Afghanistan [Hardcover]

Chris Steele-Perkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001

"Afghanistan" is introduced by the French essayist and traveller André Velter and includes essays and verses by the Afghani poet Sayd Bahodine Majrouh, who was assassinated in Pakistan in 1988. 76 duotone photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Through 76 duotone photographs interspersed with the verse of Afghan poet Bahodine Majrouh and a few short, diarylike pieces written by photographer Steele-Perkins, readers are given an impressionistic glimpse of harsh contemporary life in Afghanistan. A freelance photographer for the Magnum Agency, Steele-Perkins constructs a vision of the ravages of the internecine strife among the disparate Afghan peoples and the destruction of the infrastructure of their daily lives. Based on Steele-Perkins's four sojourns in Afghanistan, this book presents an implied criticism of the Taliban but wisely eschews a polemic stance for who are the angels in a civil war? The stark photographs address destruction and mayhem on the one hand and daily life in the fields and cities on the other. The pictures are allowed to tell their own story, with thumbnail copies with captions tucked away at the rear of the work. Steele-Perkins's diary excerpts provide some context to the overall work and Majrouh's poetry further enhances the impressionistic tone of the work. Recommended for all public libraries. John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

Chris Steele-Perkins first went to Afghanistan in 1994 on assignment for Medicins Sans Frontières. It had long held a place in his imagination, going back to the days of the Hippy Trail. The reality, as always, was completely different and infinitely more compelling: "It was heroic, beautiful, violent, twisted, gracious and tragic. The experience of being there works its way narcotically into one's being; an infection of the soul demanding that you return."

These photographs are drawn from four trips Steele-Perkins made to Afghanistan during the course of four years. In the midst of a complex civil war, he captures the continuing cycles of everyday life. Images from the front line mingle with scenes of disrupted life in the fields, villages and towns; of an orphanage; of refugees and displaced families; of lapis lazuli miners; of someone picking up the pieces after the 1998 earthquake; of a cock fight and the horseback sport of bushkashi.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; First Edition edition (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 190339113X
• ISBN-13: 978-1903391136
• Product Dimensions: 12.6 x 9.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,700,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Spectre Of An Ancient Time, December 12, 2001

By 

Dr Lawrence Hauser (NYC, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Afghanistan (Hardcover)

In this exceptional volume Chris Steele-Perkins has distilled four separate travel adventures into an enormously effective photo-essay depicting Afghanistan at a time when the now ignominious Taliban were just taking hold of and consolidating their political power (c.1995). Although the book has as its focus unending war and the horrendous impact interminable armed conflict has had on the people of Afghanistan, what is remarkable in Steele-Perkin's work is how the daily pulse of ordinary life lived within a landscape of devastation and ruin manages consistently to emerge through the gloom. Because these wonderfully evocative images are indeed full of life! And full of the great beauty and mystery of the Afghan people. Two written essays (one by the photographer is a splendid travelogue) complement perfectly this accomplished portfolio of haunting images.