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Overview
From renowned journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski comes this intimate account of his years in the field, traveling for the first time beyond the Iron Curtain to India, China, Ethiopia, and other exotic locales.
In the 1950s, Kapuscinski finished university in Poland and became a foreign correspondent, hoping to go abroad-perhaps to Czechoslovakia. Instead, he was sent to India-the first stop on a decades-long tour of the world that took him from Iran to El Salvador, from Angola to Armenia. Revisiting his memories of traveling the globe with a copy of Herodotus's The Histories in tow, Kapuscinski describes his awakening to the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of new environments, and how the words of the Greek historiographer helped shape his own view of an increasingly globalized world. Written with supreme eloquence and a constant eye to the global undercurrents that have shaped the last half century, Travels with Herodotus is an exceptional chronicle of one man's journey across continents.
Synopsis
From the master of literary reportage, whose acclaimed books include "Shah of Shahs, The Emperor," and "The Shadow of the Sun," comes an intimate account of his first youthful forays beyond the Iron Curtain. Unabridged. 9 CDs.
The Washington Post - Tahir Shah
Travels with Herodotus is a work of art: so eloquent, so simple, that you find yourself marveling at its prose, its gentle observation and the rhythm of the words. And you find yourself applauding such good translation as well. Kapuscinski reminisces on his first view of the Nile, back in 1960; on his great love, India; and on the time he watched Louis Armstrong play to a bemused audience in the Sudan. "He greeted everyone," Kapuscinski writes, "raising into the air the hand holding his golden trumpet, and said into the cheap, crackling microphone that he was pleased to be playing in Khartoum, and not only pleased, but downright delighted, after which he broke into his full, loose, infectious laugh. It was laughter that invited others to laugh along, but the audience remained aloofly silent, not quite certain how to behave."
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
When recent college graduate Ryszard Kapuscinski told his Polish editor that he'd like to work abroad, he had his eyes set on nothing more ambitious than a Prague sabbatical. Instead, his boss dispatched him to India. Thus began the eventful career of a foreign correspondent who was frequently mentioned as a favorite to win the Nobel Prize. Kapuscinski died before he could receive that accolade, but he did gift us with numerous incomparable books, including The Emperor, Imperium, and Shah of Shahs. This book serves as a gentle reprise of his first encounters with the non-Western world. Accompanying him on his travels is a volume of Herodotus, perhaps the first wise commentator on the globalism that still rocks our world.Tom Bissell
A nameless energy gathers as one reads deeper into Travels With Herodotus, and one begins to realize that, in many ways, Kapuscinski’s previous books, however brilliant, were somewhat impersonal. Here, finally, we experience the early tremors Kapuscinski underwent for the privilege to write them. Not all of it is painful; much of it, in fact, is delightful — especially the revelation that Kapuscinski learned English from Hemingway. And one finally sees that in writing about Herodotus Kapuscinski is actually writing about himself. Herodotus tried to get the best information available, Kapuscinski notes, “and, given the epoch, this speaks to a tremendous expenditure of effort and to great personal determination. ... And if he knows something, how does he know it? Because he heard, he saw.”— The New York Times
Tahir Shah
Travels with Herodotus is a work of art: so eloquent, so simple, that you find yourself marveling at its prose, its gentle observation and the rhythm of the words. And you find yourself applauding such good translation as well. Kapuscinski reminisces on his first view of the Nile, back in 1960; on his great love, India; and on the time he watched Louis Armstrong play to a bemused audience in the Sudan. "He greeted everyone," Kapuscinski writes, "raising into the air the hand holding his golden trumpet, and said into the cheap, crackling microphone that he was pleased to be playing in Khartoum, and not only pleased, but downright delighted, after which he broke into his full, loose, infectious laugh. It was laughter that invited others to laugh along, but the audience remained aloofly silent, not quite certain how to behave."— The Washington Post