Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33573 in Books
• Published on: 1992-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.com
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.

From Library Journal
Horwitz ( One for the Road , Random, 1988), now a Wall Street Journal reporter, covered the Middle East in the late 1980s and returned to Baghdad in August 1990 following the invasion of Kuwait. With a sense of humor and eye for detail, he presents the turbulent Middle East from the vantage point of the "man in the street," whom we meet in traditional Yemeni villages, sophisticated Cairo, regimented Libya, disintegrating Sudan, a luxury hotel in the United Arab Emirates, and a seedy Baghdad nightclub. Among other adventures, the author attends the funeral of the Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran. A Jewish American, he shows empathy for Arabs in the Middle East. The Kuwait crisis will focus attention on the two chapters on Iraq. In comparison with Christopher Dickey's Ex pats ( LJ 6/15/90) and Charles Glass's Tribes with Flags ( LJ 4/1/90), Horwitz's book better captures the point of view of the average person and covers more territory, omitting only Syria from his itinerary. A valuable and timely acquisition for public libraries.
- James Rhodes, Luther Coll . , Decorah, Ia.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Culture Meets Culture
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.

When it comes down to it, we're all the same
Bagdad Without a Map is the account of a journalist working in the Middle East for some odd number of years in the 1990's. In this book he published the notes that are not really suitable for any journalistic account, but as such it probably adds more insights in the area then any format account would be. It seems Horwitz is able to get more out of your average interviewee for most seem to be sharing more then they normally would, even in countries in which Horwitz's home land and religion aren't on the list of biggest mates. Horwitz created an excellent balance between proper journalism (as in gathering facts) and a more personal account of the matter without a preoccupied opinion. Plus it comes with a pleasant writing style. While reading these it seems the people in the middle east are pretty much occupied by the same troubles and ambitions as westerners do, it's just that they are being governed by quite a different system.

You'll embarrass yourself reading this.
This may be the best travelouge I've ever read. Horwitz has an uncanny ability with words, to paint the scene and make the reader feel like they are there with him. I felt myself transported back to the countries I have visited, and can affirm that they were accurately represented. Horwitz is complimentary to the myriad cultures of the Middle East while being honest about the difficulties of the countries. And his adventures would be completely inplausible, if they had been in a novel. The book is laugh-out-loud funny. I mean that. I found myself on the bus unable to stop chorteling, or explain myself to the passengers around me. Looking for a good time? Read this book.