Customer Reviews

Unknown Sands

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"An unprejudiced look at central Asian culture through the eyes of a curious traveler," is probably the best way in which to describe the new book from author John Kropf, Unknown Sands.

This book provides the only real view of a world that even in the 21st century hides behind an iron curtain. John brings to life real and tangible descriptions of a world really only known to most Americans through hearsay and as a side note to the War on Terror.

His journey or, more appropriately, his journeys begin with the assignment of his wife Eileen to the American embassy in Turkmenistan. John then takes you with him on his journeys by foot, bus, airplane, and, usually, four-wheel vehicle throughout the country. The full color panoply of sights, sounds, and, unhappily for John, smells translate literally to the reader enveloping you into the world surround him at the time, from the woman jabbing his ankles with a luggage cart in the Frankfurt airport on his trip out to the pride of his driver in learning to pronounce the name of their American vehicle.

The country John transports you to has the intensity of its underlying cultures that have existed from well before the time of Ghengis Khan with a strong overtone of Soviet political power, which has influenced the last 70 some years. Soviet era cement block apartment buildings share the same atmosphere as centuries old mosques that themselves share the place with new monuments to the country's leader with this last to an almost comical degree.

Also, although John's mission while in Turkmenistan was to supervise USAID programs, his journeys cannot be said to be mere reports. You get the picture that much of what we as Americans must do is not only provide the money and the know-how, but reawaken the prior pride in the country's history through a respectful curiosity. We should not treat any country's past as something quaint from a history book, but rather a vibrant component to understand who these people truly are.

John should be thanked for opening our eyes to a strange, but admirable country that lies on the edge of our imagination.

Kropf takes us on a journey which few will ever personally know, His insightful and sometimes witty writing style adds to a terrific read!

I was researching books on Middle East and Asian politics and stumbled across Mr. Kropf's book through online research. Although not primarily a political discourse, Unknown Sands contains fascinating insight into the cultural, social, as well as political atmosphere of a country many don't know exists. I recommend the book highly not only for academics but as a casual read as well.

This is not a scholarly work, a detailed history of Turkmenistan, or a comprehensive survey of modern Turkmenistan. It was written by a USAID employee, not a professional author, scholar or historian.

None of that diminishes the value of the book on its own terms. It is an eye-witness account of one man's work and travels in an unknown country. And because Turkmenistan is so closed and secretive, a comprehensive survey is probably not possible at this point. This book may be the best we will get for many years, and Kropf has done us a service in publishing it.

The book has some minor spelling and grammar errors, but is still very readable, has a good pace, and will keep the armchair adventurer's interest for all of its too-brief 202 pages.

While the author deserves credit for his endeavor in this rare inside look at Niazov's Turkmenistan, the overt misuse of grammar throughout the book makes this almost impossible to read. For example: "wary of England's designs and xenophobic, the Russians outright closed Turkmenistan when they took it under control in 1881." "...about which T.E. Lawrence might have romanticized." Awkward phrasing like this is a constant throughout the book, which would be much improved with a thorough editing - perhaps in a later edition?

Additionally, Kropf's lengthy descriptions of long plane flights and jet lag are for the armchair traveler rather than the road warrior. Some of the "gee whiz, I work in a U.S. Embassy now" anecdotes sound tired to anyone who has actually been there. For a first-time Turkmenistan reader (and hey, there are a lot of those), this is a worthwhile read.