Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780811734103ISBN:0811734102
Description: Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. 0811734102. BCE-DJ has shelf edge scuffs; book has shelf denting to head/tail bands; binding is nice and straight & tight; clean, no writing; Book Club Edition; 1.5 x 8.3 x 5.5 Inches; 339 pages. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Date Published: 2008-06-30
ISBN-13:9780811734103ISBN:0811734102
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780811734103. read more
"This book is a sort of autobiographical travelogue from a retired Army Intelligence officer and fiction author, covering trips in Russia, Asia, South America, and who-knows-where-else. I found the book sort of schizophrenic: at times, it pulled me in; at other times, I was put off by what seemed like the author's egotism and sense of superiority -- or because some of the stories were downright boring.
The heart of the book -- and the part that contains most of the interesting stories -- recalls travels through ex-Soviet countries. Most of the interesting parts come from comparing expectations (both the author's and ours) to the reality of what he finds: people that are significantly more or less welcoming of Americans than you might expect, conditions that don't match preconceptions, and how security is handled. Unfortunately, these stories often include short side statements that serve to give us the author's view of the world, which more often than not sounds like something Tom Clancy would write. He and his companions are heroic; local gangsters are cartoonish; American bureaucracy just isn't smart enough to listen to the wisdom of the rough-and-tumble fellow out in the field... which the author just happens to be.
The later parts of the book feel sort of tacked-on. The cover a collection of travels through other parts of the world, and they're just not as interesting as the first part.
Parts of this book were definitely enjoyable. I just wish the author could have had more of that, and less of the rest."
"This is great, I had not known that Peters had travelled so much. I like this personal style of writing, too, he presents his biases and how he came by them readily.
Jimmy Buffett's wanderlust goes inland to Central Asia and Central or Eastern Europe."
"I genuinely liked this book, it was an enjoyable read, but it didn't blow me away. When I checked it out from the library it was only a one-week check out. I almost read it all in a week, but ended up renewing it. Peters is a former Army intelligence officer who traveled around the sick bed of the USSR as it was on the verge of collapse. He is an unapologetic cold warrior whose crazy travel stories all highlight the fact that the USSR was truly awful, dysfunctional and soul destroying. Traveling through the Caucasus, his main obstacle is to convince the local people that he is not a hated Russian, at which point they put down their guns and invite him in for a drink while grilling him on how to get into business. He is very critical of the Clinton administration's foreign policy. One of the best and most sobering chapters was an intensive look at the basket case that is Pakistan. One of the more intelligent travel books I have read, but Peter's ego comes through a bit strong in the writing and he is apt to use clichés."
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