Download or read book A Carpet Ride to Khiva written by Chris Aslan and published by Icon Books Ltd. This book was released on 2010-07-01 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Silk Road conjures images of the exotic and the unknown. Most travellers simply pass along it. Brit Chris Alexander chose to live there. Ostensibly writing a guidebook, Alexander found life at the heart of the glittering madrassahs, mosques and minarets of the walled city of Khiva - a remote desert oasis in Uzbekistan - immensely alluring, and stayed. Immersing himself in the language and rich cultural traditions Alexander discovers a world torn between Marx and Mohammed - a place where veils and vodka, pork and polygamy freely mingle - against a backdrop of forgotten carpet designs, crumbling but magnificent Islamic architecture and scenes drawn straight from "The Arabian Nights". Accompanied by a large green parrot, a ginger cat and his adoptive Uzbek family, Alexander recounts his efforts to rediscover the lost art of traditional weaving and dyeing, and the process establishing a self-sufficient carpet workshop, employing local women and disabled people to train as apprentices. A Carpet Ride to Khiva sees Alexander being stripped naked at a former Soviet youth camp, crawling through silkworm droppings in an attempt to record their life-cycle, holed up in the British Museum discovering carpet designs dormant for half a millennia, tackling a carpet-thieving mayor, distinguishing natural dyes from sacks of opium in Northern Afghanistan, bluffing his way through an impromptu version of "My Heart Will Go On" for national Uzbek TV and seeking sanctuary as an anti-Western riot consumed the Kabul carpet bazaar. It is an unforgettable true travel story of a journey to the heart of the unknown and the unexpected friendship one man found there.

Download or read book Manacle written by Chris Aslan and published by Lion Fiction. This book was released on 2017-11-17 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Imaginative, authentic, and evocative.'- Gerard Kelly, author There is a dark presence in Phin's life. His step-father is a drunk and his malevolence poisons their home. One evening the violence gets out of control and as Phin's mother drags his broken body away, she can only think of one place to take him: to the local healer. But this healer deals in more than medicinal remedies and at her insistence he calls on the spirits to ensure Phin is never harmed again. However, his words are more than a call, they are invitation - one that the spirits welcome as a legion descend and take root within Phin. Phin awakens to discover he is no longer in control of his mind or his body, and something is certainly inhabiting his soul. He possesses super-human strength and immediately takes revenge on his step-father. This would have sated Phin, but the spirits have other ideas - they drive him into the wilderness and all who go to him quickly rue the day. As he terrorises the village, soldiers come to remove him - but how do you restrain a man who can break the strongest of manacles. And is there any hope for one who has been overcome by darkness?

Download or read book Alabaster written by Chris Aslan and published by Lion Fiction. This book was released on 2016-11-18 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Imaginative, authentic, and evocative. A powerful narrative beautifully told.' - Gerard Kelly, author of The Boy Who Loved Rain Maryam is stuck in an abusive marriage, living with her in-laws, in a conservative, toxically religious Middle Eastern setting. A few years back, her father was given a jar of priceless perfume by a dying leper and it seemed as if their fortunes would improve, but then Maryam's father contracted leprosy and was exiled by the village. Maryam and her brother, Eleazar, and sister, Marta, experience the shame and ostracism this brings. The precious jar that was meant to bring them freedom, but it only seems to have brought destruction. But rumours abound concerning a new doctor; perhaps hope is on the horizon... A beautifully crafted novel about two sisters who face the stigma of shame, the sorrow of loss, and the startling hope one can find when someone shows you a different way of seeing the world.

Download or read book Travels in Central Asia written by Ármin Vámbéry and published by . This book was released on 1864 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Golden Journey to Samarkand written by James Elroy Flecker and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mosaic written by Chris Aslan and published by Lion Fiction. This book was released on 2021-04-23 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "When a pot breaks, it's useless; at best there might be a shard that you can use to scoop grain. But what about a broken life? What about me? I feel so fragmented. Can I be repaired somehow? How do I live with the hate I feel towards those I'm supposed to be closest to? My life is in pieces and I don't know what to do..." Will one tragic event leave friendship and family ties irrevocably broken? And how will a historical Middle Eastern mountain community deal with news of a miracle worker? Is he too good to be true?

Download or read book Russian Soviet Unconventional Wars in the Caucasus Central Asia and Afghanistan Illustrated Edition written by Dr. Robert F. Baumann and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: [Includes 12 maps and 4 tables] In recent years, the U.S. Army has paid increasing attention to the conduct of unconventional warfare. However, the base of historical experience available for study has been largely American and overwhelmingly Western. In Russian-Soviet Unconventional Wars in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Afghanistan, Dr. Robert F. Baumann makes a significant contribution to the expansion of that base with a well-researched analysis of four important episodes from the Russian-Soviet experience with unconventional wars. Primarily employing Russian sources, including important archival documents only recently declassified and made available to Western scholars, Dr. Baumann provides an insightful look at the Russian conquest of the Caucasian mountaineers (1801-59), the subjugation of Central Asia (1839-81), the reconquest of Central Asia by the Red Army (1918-33), and the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979-89). The history of these wars—especially as it relates to the battle tactics, force structure, and strategy employed in them—offers important new perspectives on elements of continuity and change in combat over two centuries. This is the first study to provide an in-depth examination of the evolution of the Russian and Soviet unconventional experience on the predominantly Muslim southern periphery of the former empire. There, the Russians encountered fierce resistance by peoples whose cultures and views of war differed sharply from their own. Consequently, this Leavenworth Paper addresses not only issues germane to combat but to a wide spectrum of civic and propaganda operations as well.

