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Drinking Arak Off an Ayatollah's Beard

By Nicholas Jubber

Product Image: Drinking Arak Off an Ayatollah's Beard

Drinking Arak Off an Ayatollah's Beard

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Description
An engrossing blend of travel writing and history, Drinking Arak off an Ayatollah's Beard traces one man's adventure-filled journey through today's Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, and describes his remarkable attempt to make sense of the present by delving into the past. Setting out to gain insight into the lives of Iranians and Afghans today, Nicholas Jubber is surprised to uncover the legacy of a vibrant pre-Islamic Persian culture that has endured even in times of the most fanatic religious fundamentalism. Everywhere--from underground dance parties to religious shrines to opium dens--he finds powerful and unbreakable connections to a time when both Iran and Afghanistan were part of the same mighty empire, when the flame of Persian culture lit up the world. Whether through his encounters with poets and cab drivers or run-ins with "pleasure daughters" and mujahideen, again and again Jubber is drawn back to the eleventh-century Persian epic, the Shahnameh ("Book of Kings"). The poem becomes not only his window into the region's past, but also his link to its tumultuous present, and through it Jubber gains access to an Iran and Afghanistan seldom revealed or depicted: inside-out worlds in which he has tea with a warlord, is taught how to walk like an Afghan, and even discovers, on a night full of bootleg alcohol and dancing, what it means to drink arak off an Ayatollah's beard.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Edition:
1
Number of Pages:
360
Release Date:
2010-05-04
Publication Date:
2010-05-01
Publisher:
Da Capo Press
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
0306818841
ISBN13:
9780306818844
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Weight:
584 g
Height:
152 cm
Width:
229 cm
Thickness:
21 cm

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Good
The items bear minimal signs of past use, such as light scratches or memories in the form of markings. These signs of wear give the items a charming character and tell stories of their previous owners, while not affecting their functionality.
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