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Daniel Metcalfe left Oxford University in 2002 with a degree in Classics. Long fascinated by Central Asia, he taught himself Persian and headed to Iran and the steppes. An energetic traveller, Metcalfe - who also speaks Russian, Swedish and Portuguese - has journeyed extensively throughout Asia, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.
This book's idea is timely: a quest for six ethnic communities that, after surviving the depredations of Sovietism, are now, as Central Asia modernises, disappearing ... [Metcalfe's] book has many virtues, the greatest of which are courage and a keen eye for detail, plus an ability to convey the essence of a place through the briefest of anecdotes * Independent * This is a book of great warmth and immense scholarship, in the best tradition of travel writing. It opens up a region about which most of us are vague. It is fascinating reading * Irish Times * Daniel Metcalfe journeys through the five 'stans, as well as Pakistan and Afghanistan, and brings to life the human tapestry they comprise * Sunday Tribune * This is an important book: a first-hand account from an adventurous traveller who has dared to explore the fulcrum of Asian geopolitics. Read this and you will understand why we need to care about Central Asia. Metcalfe has reminded us of why travel-writing matters * Nicholas Crane, author of Clear Waters Rising * Enterprising and finely written ... Metcalfe can justly be compared with British adventurers such as Robert Byron * Economist *
