the book had more than paid for itself. It had shown her a much less stressful way to do what she was trying to do. She said that she skipped the chapters aimed at event planners but that a lot of the later chapters helped her immensely in avoiding disaster or over planning for the party. This is a definite read for anyone trying to plan an event from the smallest birthday party to a large banquet or conference.

This book is awesome, Kregg is a great author and a better friend. He personally signed his first book for my dad who was battling cancer. His words inspired my dad every day. Buy this book, it is very entertaining!!!!

Great book to read! Mr Jorgenson had me laughing throughout the book. I really enjoyed his insights to traveling over in Europe, and his humor is just the best!

This book received an EVVY Award for humor and it is easy to see why. The author clearly loves to travel in Europe and clearly enjoys the people and places he visits and helps us enjoy them along with him. I love the line "Can I help? I speak a number of languages badly."

I read this book while traveling around Italy by train. I laughed out loud! Kregg, Thank you for sharing some of your travel experiences. I especially liked the Amsterdam rental-car-counter story. While waiting in line at the Uffizi Gallery, we witnessed someone with a similar "klein komommer" complaining to the entrance guards. Katherine plays a great straight-man!

Kregg has a great way of finding the humor in things that we might not catch otherwise. Makes a great read while sitting at the terminal waiting to depart on your next trip.

Of the several guidebooks I've bought in three trips to Istanbul, this is the one that stays with me at all times when I'm finding my way around that most fascinating city in the world. The maps of the Old City and Taksim are the best and most accurate I've seen, and the bird's eye view cutaway shots of places such as the covered bazaar are extremely helpful. If you get only one Istanbul guide, let it be this one.

This book made my trip to Istanbul much more enjoyable than it would otherwise have been. Very well organized and jam-packed with helpful information. You'll still need a bigger street map of the city when you get there, but that's true about any destination.

Even my native Turkish friend, who is originally from Istanbul and whom I visited this past spring (with this book in hand), was fascinated by this book! He was really impressed with the layout, all the detailed and pertinent (and sometimes unique/unusual) information, the photos/drawings, the maps, etc. It also has good info about places outside the city.

I accidentally left the book behind after I put it down to pay for some things in a photo shop and didn't realize it was missing until a few hours later (I was with my own personal "tour guide," after all ;-)...my Turkish friend made his way back to the shop just to retrieve it for me (and thankfully the shop owner had kept it safe in hopes of the owner returning for it...and even he had looked through it and commented how good it looked)!

Going to Istanbul? GET THIS BOOK!

I just got back from Istanbul and I can say that this book was one of the things that made this a memorable vacation. The information is complete and (mostly) up to date (visa costs had been increased) but otherwise I found it easy to use and informative. The only other book I would recommend is "Imperial Istanbul" for the true history buff traveler.

This is THE BOOK to get for your travels to Istanbul - or Constantinople to us Greek Orthodox :-) I used this book when I was there five years ago, and let me be frank: it got me around every street, every landmark, every side alleyway, every bus route, every boat ride. The City is covered from head to toe in this book, with tons of useful information about hours of operation of mosques, churches, museums, and restaurants, plus great maps of the City and its surrounding neighborhoods, with detailed bus and tram schedules. In the back, it offers all the up to date information on hotels and hostels, plus important addressess and phone numbers for police, tourist bureaus, airports, and bus stations.

My personal favorite aspect of this book are the detailed pictoral discriptions of some of the great landmarks of the City: Hagia Sophia, St. Saviour in Chora, the Blue Mosque, Suleymanie Camii, Topkapi Palace to some of the more "off the beaten path" locations, such as the Church of Pammakaristos, the Basilica Cisterns, the Church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus (Kuckuk Aya Sofya), and the residence of the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church. Rather than other guides such as Fodors simply writing it all down, Eyewitness literally "shows" you the information, so it's not only a great book to help you navigate the City, it's great to help you navigate the locations!

I carried this book with my at all times when I was in Turkey. I cannot recommend this book more than Amazon allows, but I'd give this book 10 stars if I could. It is the absolute best travel guide on the market today! I hope it will also serve you as well as it did for me!

This is one of my favorite books--fascinating and informative. I've sent copies to several family members.

I have always fantasized about being a world traveling journalist living a life of adventure and bringing my unique point of view to my readers. Alas, that is not to be. However, I certainly have a deep appreciation for up-close and personal viewpoints of world events. That's why I absolutely loved this book and devoured the entire thing in one big orgy of uninterrupted reading.

