SEMINAR- Discussion with Rory Stewart, O.B.E., Today, Eliot House Library

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SEMINAR- Discussion with Rory Stewart, O.B.E., Today, Eliot House Library

Posted by: Center for Middle Eastern Studies
<mideast-list@lists.fas.harvard.edu>

This Wednesday afternoon, Eliot House at Harvard College will be
hosting a discussion with Rory Stewart, former Provisional Governor of
Maysan Province in Iraq and author of the bestselling book about
walking across Afghanistan, "The Places in Between". The event is open to all.

A Discussion with RORY STEWART, O.B.E.

Rory is the author of "The Places in Between" (NYT's Best 10 Books of
2006) and "The Prince of the Marshes and Other Occupational Hazards of
a Year in Iraq"

Wednesday, April 11th @ 2:30pm, Eliot House Library (C-Entry)

In early 2002, Rory Stewart, an Oxford-educated 28 year-old Scotsman
with a hitherto promising career in the British Foreign Office,
decided to walk across Afghanistan. In the middle of a war. In the
middle of winter. He was told by local officials he would die. He
didn't, just, surviving by his wits, the kindness of various strangers
and the companionship of a giant mastiff named Babur. His account of
the trek was lauded by The New York Times as a "striding, glorious
book . . . a flat-out masterpiece."

Then, in mid-2003, Stewart took a taxi to Baghdad to look for work and
found himself appointed governor of the southern Iraqi province of
Maysan. His recounting of the absurd and astounding challenges the job
presented, to be found in "The Prince of the Marshes and Other
Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq", prompted The New York Times
to remark that he "seems to be living one of the most extraordinary
lives on record." A reviewer from Slate noted that of all the books
"about the tragedy in Iraq, . . . Stewart's is the most likely to last".

Rory is currently based in Kabul, where he heads the Turquoise
Mountain Foundation, a non-governmental agency dedicated to preserving
the cultural and artistic heritage of Afghanistan. In January, Rory
did an interview with BBC World's "Hardtalk" about coalition strategy
in Iraq, which can be viewed here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/6248027.stm

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