One Foot in Laos [Hardcover]

Dervla Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 2001

Nestled between Vietnam to the east, Myanmar and China to the north, Thailand to the west and Cambodia to the south, Laos has long suffered from the depredations of its larger neighbors. But the biggest bully in its history was the United States which, starting in 1964, carried on a "secret war" against Laos. By the time of the ceasefire in February 1973, Laos had become the most heavily bombed nation in the history of the world.

When renowned travel writer Dervla Murphy went to Laos in 1997, she discovered a country that had only just opened its borders to the West. What she found was a country where the people-kind, gentle, welcoming-more than compensate for everything that can go wrong. But she also discovered that the persisting problems bequeathed by its recent past are tragic and other problems threaten its immediate future. A series of chance meetings left her with a profound sense of a beautiful country and a unique culture threatened-once again-by the extreme pressures of the modern world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dervla Murphy was born in Ireland, where she still lives. Since 1964 she has been regularly publishing accounts of her journeys by bicycle or on foot, in the remoter areas of four continents.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 284 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (June 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585671436
• ISBN-13: 978-1585671434
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,909,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Travel > Asia > Laos

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, but could have been better, August 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: One Foot in Laos (Hardcover)

Murphy presents a candid portrait of Laos as it is today. Contrary to what the other reviewers have to say, she is a good observer and writes accurately. As a Lao, I can say that is true. The book is enjoyable.

The only problem with Murphy's writing is her quaint outlook that bemoans even benign development. It seems she'd be happiest in a world without cars, television or money. Unfortunately she will not find that in Laos or anywhere else, though she may keep travelling and keep trying.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The famous Irish travel writer visits the Laos war zone, February 14, 2001

By 

saskatoonguy (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Foot in Laos (Hardcover)

Dervla Murphy, a dauntless sixtysomething woman from Ireland, decides to explore Laos on foot. Although she begins in Vientiane, Murphy quickly gets off the beaten path and visits areas inaccessible by road. At one point, she injures her foot (hence the book's name) and resorts to a bicycle, while at other times she uses bus, boat, and an airplane. I found this to be the most disappointing of Murphy's books. Normally, what brings travel narratives to life is the conversation between the traveller and the locals. But there's relatively little of that here, since Murphy doesn't have a common language with these people. The author instead fills innumerable pages with her political musings. She hates Americans, who she describes as 'consistently evil,' and reminds the reader of this every few pages. Americans are hardly heros in the history of Laos, but 'beating a dead horse' is the apt idiom here. She sees the Pathet Lao, in contrast, as the angels of Laotian history, and their abuses of human rights are excused or glossed over. She explains how low-level government employees were incarcerated in 're-education camps' for years, but does intellectual somersaults to explain it away as resembling a summer camp. Murphy also falls into the trap of idealizing third-world poverty. She sees such things as electricity and paved roads as a cancer upon society, and sings the praises of subsistence agriculture. This is ironic considering that Murphy's homeland, Ireland, wasn't exactly a utopia in its subsistence-agriculture era, yet she would gleefully freeze the Laotians in that stage of development if she could. All in all, this book is a sad let-down from a writer whose earlier work comprises so many memorable travel narratives.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Worth the read despite its weaknesses, December 18, 2001

By 

Jeffrey Barry (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Foot in Laos (Hardcover)

Once I was able to get beyond Dervla Murphy's annoying bashing of the United States and the capitalist system, and her romanticizing of the noble savage, her travelogue provided, in the least, a good bench-mark of how rapidly Laos is changing. At best, her book was thought-provoking in that it made me question the benefits of development, and made me appreciate the resiliance of a nation that not too long ago was ravaged by war and continues to suffer from its effects. In addition, the book had rare moments of insite that conveyed the unique Laotian culture.

Her anti-US sentiments were so ridiculous and pervasive that I had to attribute them to the rantings of a curmudgeony, old lady who had drunk one too many BeerLao.

Having recently travelled through northern Laos, you could sense the change and growth brought on by tourism. The changes appear to be primarily physical. In contrast to the book the towns may look different, and have more restaurants, accomadations, and internet cafes, but the culture described by Dervla still appears to be in tact. I can not put in words, but I noticed and felt distinct, yet subtle differences between Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. At times, when she was not ranting about US imperialism and the negative effects of development, Dervla was able to convey this uniqueness.