The
Southern Gates of Arabia : A Journey in the Hadhramaut
by Freya Stark
In 1934, a 42-year-old Englishwoman named Freya Stark arrived in the
British-governed Protectorate of Aden on a singular mission: to locate
the fabled, long-lost city of Shabwa.
Located on the high Hadramaut plateau in what is now Yemen, Shabwa was
renowned in antiquity as the source of frankincense. Little visited even
then, it was also thought to be a particularly forbidding place; Genesis
mentions it as the "enclosure of death," and the Roman geographer Pliny
reported that it contained 60 great temples and wealth beyond measure.
That was good enough for Stark, who, having not long before made a difficult
passage across the badlands of Iran, thrived on improbable adventures.
And so, by burro and whatever mechanical conveyances she could find, she
ascended the high mountains into a world that was sometimes perilous, but
that also sometimes approached fairy-tale dimensions, as when, climbing
the Hadramaut, she writes, "The path kept high and open, until gradually
the valley clefts narrowed again upon us, and shut us in walls whose luxuriant
green made a romantic landscape of the kind usually only invented in pictures."
Stark never reached Shabwa; laid low by measles, she had to be evacuated
from territory overrun in any event by warring religious factions and gangs
of bandits. Though cut short, her time in the Yemeni highlands yielded
this superb travel narrative, full of uncommon vistas and milieus (harems,
bazaars, and Bedouin camps among them). Anyone who values tales of adventure
well told will find Stark's body of work--and this book in particular--to
be full of treasures. --Gregory McNamee - Amazon.com
Paperback - 368 pages (July 24, 2001)
Modern Library; ISBN: 0375757546
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The
Valleys of the Assassins
by Freya Stark
First published in 1934, Freya Stark's classic tale of her travels
through Persia has been reprinted once again and is just as much a gem
now as when first published. At the age of 37, Stark shocked her fellow
Brits by moving to Baghdad, befriending the locals, studying Arabic and
the Koran, and then setting out on expeditions to remote and uncharted
areas of the Islamic world by foot, donkey, camel, and car. With her fascination
for secret Islamic societies, she resolved to travel to the former home
of the Cult of the Assassins and locate an ancient fortress described by
Marco Polo. (The founder of the cult inspired his recruits to murder through
the use of hashish, hence their name Hashishin, from which we get assassin.)
There was only one problem: she couldn't find the valley on her map. Intrepid
and indefatigable, she found a guide to lead her across the empty Persian
plains and crested mountain ranges (Stark leaping like a mountain goat
while her guide huffed behind) into the practically impregnable valley.
There she found the castle ruins covered with wild tulips and surrounded
by breathtaking views of the Elbruz Mountains. While there, Stark charted
the first accurate maps of the region. Stark also used her charm and her
understanding of Persian ways to infiltrate Luristan, a dangerous and forbidden
place where she hunted for Neolithic bronzes (by persuading the chief of
police to help her loot graves) and searched for buried treasure. The Lurs,
a mountainous tribe, were infamous for murder and thievery, but she found
them "as cheerful a lot of villains as you can wish to meet, and delighted
with us for being, as they said, brave enough to come among them." The
Lurs were consistently generous hosts, but thought nothing of raiding her
luggage while she slept (stealing being their national pastime and hence
nothing to get upset about). While Stark began as an obscure and idiosyncratic
adventurer, she was ultimately backed by the Royal Geographic Society,
was considered one of the best adventure writers of the century, and even
was knighted by the queen of England. With her lively voice and natural
perceptiveness she painted a picture of a fascinating world inhabited by
charming bandits and armed tribesman now largely gone. While she did it
for her own pleasure, in the end, the pleasure is ours. --Lesley Reed
- Amazon.com
Paperback: 352 pages
Modern Library; ISBN: 0375757538; (July 24, 2001)
Baghdad
Sketches
by Freya Stark, Barbara Kreiger (Introduction)
Paperback: Marlboro Pr
ISBN: 0810160234; (December 1996)
Alexander's
Path
by Freya Stark
Book Description This is the story of back-country Turkey, an
area that even in the 20th century remains stubbornly tied to antiquity.
The author traveled through it by truck and horseback, often alone. She
reached places little visited and never written about. The country people
welcomed her with generosity unrelated to their meager resources.
She was traveling in time as well, and found significance in recalling
the life of Alexander the Great. Twenty-two centuries ago he was the first
to dream of a united world. "Magnificent...a brilliant and inspiring account
of her journey along the coastline of Turkey and back into time." (The
Observer)
"Her books have as their obvious destiny inclusion in the aristocracy
of letters." (The Evening Standard)
Paperback: Overlook Press
ISBN: 0879513403; Reprint edition (March 1990)
Passionate
Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark
by Jane Fletcher Geniesse
Never mind that upon her death in 1993, the then 100-year-old Dame
Freya Stark rated a three-column obit in The New York Times. Mention her
name to most Americans, and it will elicit a "Freya who?" The tales and
travails of this romantic traveler, who marched alone into the Middle East
from Persia to Yemen, discovering lost cities and creating an anti-Nazi
intelligence system along the way, are captured in this compelling biography
by former New York Times reporter Jane Fletcher Geniesse.
The author unveils not the fearless wanderer whose mappings and 30 books
brought Stark awards from the likes of the Royal Geographical Society and
made her a darling of British society. Instead Stark is seen as humble,
insecure, and forever caught in the role of perpetual alien--be it when
the English-born child grows up in Italy, where her mother lives in scandal,
or when she plunges alone into the East, a feat never before accomplished
by a Westerner.
An unwilling iconoclast whose love of travel, she would say, began as
an infant when her father carried her in a basket over the Dolomites, Stark
longed for the social security of the times: marriage and children. Proposals
fell through, on occasion her beloved was married, or the romantic emotions
she felt went unrequited--and besides, as a friend later pointed out, marriage
would have spoiled her with its confinements. Rising above depression,
self-imposed ostracism, and her numerous illnesses, Stark learned Arabic
and how to climb mountains, map, partake in geographical digs, and find
a niche in strange cultures.
Initially ridiculed for her passionate fondness of the Middle East,
her writings ultimately generated vast interest for that mysterious part
of the world, where she was surprisingly embraced, made privy to political
movements closed to most foreigners, and even shown precious Islamic documents.
At times a nurse, a war correspondent, a negotiator, Stark was a one-woman
revolution of her time. Geniesse's intoxicating documentation of her life
not only serves to stir up new interest in Stark's many books; it also
ensures that the name Freya Stark will live on long after her obituary
is but a scrap of yellowed, crackling newsprint. --Melissa Rossi - Amazon.com
Paperback: 448 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.93 x
8.06 x 5.14
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks; (July 24, 2001)
ISBN: 0375757465
Freya
Stark in Iraq & Kuwait (The Freya Stark Archives Series)
by Malise Ruthven (Editor), et al
Hardcover: 104 pages
Garnet Pub Ltd; ISBN: 1859640044; 1 Ed edition (September
1997)
Freya
Stark in South Arabia
by Freya Stark, et al
(Hardcover - September 1997)
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