Bad Lands (Lonely Planet) (Travel Literature) [Paperback]

Tony Wheeler (Author)

Book Description

Series: Travel Literature | Publication Date: April 15, 2007

In an age of plastic knives on planes, Tony Wheeler can make the extraordinary claim of having visited all the rogue countries currently on newsreaders' lips. Bad Lands is a witty first-hand account of his travels through some of the most repressive and dangerous regimes in the world: Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. Taking into account each country's attitude to human rights, terrorism and foreign policy, he asks 'what makes a country truly evil?' and 'how bad is really bad?' - all the while engaging with a colorful cast of locals and hapless tour guides, ruminating on history and debunking popular myths. Written by the founder of Lonely Planet, this fascinating account of life in these closed-off countries will appeal to anyone with an interest in the state of the world today.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Wheeler traveled through nine countries--or, if you prefer, bad lands--Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia. Some were selected because of their human-rights abuses; Libya because it has done absolutely everything wrong; Afghanistan for harboring terrorists; and Albania simply because it's an example of a little dictatorship that cut itself off from the outside world at considerable cost to its own people. Wheeler posits that his book is not an account of the Most Dangerous Places because he's "careful, cautious, and has a low tolerance for pain." He describes the weather, hotels, restaurants, shops, museums, and the people he meets. The author, Lonely Planet's cofounder, wrote his first guidebook in 1973 and since then has written or contributed to 30 more titles. Readers can join him traveling through some of the most repressive and perilous countries in the world without fear of being attacked. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"...humane, politically astute and very funny..." --Wanderlust Magazine, April/May 2007

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Product Details

• Paperback: 327 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet (April 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1741791863
• ISBN-13: 978-1741791860
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,224,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty disappointing, August 1, 2007

By 

T. Jacob (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bad Lands (Lonely Planet) (Travel Literature) (Paperback)

Knowing Tony's adventurous spirit, I was so excited to get this book and read his take on these mysterious countries that people know so little about. The book, it turns out, is more or less a collection of Tony's musings, combined with historical antecdotes and the occassional use of the words "bad lands" or "danger". It struck me as a last minute, pull-something-together-so-we-can-make-money project that would not have been published if the author didn't own the company. Yes, Tony does some cool stuff and goes off the beaten trail, but then he bogs it all down in an overkill of historical research and tries to paint a slick coat of "Danger!" all over it. It just doesn't work it so many places, and makes for a cumbersome read. Lonely Planet remains my absolute favorite source for travel information, but this mode of expression doesn't seem to suit Tony as well as others.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gallivanting through the Axis of Evil, May 9, 2008

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bad Lands (Lonely Planet) (Travel Literature) (Paperback)

"Libya is one of the most comprehensively trashed countries I've ever visited." - Author Tony Wheeler in BAD LANDS

Co-founder (with his wife, Maureen) of Lonely Planet Publications, Tony Wheeler here describes his travels through nine countries generally considered "bad lands" by Western societies because of their poor treatment of their own citizens, their involvement in terrorism, and the threat they pose to other countries. The nine are Afghanistan, Albania, Myanmar (Burma), Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia. Except for areas in Iraq which Wheeler was careful to skirt, none of the nine are particularly dangerous for the individual visitor.

In the genre of travel essays, BAD LANDS is commendably out of the ordinary in that it includes a 16-page center section of color photographs. I guess if your book is being published your own publishing company, you can afford this extravagance.

While reading the first chapter on Afghanistan, I thought Wheeler's writing rather stiff and I was somewhat dreading the experience of the whole. But in following chapters, he loosens up considerably and becomes a congenial and wryly humorous guide. For instance, this paragraph about Cuba:

"Every other woman walking by was wearing the standard Cuban fashion statements: short, tight, low, high, stretched. Preferably in Lycra ... In Cuba no women can be too big, too wide, too round for Lycra. 'Thrusting femininity' was the two-word definition of the Cuban approach to fashion, according to one visiting travel writer ..."

Published in 2007, BAD LANDS provides a roomy front window for the reader to peer out into the contemporary society of each nation visited, as well as useful rear window overlooking their recent pasts.

I'd award five stars except for the last two chapters, "The Evil Meter" and "Other Bad Lands: The Extended List." In the former, Tony rates, on a scale of 1 to 10, each of the nine subject nations: 1-3 points for domestic oppression, 1-3 for support or participation in terrorism, 1-3 for international belligerency, and a bonus point for Personality Cult centered around the national leader. I didn't mind so much that Wheeler calibrated his meter with such countries as the United States, Australia, the UK, and France and found them registering on the scale, albeit at a low level. But, when he carried the concept over into the latter chapter and mentions such garden spots as Somalia, Congo/Zaire, Angola, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Syria and (in his mind) the evil conjoined twins, Israel and Palestine, without making even the most rudimentary mention of an obvious twosome, resurgent Russia and China, then I began to doubt his objectivity. Perhaps he should just stay with travel writing and skip the editorializing.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For Casual Reading, Nothing Serious, October 31, 2007

By 

Chan Joon Yee "Dr Chan" (Singapore) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bad Lands (Lonely Planet) (Travel Literature) (Paperback)

Tony Wheeler writes about his trip to Afghanistan, Albania, Myanmar, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia.

Apart from Saudi Arabia, the rest of the countries in the list have all been demonised by the Western media. Are they really that bad? This book does not pretend to have all the answers or even the last say. Wheeler's writing style is rather typical of the humourous, cynical, sarcastic and sometimes overly opinionated style that you may encounter in Lonely Planet guides.

There's quite a bit of on-the-road reports and even more "background info" which is obtained more from research than personal experience. Informative this book is, but it is certainly not a scholarly piece or anything close to investigative journalism. Wheeler was just a tourist (and he states that explicitly on the cover of the book). There were only a couple of times when the author encountered danger. You won't read about any prohibited entries into restricted areas, illegal investigations, shocking revelations and close brushes with the authorities. It's just the sort of travelogue that you and I might write if we ever dare to go to all these places. I have only been to Myanmar myself. Afghanistan and Iraq? No way. This is certainly not the sort of travelogue that anyone can write. For that and for readability, I give the author some credit even though there is nothing sensational about this book.

At the end of the book, is an Evil Meter. True to the judgemental Lonely Planet spirit, he author judges the evilness of each country by his own subjective and limited knowledge - which is probably an unintentional joke. It doesn't spoil the fun of reading the book, but the author doesn't win any credibility points either.