A Reed Shaken by the Wind: Travels Among the Marsh Arabs of Iraq

Fascinating personal perspective of this unique culture from an outsider.

It did take awhile to get into this book, but once I did, I had a difficult time putting it down. I finished it in two days once I got past the 4th chapter. Maxwell has an extensive vocabulary and uses it well. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Arab culture. Maxwell learns what is and what is not socially acceptable to Arabs.

This is a revelatory book about the culture of the Marsh Arabs in Iraq. The author travels with the famous expert, Wilfred Theisiger and gives the reader a deep understanding of why Iraq will resist any central government's attempt to form a cohesive central government. A classic!

Very good, a bit melodramatic but absolutely depicts the disappeared culture.

a companion piece to thesiger's marsh arabs. fun. a likeable character and again lots of detail and a slightly different point of view. also another's view of thesiger himself.

thanks

The first work I have read by Gavin Maxwell, whom I always equated with Scotland and otters; in this account of his time spent with the Marsh Arabs of Iraq (1956), he tells of his first encounters with the animal, in the reedy waterways by the Tigris - and of his discovery of an otter species which was named after him.But the main part of this work is of the place and the people, as he accompanies experienced adventurer, Wilfred Thesiger, in a reed canoe. staying in the reed homes of local sheikhs, he describes the villages, where each house is 'a tiny island of its own...we could see through their slit doors to firelit interiors where buffaloes shared their warmth with the human family. Not galleons perhaps, but Noah's Arks.'We read of the huge bird life, the turtles, fish ...and huge numbers of wild pigs, the hunting of which occupies the locals - not for food, but to keep down the numbers of a fierce creature. And of local life - dances, disease, generosity and dishonesty...Quite poetic at times, Maxwell describes a world which was to practically disappear under Saddam's rule, with the construction of canals - but is now being restored by ecologists.

I read Wilfred Thesiger's book about this trip first. That of course was a great travel/adventure tale, but Gavin Maxwell's book of the journey into the land of the Marsh Arabs is equally interesting, and I would rank it up there with the travel classics. Maxwell's book is also much funnier than Thesiger's more sober account of that trip. Maxwell has a wonderful eye for detail, and is able to successfully convey to the reader the feeling of what it was like to be among this most different culture.

Received in poor condition

Turn the pages back to an Arabic culture almost lost on the onset of a 20th centurywar written in the 50's with directness of the author who was the campaigner who intoduced us to otters and without Gavin Maxwell we'd never have these animals living in our rivers. Gavin Maxwell tells us about the marsh arabs with an insight into their culture which is informative and the text flows very well. When reading the book it is well very described and could imagine the back drop of the setting.

Bought this book after listening to a radio four program and very happy to have read it. It was nice to know history of Iraq and the views of an outsider at that time.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading Maxwell's account of his travels amongst the marsh Arabs of Southern Iraq. Maxwell's description of the physical terrain, and the animals and people who inhabit it, is simply spell-binding. Very sad to think that it has all been destroyed by the likes of Saddam Hussein. Would have been truly wonderful to have enjoyed the experience that Gavin Maxwell had there at the time. As a bonus Maxwell got to travel through the marshes with the doyen of explorers Wilfred Thesiger. They formed an effective if contrasting combination and their travelling relationship provides an interesting sub-text to the overall journey. If you get the chance to read this book take it..

Brilliant descriptions of colours of sky and water.Relatively little anthropological data about the Marsh Arabs and not much about his relationship with Thesiger.