“Baghdad Without a Map” is a delightful book. While the story centers on the travels of a journalist through the Middle East, it is also about a lot more than that. As the author, Tony Horowitz, describes the areas traveled, he also gives us a glimpse into the mindset of the everyday person living in the middle of a war torn region. This book is insightful and inspiring, and is definitely an interesting read.
The book is definitely a good read, but it is also important for the insights it gives into traveling. Tony Horwitz goes to the Middle East in search of a good story. His career in America is almost nonexistent, so he decides to try freelancing in the Middle East. He also travels to the Middle East because that is where his wife needs to go for her job. However, it seems he also takes his journeys out into these semi dangerous places because he loves adventure and learning more about people. Everywhere he goes, he strikes up relationships with some of the native people, and he attempts to help these friends as much as he can. Despite all of the unhappy endings some of these relationships proffer, he continues to go out in search of people. He continues to throw himself into uncertain situations, all for the sake of his stories. He didn’t need to do this, he could have decided it was too much work and too much danger and quit. He could even attempt to throw together stories from the headlines of the newspapers there. Yet, he continues to put himself in vulnerable positions. He even states this love of adventure, once, at the beginning of the book. “I was looking for shortcuts, for adventure.” (pg 6) Luckily, he got his adventure, and plenty of people to analyze as well.
In an area like the Middle East, it is very important to have a seemingly legitimate travel persona. Horwitz is no different. He is fortunate to have his identity as a member of the press to hide behind, especially when trying to access things not normally accessible by a traveler. His identity also gives people an excuse to talk to him, although it sometimes acts as a barrier as well. He also seems to have the identity of a curious explorer, a scientist of sorts. This identity is a little harder to pick up on, as it is an unstated one, yet he exhibits it well. Some of the obvious signs of this are the fact that he chose the profession he did, that he never just records what happens, but that he analyzes what he is recording, and that he attempts to experience whatever he believes will help him to understand the people a little better. A good example of this final point is found when he partakes of the Qat. Despite fears of its addictive qualities, he realizes that Qat is a big part of the local culture, and he accepts the invitation to try it.
Horwitz is a very entertaining writer. He approaches a sensitive topic with humor and wit. He doesn’t water down the events that occurred during his time in the Middle East, yet he doesn’t exaggerate them either. Despite his use of humor, he is very careful to not turn the natives into comedic stereotypes. He does note when he comes across stereotypical behaviors, yet he attempts to explain these behaviors instead of just describing them. Obviously, being an American, he writes about the events transpiring from an American perspective. He tends to describe things using phrases and imagery that an American reader would understand, but he is careful when comparing the place he is at with America. His writing style itself is very low-key. He doesn’t try to make himself sound more intelligent than he is, but neither does he dumb down his topic. He has a nice blend of serious and light hearted stories.
The best part of this book was Horwitz’s analysis of the people that he encountered. When looking upon the area as a whole, the individual people seem to be generally kind, good natured people, most of whom are stuck in sad situations. The large groups of people seem very prejudice, racist and pathetic-clinging to cultures that no longer fit in with the rest of society. The individual people however, vindicate these cultures. They live in a way that has been around for hundreds of years and has resisted the corruption of other cultures. They have adapted to the influx of tourists and have found ways to survive under the worst of conditions. This at least is what may be understood from his writings. Personally, he seems to have a similar understanding. The governments of most of the nations are corrupt, and inefficient. Most of them are lead by officials who are paranoid, and legitimately so, considering the number of officials who are slaughtered each year. Despite his intense criticism of the governments, he always seems to find the individuals to be kind, courageous people. While they are often prejudiced by their culture as a whole, when questioned further about their opinions, many of them dislike the practices of their culture, and often times admire America’s pop culture. This is the analysis of the Middle East as a whole; however there is another important side to the culture and peoples, this is the differences between each culture. Without recapitulating the whole of the book, it is difficult to explain the differences between the cultures. Some of them are vastly different, others have only minute differences that lead to the giant feuds between them and their neighbors. While it is tricky to explain the differences Horwitz finds in the people, he does a very good job when writing about them. He never really compares the cultures, other than a few superficial comparisons, yet he is very careful in accurately portraying the spirit of the people. He writes about both the superficial characteristics and the cultural values of each group of people, and allows the reader to draw their own conclusion about the people from what he has said. Sometimes this makes it complicated to differentiate between the different cultures, but most of the time the boundaries are clear.
Overall, this book is a wonderful one. Unfortunately, if not read all at once, this book can be very confusing, as some of the places will sound very similar and the book may seem repetitive. When read in a shorter period of time, the subtle differences between the cultures are easier to appreciate, and the book is a delight to read. It brings up many questions about the way that we look at cultures that are not our own, and how they look at us. It also provides a good example of how to be aware of our own cultural biases while we are traveling. As it is a travel journal, it does not really seem to have a particular focus, other to enlighten the reader about the areas traveled to, and in this it does a good job. This book is definitely worth reading, even as a leisure book. Most importantly, however, it is a glimpse into a society that is usually inaccessible to Americans.