Book Review
The Places In Between
By RORY STEWART Reviewed by PEGGY BARNETT
By January, 2002, Rory Stewart had already spent 16

months walking across Iran, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. He had wanted Afghanistan to be on that journey, but the Iranians took away his passport, and the Taliban refused to allow him into Afghanistan.

Why would anyone want to do that, anyway? You may well ask. Stewart mentions that it was for the adventure, though he rather glides over his motivation. People that he met along the way seemed torn be- tween admiration and horror. Many tried to persuade him to accept a ride or to turn back. He insisted on walking the whole way, choosing a straight line through the central mountains from Herat to Kabul, thus connecting his walk in Iran with his walk in Pakistan. (This reviewer learned a little geography.)

He states in the preface, "The country had been at war for 25 years; the new government had been in place for only two weeks; there was no electricity between Herat and Kabul, no television and no T-shirts. Villages combined medieval etiquette with new political ideologies."

He wanted to travel alone, though on many occasions a village leader would send a courtesy escort with him to the next village or a political leader would send soldiers. More often, he was by himself, except that on the eighth day he was given a dog, a retired fighting mastiff. Stewart named his new companion Babur, after the ancient Mughal emperor whose path was similar to his.

He opens chapters with quotations from many ancient visitors to the area, including Babur. Stewart, a Scot, is a writer and a former diplomat. His literary and historical references are not obtrusive but add to the pleasure of his unusual book. He communicates the fearsome weather and terrain conditions without whining about them. He also conveys the danger of those conditions and of the bandit-like characters whom he encounters. Without those "medieval" manners that he mentions, he might not have survived to reach Kabul.

The Places In Between is an apt title. He is traveling from one city to another, visiting the places in between, and extending the metaphor to include tradition, beliefs, and ambitions.

The Places In Between is available at the Mary Willis Library.

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