Baghdad Sketches - Paperback

by Freya Stark (Author), Barbara Kreiger (Introduction by)

In the fall of 1928, thirty-five year-old Freya Stark set out on her first journey to the Middle East. She spent most of the next four years in Iraq and Persia, visiting ancient and medieval sites, and traveling alone through some of the wilder corners of the region.

Back Jacket

In the fall of 1928, Freya Stark, a thirty-five-year-old Englishwoman, set out on her first journey to the Middle East. Bolstered by a command of Arabic, a fair knowledge of Farsi, and an irrepressible drive that would characterize her more than five decades as a traveler and explorer, Stark spent most of the next four years in Iraq and Persia. Stark traveled alone throughout some of the wilder areas of the Middle East at a time when this area was gaining new worldwide importance. For Stark, risk-taking was the essence of a life worth living: while never hunting out danger for its own sake, she nevertheless viewed her travels as a way of expressing her freedom. Such views make her essays as fresh and startling today as when they were written.

Author Biography

Freya Stark was the author of over thirty-five books, including The Valley of Assassins, Beyond Euphrates, Alexander's Path, and Dust in the Lion's Paw.