Overview

Mountainous regions are home to only ten percent of the world’s population yet host a strikingly disproportionate share of the world’s conflicts. Mountains provide a natural refuge for those who want to elude authority, and their remoteness has allowed archaic practices to persist well into our globalized era. As Judith Matloff shows, the result is a combustible mix those in the lowlands cannot afford to ignore. Travelling to conflict zones across the world, she introduces us to Albanian teenagers involved in ancient blood feuds; Mexican peasants hunting down violent poppy growers; and Jihadists who have resisted the Russian military for decades. At every stop, Matloff reminds us that the drugs, terrorism, and instability cascading down the mountainside affect us all. A work of political travel writing in the vein of Ryszard Kapuscinski and Robert Kaplan, The War is in the Mountains is an indelible portrait of the conflicts that have unexpectedly shaped our world.

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9780715652718

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Reviews

`Fascinating, informative and compassionate' * TLS * Matloff's book is an indefatigable journalistic exploration of how mountains shape, sustain, and even determine war and culture around the world. Her argument, which her reporting makes undeniable, is at once obvious and original' -- Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Revenge of Geography A vital, deeply revealing book of political travelogue and intrepid correspondence. She is the ideal witness - learned, dogged, skeptical, but always listening out for new and credible voices. This is classical international journalism of the highest order' -- Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars A brave, engaging, keenly observant guide... reveals the rich, surprising, and perplexing life of places too often diminished by the flat imagery of war' -- Sheri Fink, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Five Days at Memorial and War Hospital Told with a sense of drama by someone who has clearly done her fieldwork' -- Yi-Fu Tuan, author of Romantic Geography

Author Information

JUDITH MATLOFF is a Harvard graduate and teaches conflict reporting at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, the Economist and the Financial Times. Matloff has pioneered safety training for journalists around the world, advising various international organisations such as the UN, Dart Center and International News Safety Institute. She has won several fellowships e.g. Fulbright and MacArthur, and is the author of Fragments of a Forgotten War.

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