Subtitled "A Journey on the Frontlines of Islam, from Bagdad to Timbuktu", Yaroslav Trofimov, an Italian citizen, is a Wall Street Journal reporter whose knowledge of languages, including Arabic, gave him access to people and places often denied to Westerners. He wrote this book between 2001 and 2005 and his writing style is simple, personal and full of facts, history and perspective. As I turned the pages, I was right there with him as he traveled around the Islamic world talking to clerics, ordinary Muslims and heads of state about their views on the current "War On Terror" that has brought attention to their perspective and, especially in the case of Iraq, has turned their lives upside down. He visited Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Mali and Bosnia. That's quite a lot of places for one small book. They are all different, of course, but all share the Islamic world view, which, to my western eyes is a fresh perspective which gave me the chills as I slowly grasped the mounting significance of the present-day conflicts in all of these regions.

The clashes have been going on for thousands of years, but modern technology has accelerated the process and there is a culture class on a grand scale happening all over the world. The author devotes four full chapters to Iraq, and, to his credit, acknowledges the difficult job of American and British military personnel whose presence in the region has created a whole new set of problems for the Iraqi people who once viewed them as liberators. Those days are gone forever though. I knew all this before I read the book, of course, but it's one thing to read newspaper accounts and watch a small sound byte on CNN or Fox News. It's another thing entirely to feel I was in the shoes of this reporter, eating the food, dodging the gunfire and talking to individuals. My own sensitivities have also been stirred deeply and I know I will never quite view the Muslim world the same again.

The book is short, a mere 303 pages, but the author's skill managed to enlighten me about so much. Bosnia is very different from Timbuktu or Yemen, and sometimes it seemed as if these peoples have little in common. But the Islamic point of view is always there and very different from the Western world view. I applaud the author for clarifying this for me. Highly recommended.

I love this book so much that I already bought another to send to a friend. I will probably do it again if another friend did not buy it already on my advise. Mr. Trofinov succeed in making laugh while teaching me stuff about the world of Islam while others succeed only in making me cringe, fear, making my blood boil. The Journal is lucky to have him as a reporter.

This is a good book filled with personal experiences of a talented journalist who has travelled extensively in the arab world. It contains haunting images of people and suffering and explores the ironies and contradictions of the Arab world. One is presented with an image of a hypocritical Saudi Arabia, which uses Islam to keep its people down, and comparisons with a more secular Mali, which has found a way to reconcile modernity and religious values.

The book is unflinching in its critique of the American invasion of Iraq and the unintended consequence of the occupation. It is harrowing in its depiction of the vehemence of anti-Americanism from the wealthy suburbs of Cairo to the slums of Yemen. It create different looks at the seeming monolithic Hezbollah, unified by both public service and violent opposition to Israel.

The one drawback is that the book is totally framed by the perspective of the author. To say it is an uncomprimising look at the contradictions of Modern Islam and the failure of US foreign policy is to overlook the subjectivity of the writing. Choosing to focus on mismanagement or soldiers gloating over Arab deaths, the author ignores the nobility of others who struggle to make a positive impact. Some things in the book are taken at face value, when more thorough inspection should be required. For instance, at some point the book claims American forces shot and killed an Iraqi man for discharging his gun, thinking his house was being burglarized. How did the author arrive at this conclusion ? Ask the dead man ? The conclusion to be drawn is that Trofimov took representations of others at face value, but when Trofimov experience pro-US sentiment, he assumes it to be the result of toadying rather than genuine sentiment.

In the end, you have a well written book, containing fascinating yet selective experiences of the author. I recommend it as a fascinating journalistic travel journal, but like any journal one shaded by the authors subjective opinions.

Popular contemporary Islamic culture gets an airing in Yaroslav Trofimov's FAITH AT WAR, and the the non-islamic world is subject to a rude awakening 312 pages later. The author is very much a part of and participant in his inquiries into the attitudes that fuel resentment against the West and the US, whether in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan or Bosnia.

I was astonished to learn of the paranoia and proclivity to believe the wildest conspiracy theories throughout Islamic societies. Indeed, and as a validation of Trofimov, a personal friend of mine recently visited Iran with his Iranian wife. On a mountain climb above Tehran with his Iranian-American daughters, he encountered two AK-47 wielding guardians of the Islamic revolution who were keen to ply my friend with all manner of anti-semitic conspiracy theories, including the long-discredited Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the "Israeli plot" to blow up the World Trade Center. Similar notions abound in Trofimov's accounts of his travels to "the frontlines of Islam" in the wake of the September 11 Al Qaeda attacks in the US.

FAITH AT WAR is a model of engaging journalism, with its riveting insights and Trofimov's determination - even at great risk to the writer's life - to get Islamic spokesmen to speak with him, revealing their livid concerns and lurid fixations. The paperback edition comes with an updated afterword and there is a helpful glossary of terms as well. The book is a fine primer/introduction to the contradictions inherent in the contemporary global Islamic resurgence largely fueled by the fanatical, retrogressive Saudi Arabian brand of Wahabist Islam. Highly recommended.