The Places In Between

I am a huge fan of Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell's podcast, The Rest is Politics, and though I naturally lean more toward Alistair's Labour perspective, I have come to love and respect Rory immensely. He is a man who likes tradition, a small-c conservative, and although he did serve as a Tory MP, he quit on a matter of principle (he wouldn't serve under Boris Johnson) and he is driven by a deep desire to make the world a better place, a stance which is usually associated with the progressive side of politics.

That's a very long-winded introduction to The Places In Between, which is a memoir of his 2001-2 walk across Afghanistan. He walked alone, a British man in a country where the British and American military were in occupation, from village to village through the mountains, grudgingly accepted overnight, fed most often on bread and tea, suffering from dysentery. He picked up a half-wild dog, Babur, who reluctantly accompanied him most of the way. His life was threatened periodically and he had to talk his way out of trouble. Everywhere he saw evidence of the devastation of war -- wounded fighters, burned villages, traumatised people. 

Rory recounts these events in a very matter-of-fact way, which only underscores his personal courage and determination. Also, he speaks eleven languages! And this Afghanistan walk was only part of a longer trek across India and Pakistan. Although the walk sounds absolutely grim, he says he fell in love with the country and the people, and later returned to set up a charity, Turquoise Mountain, in Kabul, to which he is still committed. There are whispers, as there were about Arthur Ransome, that he might have been a spy; if so, he reserves a discreet silence. He would certainly make a very good one.