The Critics: The Carpet Wars
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 06.01.02 | 1:05 AM ET
In “The Carpet Wars,” Australian writer Christopher Kremmer travels a route through Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, India and other countries to investigate the region’s carpet trade. Morag Fraser of The Age raves,”[It’s] a source of vivid, unexpected pleasure—sharp as the air in the Afghan mountains.” Washington Post reviewer Tracy Lee Simmons is a bit more subdued with her praise: “This book, in its sobriety, puts a human and—despite the random, ritualistic violence—oddly sympathetic face on a part of the world that history, ancient and modern, has brought home to all of us.” Simmons also reviews Tony Perrottet’s “Route 66 A.D.” She notes that it’s “a splendid trip with two gutsy companions, and, by the end, the reader needs a shower as much as they do.”