Description
Book SynopsisIntroduction by Neal Ascherson
In our globalised but increasingly polarised age, Kapuscinski shows how the Other remains one of the most compelling ideas of our times.
In this reflection on a lifetime of travel, the renown travel writer takes a fresh look at the Western idea of the Other: the non-European or non-American. Looking at this concept through the lens of his own encounters in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Kapuscinski traces how the West has understood the Other from classical times to colonialism, from the Age of Enlightenment to the postmodern global village.
Trade Review' He has given the truest, least partial, most comprehensive and vivid account of what life is like on our planet . . .A great imaginative writer, he goes way beyond the material he is processing. -- Geoff Dyer * Guardian *
Kapuscinski trascends the limitations of journalism and writes with the narrative power of a Conrad or Kipling or Orwell -- Blake Morrison
The 20th century's most telling spokesman for the millions of ordinary people who are trapped in the vagaries of authoritarian regimes * Independent *
The true master of journalism -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Kapuscinski saw more, and more clearly, if not always perfectly, than nearly any writer one can think to name. Few have written more beautifully of unspeakable things. Few have had his courage, almost none his talent. His books changed the way many of us think about nonfiction -- Tom Bissel * New York Times Book Review *
In this short, simple, extraordinarily intelligent book, Kapuscinksi explores what it is to be European, to be non-European, to be colonised, to be the coloniser, to have or to impose an identity. -- Jason Burke * Observer *
Intelligently written. * Guardian *
A powerful, quasi-religious, meditation on the power of humbling oneself in the face of the unknown. * Independent *
