One of the most poignant phenomena of the last century is the loss of homeland endured by millions of people under political pressure and in devastating circumstances. Yousof Mamoor is one of those emigrants. His vivid accounts of serial migrations are intricately interwoven with details of a culture and way of life vibrant with color and tradition. Born in Central Asia in 1917 to an Uzbek merchant family, he offers a precious legacy of eyewitness accounts of events in his birthplace, Kokand, of Moscow during the early days of the Soviet Union, East Turkistan (China), the end of British rule in India, and forty years of tumultuous change in Afghanistan, a story infused with the indomitable spirit of its author.
455 pp, pb, in English.