Download or read book Eighteen Years in the Khyber 1879 1898 written by Sir Robert Warburton and published by London, J. Murray. This book was released on 1900 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sir Robert Warburton (1842-99) was a British army officer who served for 18 years as the political officer, or warden, of the Khyber Pass, the most important of the mountain passes connecting Afghanistan and present-day Pakistan. He was born in Afghanistan, the son of a British officer and his wife, a noble Afghan woman who was the niece of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan. Warburton was educated in England, commissioned an officer, and served at posts in British India and in Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) before being appointed, in 1879, to his post in the Khyber. Home to the fiercely independent Pushtun Afridi people who resisted external control, the pass frequently had been blocked by the Afridis or by fighting among the hill tribes. Warburton is credited with keeping the frontier peaceful and the pass open, mainly though diplomacy rather than force. He drew upon his Afghan background and his fluent Persian and Pushto to gradually win the trust of tribesmen whose traditions made them deeply suspicious of outsiders. In August 1897, one month after Warburton's retirement, unrest broke out among the Afridis, who seized the pass and held it for several months. Warburton was called back into service and participated in the Tirah expedition of 1897-98, in which Anglo-Indian forces reopened the pass. Warburton was especially proud of the role played in the expedition by the Khyber Rifles, a paramilitary force recruited from Afridi tribesmen that he had raised and commanded. Eighteen Years in the Khyber, 1879-1898 is Warburton's account of his education and career. It touches upon virtually every individual and event that played a role in relations between Afghanistan and British India during the last quarter of the 19th century. Long in poor health, Warburton returned to England and died before the book was completed. Posthumously published, it is illustrated with a number of striking photographs and includes a detailed fold-out map of the Khyber.

Download or read book A Ride Through Islam written by Hippisley Cunliffe Marsh and published by . This book was released on 1877 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Red Sands written by Caroline Eden and published by Hardie Grant Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-12 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the André Simon Food Book Award 2020 Fortnum & Mason’s Awards, shortlisted in ‘Food Book’ category (2021) "Caroline Eden is an extraordinarily creative and gifted writer. Red Sands captures the sights, tastes and feel of Central Asia so well that when reading this book I was sometimes convinced I was there in person. A wonderful book from start to finish." Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads "Caroline Eden, whose book Black Sea was showered with awards, is on the road again, this time travelling through the heart of Asia. It’s not your usual cookbook, it’s more a travel book with recipes, the recipes acting as postcards which she sends as she meets new characters, most of them involved with food... Eden travels quietly and lets you in on every encounter and every bite. A moving... as well as a fascinating read." Diana Henry, Telegraph "Red Sands follows in the footsteps of Caroline Eden's previous volume Black Sea. Both are pleasures to read, triangulating journalism, literary writing, and cookbookery. The recipes are part of the reporting, and Eden describes them as edible snapshots." Devra First, Boston Globe Red Sands, the follow-up to Caroline Eden’s multi-award-winning Black Sea, is a reimagining of traditional travel writing using food as the jumping-off point to explore Central Asia. In a quest to better understand this vast heartland of Asia, Caroline navigates a course from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the sun-ripened orchards of the Fergana Valley. A book filled with human stories, forgotten histories and tales of adventure, Caroline is a reliable guide using food as her passport to enter lives, cities and landscapes rarely written about. Lit up by emblematic recipes, Red Sands is an utterly unique book, bringing in universal themes that relate to us all: hope, hunger, longing, love and the joys of eating well on the road.

Download or read book From Pekin to Calais by Land written by Harry De Windt and published by . This book was released on 1892 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Way We Live Now written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia written by lady Mary Leonora Woulfe Sheil and published by . This book was released on 1856 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Tourism in Central Asia written by Kemal Kantarci and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2014-09-05 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book will be a major resource for all academic researchers and practitioners interested in issues dealing with the development of tourism, its potential and challenges, and policy and regulatory issues in the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. These countries are gaining more attention as emerging destinations. There is limited research that focuses on these countries with respect to their potential and characteristics as tourism destinations. This book aims to be an invaluable source for both practitioners and academicians who are in international marketing and tourism. The central Asia region (also termed the Silk Road region) as an emerging destination is ripe for future tourism development. The region is rich with historical, cultural, and natural beauty that could provide significant utility to many potential visitors. This book brings together key writings on this topic in a single resource.

Download or read book The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East written by Charles Francis Horne and published by . This book was released on 1917 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book 3 Dead Princes written by Danbert Nobacon and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010-10 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Princess Stormy lives in a semi-detached castle with her family and a Fool. When an unhappy neighboring kingdom decides to invade, Stormy must go on her quest, meeting giant Cats, Mermangels, Giggle Monkeys, a Gricklegrack, and Flying Lizards on the way. Oh, and she kills three princes. But that's by accident, and anyway it's their own fault . . .Danbert Nobacon, singer, songwriter, comedian, and freak music legend, was a founding member of the anarchist punk rock band Chumbawamba. He loves children and animals. This is his first book. Alex Cox is better known for his filmmaking skills. He loves monsters.

Download or read book Eastern Approaches written by Fitzroy MaClean and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fitztroy Maclean was one of the real-life inspirations for super-spy James Bond. After adventures in Soviet Russia before the war, Maclean fought with the SAS in North Africa in 1942. There he specialised in hair-raising commando raids behind enemy lines, including the daring and outrageous kidnapping of the German Consul in Axis-controlled Iraq. Maclean's extraordinary adventures in the Western Desert and later fighting alongside Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia are blistering reading and show what it took to be a British hero who broke the mould . . .