Baghdad Without a Map: And Other Misadventures in Arabia

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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.


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This wild and comic tale of Middle East misadventure is "a very funny and frequently insightful look at the world's most combustible region. Fearlessness is a valuable quality in a travel writer, and Mr. Horwitz . . . seems as intrepid as they come."--The New York Times Book Review.


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