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Tony Wheeler's Bad Lands
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Tony Wheeler's Bad Lands
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Tony Wheeler's Bad Lands
Ebook369 pages6 hours

Tony Wheeler's Bad Lands

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this ebook

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher*

A tourist on the Axis of Evil.

'You guys really are the axis of evil', our guide splutters over his stein of beer in the Pyongyang duck restaurant. 'You're always leaning out of the windows and taking photographs when I tell you not to.'

In an age of plastic knives on planes, Tony Wheeler can make the extraordinary claim of having visited all the rogue countries currently on newsreaders' lips. Bad Lands is a witty first-hand account of his travels through places often perceived as having some of the most repressive and dangerous regimes in the world: Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. Taking into account each country's attitude to human rights, terrorism and foreign policy, he asks 'what makes a country truly evil?' and 'how bad is really bad?' - all the while engaging with a colourful cast of locals and hapless tour guides, ruminating on history and debunking popular myths.

Written by the founder of Lonely Planet, this fascinating account of life in these closed-off countries will appeal to anyone with an interest in the state of the world today.

With additional excursions to places that are slightly misguided, mildly malevolent, seriously off course, extraordinarily reclusive and much misunderstood. The second version of this popular title is well worth a read!

Author: Tony Wheeler

About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places where they travel.

TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

*#1 in the world market share - source: Nielsen Bookscan. Australia, UK and USA. March 2012-January 2013

Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherLonely Planet
Release dateApr 1, 2011
ISBN9781742204765
Unavailable
Tony Wheeler's Bad Lands

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Reviews for Tony Wheeler's Bad Lands

Rating: 3.499999972972973 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Got this from the library. It's a good travel guide/armchair travel written by the co-founder of Lonely Planet. I found his travels through Afghanistan and Albania to be fascinating, though I was less interested in Burma. Took a break in Cuba to read another book.ETA 14/8:I never finished this book. It was a good read, and some moments where the real country shined through what we hear in the news. Unfortunately I ran out of time with getting ready for the Australia trip and I had to return it to the linrary
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book gives a good description on most of the countries we call "The axis of evil" and why we call them evil. It's a mix of the travel stories of Tony wheeler in these countries and the the background on how these countries became the way they were. This balancing act requires some focus and determination of the reader. Because it has a lot of ground to cover and a lot of ground to cover. A lot of the time, the countries are not really evil but only refuse to comply with the wishes of the western countries. Iran is an example of a really loud and obnoxious goverment, but still giving it's citizens some room without letting the country fall apart. In other countries, their goverments truly do bad things to their citizens. (North Korea) He even visits an ally of the USA, namely Saoudi Arabia, which treats their women even worse than Afghanistan. The conclusion of the book says that not all countries are really evil. Especially when you compare them what the Western countries have done onto some of them, like Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Just unreservedly excellent. Even though a small bit outdated, this is still a valuable book. Tony Wheeler can size up these incredibly messy, incoherent political situations and make them understandable in concise paragraphs, without frequent side trips to Wikipedia. His travelogues are warm, humorous and capture the tastes and sights of the various cultures as well as great vignettes of the local people he meets. While pointing out shortfalls, he is still positive and enthusiastic. He has a great eye and a rare ability to capture moments in a short, but rich descriptive fashion. Don't miss this one.