Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, Volume 1 (of 2) By Isabella L. Bird

Isabella Lucy Bird, married name Bishop FRGS, was a nineteenth-century English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist. With Fanny Jane Butler she founded the John Bishop Memorial hospital in Srinagar.

Volume 2 of Mrs. Bishop's Journeys concludes the adventure through Kurdistan, containing a passion for travelling that belies it difficulties.

Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan : including a summer in the Upper Karun region and a visit to the Nestorian rayahs Isabella Bishop (nee Bird) published her Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan in 1891, compiled from a series of letters home. Recommended an open-air life from an early age as a cure for physical and nervous difficulties, Bird toured the United States and Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the Far East. After her marriage, and the death of her husband in 1886, she did missionary work in India and then, in 1890, travelled to little-known parts of Turkey, Persia and Kurdistan in the company of Major Herbert Sawyer of the Indian Army. This came to be the hardest journey of her experience, with extremes of temperature and harsh living conditions for the sixty-year-old, although she was able to provide medical care for the local people. Volume 1 introduces the region, its people, and their customs and includes many evocative anecdotes. It also contains a glossary and maps."

Winner, James Beard Award for Best Book of the Year, International (2017) Winner, IACP Award for Best Cookbook of the Year in Culinary Travel (2017) Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by The Boston Globe, Food & Wine, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal “A reason to celebrate . . . a fascinating culinary excursion.” —The New York Times Though the countries in the Persian culinary region are home to diverse religions, cultures, languages, and politics, they are linked by beguiling food traditions and a love for the fresh and the tart. Color and spark come from ripe red pomegranates, golden saffron threads, and the fresh herbs served at every meal. Grilled kebabs, barbari breads, pilafs, and brightly colored condiments are everyday fare, as are rich soup-stews called ash and alluring sweets like rose water pudding and date-nut halvah. Our ambassador to this tasty world is the incomparable Naomi Duguid, who for more than 20 years has been bringing us exceptional recipes and mesmerizing tales from regions seemingly beyond our reach. More than 125 recipes, framed with stories and photographs of people and places, introduce us to a culinary paradise where ancient legends and ruins rub shoulders with new beginnings—where a wealth of history and culinary traditions makes it a compelling place to read about for cooks and travelers and for anyone hankering to experience the food of a wider world.

New York Times best-selling author Stephen Mansfield was witness to much of the modern history of the Kurds. In this riveting account, Mansfield movingly tells the stories of the people who have fashioned one of the greatest economic and cultural resurrections in human history. They are the largest people group in the world without a homeland of their own. Despised and persecuted the world over, they even call themselves "the people without a friend." Saddam Hussein tried to wipe them from the face of the earth, killing several hundred thousand of them in the attempt. Their sufferings have become legend. They are the Kurds, descendants of the ancient Medes best known today from the pages of the Bible -- inhabitants of what the world now calls Northern Iraq. Yet today the Kurds are rebuilding so brilliantly from war and oppression that even their enemies call it "a miracle." Six star hotels stand where bombs once fell, shopping malls and gleaming schools rise where massacres once occurred. National Geographic and Conde Nast have listed modern "Kurdistan" as a "must-see" tourist destination.