Tajikistan

and the High Pamirs

Fringed by the two great rivers of Central Asia, the Oxus and the Jaxartes, Tajikistan can boast not only of breathtaking mountain scenery, but also of three thousand years of history. Originally the home of the Sogdians, the famous trading peoples of the Silk Road, in more recent times the country was at the heart of the 19th-century 'Great Game'. This book describes Tajikistan's unparalleled opportunities for trekkers, expert mountaineering advice and specialist essays on wildlife, botany, geology and archeology. The comprehensive coverage of culture, music and ethnic traditions make a tantalizing read.

Reviews

“...Tajikistan and the High Pamirs ranks as the most comprehensive guidebook ...” - Conde Nast Traveler

“...Passionnant. Ce n'est pas un livre mais une bible, un guide, un livre d'histoire, de politique, de civilisation et de geographie. Contrairement a ce que je m'etais imagine je ne le lirai pas d'une traite mais m'y baladerai et le consulterai lorsque je voudrai m'evader. J'y ai remarque de nombreuses expressions identiques a la langue turque. Merci encore. ...” - Ralf Polikar

“...Having read up on the country in the excellent Odyssey guide Tajikistan and the High Pamirs...” - Times Online

“...a never-ending source of valuable information for our 2009 Tajikistan tour. We know no other travel guide that offers such a detailed account - geographical and historical, but also cultural and ethnological - of this fascinating country. Warmest congratulations to the authors of this professional and accomplished book...” - Globotrek, Bern

“...A very complete guide with a lot of precious and hard to get practical, historical and geographical information. A must-have book for anyone attracted by the roof of the world....” - Horizons Nouveaux

“...a superb guide...” - Dr. George Schaller

“...a rare combination of profound research into history and extremely useful practical advice...this book is written with great love for Tajikistan, for the magic of the Pamirs and for the simple people of this extraordinary region ... each time I open [this book] I seem to breathe the divine rarefied air of the high mountains...” - Professor Mikhail A. Rakov, Menlo Park, California

“...An encyclopaedic source on Tajikistan and especially the Pamirs, with chapters devoted to the various adventurers, travellers and spies who roamed these mountains in the past. Middleton and Thomas both worked for the Aga Khan Foundation in Tajikistan -Middleton for eighteen years - and this book demonstrates their deep knowledge of this subject. Add the books enticing maps, the photographs of wide, yak-grazed plains and deep river valleys, the vivid portraits of its people and the reader is likely to want to become a Central Asian Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin over night...” - Steppe Magazine

“...During the Pamir-Forum in Bern, I proposed that Tajikistan and the High Pamirs would be a useful book to distribute in Tajikistan to all the English-speaking opinion leaders who are working in NGOs. During my travels I have noticed that there are many Tajik people who are eager to obtain more information about their home country and that this book would be a most comprehensive reference for them....” - Margrith Sengupta, INDO ORIENT TOURS GmbH, Zurich

“...As soon as I found out about a complete Tajikistan guidebook, I jumped on it and ordered it. There isn't anything out there yet as complete as this guide for this gem of a country. And what I especially liked was the mixture of historical as well as practical advice. At such a crossroad of civilizations, there is no way you can leave the history out of Tajikistan and this guidebook managed to teach me about Tajikistan's far and recent past while dreaming of my next trip there!...” - Mathieu Paley

“...well written, decorated with good photos; provides a highly interesting insight into a country which is far away from us - physically and mentally. The text brings this country and its people so close to me that I almost believe I am there! ...” - Ekkehard Feustel, Dusseldorf

“...Let me congratulate you on the superbly researched publication Tajikistan and the High Pamirs. Your story of the discovery and conquest of the Pamirs is based on an evaluation of a wide-ranging mass of data. By reading the historical chapters I can establish many relationships where before there was only fog. When I now travel from Osh into the Pamirs, the many travel memoirs written by Russians and other Europeans - who then had little idea what lay behind the mountains - flash up in my mind; when I look out in the morning over the Ak-Su towards Pamirsky Post and Mustag-Ata I can almost see the yurt village below the barracks....” - Tobias Kraudzun, Free University of Berlin, Berlin

Remarks

+ Vital insight into a crucially positioned nation

+ Dushanbe, Central Asia's friendliest capital city

+ Mountaineering and trekking on the roof of the world

+ First dedicated guide to Tajikistan

+ Historical insights into explorers and travelers of the ancient Silk Road

+ Culture, music and ethnic traditions

+ Essays on wildlife, botany, geology and archeology including a contribution by Dr George Schaller

+ Published to appeal to the armchair traveler as well as the intrepid visitor

+ Comprehensive introduction to "one of the world's best kept secrets"

+ Exceptional cartography

Images . View More

Biographies

Robert Middleton - Author
Huw Thomas - Author
Markus Hauser - Cartographer

Specifications

Links

www.pamirs.org
Asian Art Newspaper Book List 2009