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The Road to Oxiana (Paperback)

~ (Author), Paul Fussell (Introduction) "VENICE, August 20th, 1993.-Here as a joy-hog: a pleasant change after that pension on the Giudecca two years ago..." (more)
Key Phrases: vurry hurried trip, main ivan, Shir Ahmad, Gohar Shad, Shah Rukh (more...)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Product Description

In 1933 Robert Byron began a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Teheran to Oxiana--the country of the Oxus, the ancient name for the river Amu Darya which forms part of the border between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. The Road to Oxiana offers not only a wonderful record of his adventures, but also a rare account of the architectural treasures of a region now inaccessible to most Western travelers.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Trade Paperback Edition edition (June 17, 1982)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0195030672
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195030679
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #491,539 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #39 in  Books > Travel > Asia > Afghanistan

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Robert Byron
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
VENICE, August 20th, 1993.-Here as a joy-hog: a pleasant change after that pension on the Giudecca two years ago. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
vurry hurried trip, main ivan
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Shir Ahmad, Gohar Shad, Shah Rukh, Friday Mosque, Ali Asgar, Kala Nao, Seyid Jemal, Chief of Police, Hussein Baikara, Mohammad Gul, Hindu Kush, Shah Abbas, Central Asia, Foreign Office, Nur Mohammad, Seyid Mahmud, Abu Said, Government of India, Mirza Yantz, Sardar Assad, Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Haji Lal, Hazrat Imam, Hazrat Sahib, Mohun Lal
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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews
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4.4 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Persia and Afghanistan When the Going Was Good, October 24, 2001
In the crepuscular post-September 11 world I find myself in, I thought I would go and read some of the classics of travel in the Middle East back when the going was good. Byron's OXIANA looked promising, so I curled up with it for a few enchanting days.

Byron was no lover of pre-packaged tourist sights. He begins by slurring Venice, where he begins his journey. Later, he slams the Taj Mahal and the Alhambra as examples of what he did NOT want to see in the Middle East. At first, I was not sure where the book was going: Byron comes across at first as one of those hypereducated upper class twits who pop in and out of Evelyn Waugh's novels. Fortunately, it turns out to be just one of the author's favorite personas he assumes from time to time.

Over half a century ago, he saw clearly what would happen to Palestine when the British pulled out, namely, that the Jews and Arabs would be at each other's throats. As he reaches Iran we finally begin to see what Byron is really after: He travels from one old mosque or ruin to another. Although none of places he describes in such loving detail are known to me, it was easy to see that here was a man who wanted to be one of the first to see some marvel of architecture and capture it in photographs and in prose before the forces of time would destroy it utterly.

In the process of going from place to place, he describes the Europeans and locals he meets with humor and shrewdness. The Middle East was not the easiest place to travel in the 1930s, and Byron ran into some almost insurmountable obstacles which he typically surmounts. One such is his arrival in Aghanistan's high country too late in the season. He backtracks to Persia and waits six months until he could return in the spring.

I highly recommend ROAD TO OXIANA to all who wish the world was safe and innocent enough for us to pursue our own Oxianas, wherever they may be.

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45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Byron's Less-Travelled Road, May 22, 2000
By "bin_emir" (United Arab Emirates) - See all my reviews
I first read Byron's best travel book in 1982 whilst in the midst of an epic year long trip myself. I now have about 4 copies of the book and an original signed copy with Byron's pictures in it(which are equally brilliant as his prose).His book kindled in me a desire to see all that he had seen and to further explore Islamic architecture and archaeology. After numerous forays into the Near East and a Masters in Near Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures--I am still searching. One can't really appreciate Byron's description of the Sheikh Lutfallah Mosque in Isfahan unless you actually have been there--standing under the immense dome in subdued yellow light. I had that priviledge last year and Byron's description does justice to the magnificent structure. Byron's eye for detail is unmatched in most other travel books and his humour is endless. I had the luck to find "Four Loyalties" by his travelling companion--Christopher Sykes in a book sale in Dubai, UAE. Sykes paints a wonderful portrait of Byron. It's a pity that Byron died so young as I think he is one of the better travel writers--definitely my favourite. Unfortunately, as Bruce Chatwin pointed out in one introduction to "The Road to Oxiana" that you won't be able to drink green tea and eat mulberries under the shade of a plane tree in Istalif, Afghanistan. Those halcyon days that Byron and Sykes experienced and later by Levi and Chatwin are the stuff of legends. "The Road to Oxiana" is a good starting point. Go there now. Good reading.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A travel with a book, a book to travel with...., September 3, 1999
By A Customer
In my opinion this book belongs to the aristocracy of travel literature, that old tradition beginning with Erodoto's 'Historiai'. You can see all the nuances of the sky over the islamic temples and the ancient babylonian ruins the author decribes so well, taste the flavour of the tea offered around the fire, hear the whispers in the moonlight or the loud voices of an oriental market, feel the sandy wind blowing on your face. I think no modern traveller was as able as Byron to blend together such cunning observations about society, history, landscape, art and people of the countries he travelled, without being pictoresque, or self-centered. You often feel yourself travelling with the author. Don't miss it!!!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars James Joyce in Central Asia
M. Byron wanted to write literature. His book therefore uses travel material with this goal. And indeed, it is interesting 1930's literature. Read more
Published on January 15, 2007 by Malek Tilouine

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Journey Through 1930's Iraq, Afgahnistan, Iran
This ranks first-rate among travel books, right up there with Mark Twain for informing and entertaining the reader. Read more
Published on November 27, 2006 by J. Hadley

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic of travel litterature that still raises enthusiasm
How did I come to read this book? It is a period that I am interested in Central Asia history and else, because I became aware that European culture has long ignored this part of... Read more
Published on April 20, 2006 by Magalini Sabina

5.0 out of 5 stars Great writing, great landscape, great characters - read it!
This wonderful account by Robert Byron of his travels through Persia and Afghanistan is spare when it should be spare: "Lifar came to dinner. Read more
Published on January 19, 2006 by William J. Feuer

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting View of an Area Now in the Spotlight
In the 1930's this part of the world was far, far away from Britain and the United States. Recent events have placed these countries and people in the forefront. Read more
Published on September 2, 2005 by R. Swanson

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent travel book
When this book was written (mid 1930's), the world appears to have been a much simpler place. Our intrepid author moved fairly freely around the Middle East, even as far as... Read more
Published on June 17, 2005 by Frank J. Konopka

5.0 out of 5 stars The ONE
As the other reviews assert,this is not only Byron's best work, but perhaps the best travel book written during travel writing's Golden Age (the Thirties). Read more
Published on May 17, 2004 by Dan Kostopulos

4.0 out of 5 stars Prose of grave beauty
A classic of erudite travel writing--about as far as you can get from PJ O'Rourke or Bill Bryson. Byron is astoundingly well-informed--or at least gives this impression. Read more
Published on January 17, 2003 by Graymac

4.0 out of 5 stars hird time and still charming.
What can I say after the third re-reading. The book is lyrical, funny, and informative. And, of course, timely to these days. Principally, though, it is helluva read.
Published on April 22, 2002 by Henry M. Isaacs

4.0 out of 5 stars hird time and still charming.
What can I say after the third re-reading. The book is lyrical, funny, and informative. And, of course, timely to these days. Principally, though, it is helluva read.
Published on April 21, 2002 by Henry M. Isaacs

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