The Carpet Wars

by Christopher Kremmer (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $4.20

  A personal odyssey through war, friendship and craftsmanship along the old Silk Route, this is a travel book that illuminates the contemporary story of south west Asia. In 1990, Christopher Kremmer arrived in Afghanistan to interview the doomed communist president, Dr Najibullah as rampaging factions of mujahideen massed on the outskirts of Kabul. He found himself intrigued by the politics and culture of the land, and his book provides revealing, often first-hand portraits of warlords such as Ahmad Shah Masood, the Lion of Panjsher , of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and of Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf. The real stories of the lands of the ancient Silk Route, however, are accessed through Kremmer's obsession with the carpets of the region. Initiated into the wonders of the craft through the stunning classic design and pomegranate dyes of the filpai or Elephant's Foot in Dr Najibullah's office, Kremmer is hooked, and thus tells the tales of his lasting friendships with nomads on portable handlooms to managers of mechanised production units to the merchants in the souks and bazaars.

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $11.08

  This is the story of foreign correspondent Christopher Kremmer's travels, traversing a crescent of Islamic societies in crisis. From Kashmir to Iraq, Pakistan to Tajikistan, millions of ordinary Muslims were having their lives torn apart by the volatile cocktail of Kalashnikov and Koran. No warlord, no victim could adequately explain why Islamic societies had become so iconoclastic and fracticidal. Kremmer's journey became a quest to understand why, and to reconcile a beautiful and destructive culture with his own.