Caravans, James A. Michener
Caravans, James A. Michener
2 Rating(s)
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Caravans
A Novel of Afghanistan

Author: James A. Michener

Narrator: Larry McKeever

Unabridged: 14 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/04/2015


Synopsis

First published in 1963, James A. Michener’s gripping chronicle of the social and political landscape of Afghanistan is more relevant now than ever. Combining fact with riveting adventure and intrigue, Michener follows a military man tasked, in the years after World War II, with a dangerous assignment: finding and returning a young American woman living in Afghanistan to her distraught family after she suddenly and mysteriously disappears. A timeless tale of love and emotional drama set against the backdrop of one of the most important countries in the world today, Caravans captures the tension of the postwar period, the sweep of Afghanistan’s remarkable history, and the inescapable allure of the past.
 
Praise for Caravans
 
“Brilliant . . . an extraordinary novel . . . The old nomadic trails across the mountains spring into existence.”—The New York Times
 
“Romantic and adventurous . . . [Michener] has a wonderful empathy for the wild and free and an understanding of the reasons behind the kind of cruelty that goes with it.”—Newsday
 
“Michener has done for Afghanistan what . . . his first [book] did for the South Pacific.”—The New York Herald Tribune

About The Author

James A. Michener was one of the world’s most popular writers, the author of more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Tales of the South Pacific, the bestselling novels The Source, Hawaii, Alaska, Chesapeake, Centennial, Texas, Caribbean, and Caravans,and the memoir The World Is My Home. Michener served on the advisory council to NASA and the International Broadcast Board, which oversees the Voice of America. Among dozens of awards and honors, he received America’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1977, and an award from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 1983 for his commitment to art in America. Michener died in 1997 at the age of ninety.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Blaine on March 12, 2019

Another marvelous book by Michener. This time we go back in time to one of his earliest works and take a close look at the country of Afghanistan. I had only wished the US State and Defense Departments had read this work before we decided sent troops over there. Michener writes this book in 1963 and......more

Goodreads review by Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship on April 09, 2011

I bought this book after loving Michener's Hawaii, hoping for a similarly wonderful reading experience. I was disappointed. The best I can say is that I learned some things--the book takes you around Afghanistan in the 1940s, introducing a variety of places and cultures and including pertinent histo......more

Goodreads review by Judy on April 11, 2017

This is the first book I read for my 1963 reading list. It was #4 on the bestseller list for that year. At under 500 pages it is short for a Michener book. The location is Afghanistan. The year is 1946. I would bet that the country was not much in the news in the year after WWII ended though it was......more

Goodreads review by Corey on October 22, 2021

4/5-This was the most unexpectedly good read I've had in awhile. I don't know what I was expecting, but it far surpassed it. The basic premise of this is only somewhat intriguing-a snotty American girl has married an Afghan man, run off with him to Afghanistan, and her parents haven't heard from her......more

Goodreads review by Julie on June 13, 2019

What a book! Best one I have read in awhile. Extremely thought provoking and enlightening even though it was written quite awhile ago and then about an era even before that. I would have LOVED to have had someone read this book at the same time and we could discuss it. By far the best book I have re......more


Quotes

“Brilliant . . . an extraordinary novel . . . The old nomadic trails across the mountains spring into existence.”The New York Times
 
“Romantic and adventurous . . . [Michener] has a wonderful empathy for the wild and free and an understanding of the reasons behind the kind of cruelty that goes with it.”Newsday
 
“Michener has done for Afghanistan what . . . his first [book] did for the South Pacific.”The New York Herald Tribune