New Book on a Timely Subject: The Kurds

In A THOUSAND SIGHS, A THOUSAND REVOLTS (Ballantine Books, 405 pages, $25.95), acclaimed American journalist and author Christiane Bird takes a first-person, grassroots look at the Kurds of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria. Bird traveled extensively throughout the Kurdish regions in 2002; the result is a deeply moving portrait of the Kurdish people, who are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East and playing an increasingly important role in regional politics.

(PRWEB) June 15, 2004 -- Bird traveled throughout the Kurdish regions in 2002-a year before the Iraq war began-staying with Kurdish families and talking to Kurds from all walks of life. The result is a deeply moving portrait of the Kurdish people, with each Kurd Bird encounters revealing another heart-breaking, yet also fiercely courageous, chapter from the little-understood Kurdish experience.

Numbering between 25 and 30 million, the Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without a state of their own. The Kurds are also the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East-after the Arabs, Turks, and Persians-and they occupy some of the regions most strategic and richest lands. Divided between four nation-states after WWI, the Kurds have suffered from some of the most catastrophic events and tragic political policies of the last century-and yet endured. Today, they are playing an increasingly important role in the Middle East.

Shades of Freya Stark, Gertrude Bell and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu! A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts evokes those intrepid Englishwomen who ventured into the Middle East many decades ago. But this time it is an American, Christiane Bird, who follows in their footsteps with an informative and altogether fascinating account of her recent travels throughout Kurdistan. No book could be more timely." Washington Post

Impressive reportage, a fearless commitment to seeing what there is to see, and a strong sense of history: a fine work of literary travel, one that honors its subjects." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Birds talent for blending reportage with illuminating tales from individuals makes this a notable and much needed work." Publishers Weekly

I cannot recommend too highly this brilliantly evocative portrait of people who have suffered terrible crimes, but endured, with remarkable courage and undying hope, captured with rare sensitivity and sympathetic understanding in Birds deeply moving account of her journeys through their lands and her sharing of their lives." Noam Chomsky

Publicity Contact: Brian McLendon (212) 572-2681. bmclendon@randomhouse.com

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