Mirror To Damascus

Colin Thubron

Formats & editions

EBook

8 Jun 2011

Paperback

2 Feb 2009

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'One of the oldest, most mysterious and fascinating cities in the world has found a worthy biographer: a rare event and one not to be missed' Sunday Times

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.

Pub date: 8 June 2011
ISBN: 9781446483657
Imprint: Vintage Digital
Format: EBook
Pages: 368

Categories:

Travel

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About the Author

Colin Thubron

Colin Thubron is an acknowledged master of travel writing, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first writing was about the Middle East - Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. In 1982 he travelled into the Soviet Union in an ancient Morris Marina, pursued by the KGB, a journey he recorded in Among the Russians. From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind the Wall (winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Award), The Lost Heart of Asia, In Siberia (Prix Bouvier) and Shadow of the Silk Road. His most recent book is To a Mountain in Tibet (all available in Vintage). Colin Thubron was President of the Royal Society of Literature from 2010 to 2017.

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Praise for Mirror To Damascus

“Colin Thubron writes in a classical style of grave beauty, with an intense feeling for place and people”

New York Times

“From the earliest legend to the latest coup, Mirror to Damascus reflects every discoverable facet of the city... a quite exceptional travel writer”

Daily Telegraph

“One of the great merits of Mr Thubron's admirable book is that he balances this tribute to a place of which he is clearly very fond with the harsh facts of history... he was always moved by the best motives - curiosity and affection”

The Times

“Mr Thubron is a man of singular enterprise, and a writer of remarkable distinction. Surely Damascus was never sacked to better purpose”

Observer

“One of the oldest, most mysterious and fascinating cities in the world has found a worthy biographer: a rare event and one not to be missed”

Sunday Times