This was a bit difficult to get through. Freya Stark, who was a powerhouse in the world of Middle Eastern affairs and travels during much of her life, presents us with a book about her travels in Persia. I'm sure that had I read this when it was originally published I would've given it higher marks. But, reading it in 2022, I was honestly bored. This boredom was magnified by a complete lack of photos. It's hard to get a sense of what she saw, as so much of one place in her writings resembles the next. There are a couple of old hand-drawn maps, which, I must confess, were of no value to me, the reader.

Also, I felt like Freya would start out a section by building up this splendid idea of what the trip would be like, where she would go, and what she would discover. By the end of the segment, we find that she gave up entirely due to one reason or another. This was an extreme let-down and anti-climax. I did like hearing some of the stories told to her by some of those she came in contact with, particularly stories and legends surrounding King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

I have another book to read by Freya Stark, but after this one, I'm not sure I want to delve into it quite yet. ( )

Freya Stark lived a fascinating, fearless, adventurous, long life. She spent most of it traveling in the Middle East, much of that travel in regions where women traveling alone was unheard of. She traveled as a native, on a pack mule, sleeping in homes in small villages, learning how the locals lived.

She wrote many articles about her discoveries that were published in the journals of the Royal Geographic Society, and drew up maps of regions that were until then unmapped. She took photographs and accumulated items of historical significance (this was an era of unbelievable grave-robbing and pillaging).

This novel is her accounts of 5 trips in Persia which occurred in the early '30's, soon after the new Shah has assumed control of the country. Although there are roads and electricity in the major cities, where Stark is heading the people still live as they have for millennium. They have been disarmed and there are now Police patrolling, so the outlaw tribes are no longer warring, making it safer for travel.

The book is not an anthropologic documentation of Stark's findings - for that she refers the reader to her published article. Instead this is writings from her diary/journals and here are more her impressions of the places she visits, the receptions she receives and her travels. The only problem was that the reader is not really made aware of this until 3/4 of the way throughout the book. The maps are few and one is illegible so I did not have a good sense of where she was or how far the distances were. There is only one photo in my edition - of one of her guides - and I longed for more - the people, the tents, the dress, the vistas...I wound up spending hours on Google trying to see what she had been writing about, and it was not always easy to find! Names of places have changed and photos of that era are few and far between, the area was being modernized as she traveled and it is very different seeing a road up a mountain rather than a precarious mule path!

Stark presented history of places as told to her by her guides and the locals. She is offered unlimited hospitality everywhere she travels - families move out of their homes so she has shelter, go without so she can eat; it is quite amazing. She tells of villages where traditional enemies live side by side in relative peace, and shows the day to day lives of people who move with the seasons, live off the land and are, for the most part, very happy. It is a fascinating peek into an unknown and mostly gone world.

Stark was a very bright woman, she spoke Arabic and had studied the Koran. She used her wits to get out of tight situations and her humor to convey them to us, the reader. Fascinating, enriching, engrossing read! ( )

Another woman traveler, but some time ago, was Freya Stark, who wrote “The Valleys of the Assassins and Other Persian Travels” (1934), about exactly that: her travels in Persia as a single woman. Her’s is a detailed account of the places she visits, in the meantime updating existing maps and adding new features. Entertaining reading, mostly for the descriptions of life in Iran in those days, in the villages she passes through, with her small, but dedicated team, who become like characters in her book, or in the company of a larger caravan. Everywhere, she is a unique appearance, a woman alone, and a Western woman at that, who generates lots of interesting reactions, from officials as well as the nomads she encounters. ( )

Joy's review: Freya Stark roamed around the Middle East in the 1930's learning Persian and Arabic in the process. I read lots of her stuff when I was in my late 20's. But I've got to admit this book did not live up to my memories of her writing. Full of vivid and wonderful descriptions of landscape, individuals, and customs, but if felt to me like it never really had a point or purpose. Of course, that's how Stark felt about travel itself: you don't need a point or purpose; you do it because you love it. What redeemed the book for me was her regular insights like the one about the lack of recognition of the need for solitude contributing to half our domestic troubles. ( )

Narratives of several journeys in remote areas of the Middle East, principally the Persia-Iraq border region, in the 1930's. Armed with the self-assurance of empire, but also innate savvy, cunning, and fluency in various local languages, the author explores the tribal hill-country of Luristan, and the area of northern Persia which was home to the titular assassins first described by Marco Polo, outwitting and deceiving unfriendly officials/police as necessary. She is motivated partly by her own curiosity and wanderlust, and partly by a never fully explained commission from the British Foreign Office (I think) which likely relates to mapping and general intelligence gathering but apparently also includes a bona fide treasure hunt.

It's a remarkable insight into a people (peoples really) and place which most of us know nothing about. As a Western woman she is able to report from both sides of the patriarchal societies with whom she stays. But I was frustrated by how little humanity she gives us: what there is is memorable, like the smart young tribesman with big plans to make it in Tehran, or the sorrowful first wife of a polygamous chief now supplanted by a younger model, but the focus is on geographical description - map-making, really - archaeology, and Stark's daily camp routine.

The prose is mostly functional, again in keeping with Stark's semi-hidden mapping agenda, but always precise and there are some nice descriptive passages. I think as long as you don't go into this expecting a modern travelogue a la Chatwin or Theroux, you won't be disappointed. Its uniqueness alone is enough to recommend it. I'll read the acclaimed biography of Stark, "Passionate Nomad" by Jane Fletcher sooner or later. She led a pretty incredible life. ( )