Book description
Described by the author as simply 'a work of love', Mirror to
Damascus provides an enthralling and fascinating history of
Damascus from the Amorites of the Bible to the revolution of 1966, as
well a being a charming and witty personal record of a city
well-loved.
In explaining how modern Damascus is rooted in immemoriable layers
of culture and tradition, Colin Thubron explores the historical,
artistic, social and religious inheritance of the Damascenes in an
amusing and perceptive manner, whilst interspersing the narrative with
innumerable anecdotes about travellers of bygone days.
Mirror to Damascus is a unique portrait of a city now obscured by
recent upheavals, by one of the most indefatigable and popular of
travel writers.
Colin Thubron is
the
master of classic travel writing, and a previous winner of the Thomas
Cook Travel Book Award. His first writing was about the Middle East -
Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. In 1982 he travelled all over Russia in an
ancient Morris Marina - pursued at every stage by the KGB. From these
early experiences developed his travel books:
Among the Russians,
Behind the Wall, The Lost Heart of Asia
and
In Siberia (
all available in Vintage). So great is his dedication to travelling in
Russia and China, that he has learned Russian and Mandarin in order to
be able to speak to ordinary people en route.
