The book's mixture of personal anecdotes, political analysis, historical background, and cultural commentary makes it both an enjoyable and instructive read. ... With its rich depiction of life in Central Asia and authoritative yet accessible style, Postcards deserves a wide audience, from high school students to secretaries of state. An engagingly written exploration of a remote, multifaceted, strategically ... Read morevital and intriguingly complex region of the world.
Eric Freedman, coeditor of After the Czars and Commissars: Journalism in Authoritarian Post-Soviet Central Asia Postcards from Stanland is strongest when it discusses the subtleties of national and ethnic identity and the way the past affects the present. Postcards from Stanland is an ambitious undertaking, encompassing the history, politics, sociology and local color of a part of the world almost unknown and often misunderstood outside the territory. We would all do well to study and learn more from Mould's observations. Books providing a stimulating, readable survey of the five countries that straddle Europe and Asia-Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan-targeted at those with little or no existing knowledge are few and far between. David H. Mould's Postcards from Stanland promises to be a notable exception. ...The western traveler to Central Asia is rare. One with the patience, enthusiasm and attention to detail to provide a considered and mostly vivid portrait...is rarer still. For that reason, Postcards from Stanland is a valuable contribution to the literature on the region. Mould is the ideal author to demystify the region and its people.... (An) accomplished tome that covers topics ranging from culture and politics to history, the environment, economics, and human rights. Of particular interest are sections that probe national identity; the literary landscape of Semay, Kyrgyzstan; and his overall impression of Central Asia. VERDICT: With a sense of humor, Mould's memoir will...stimulate interest in this lesser-known region. An illuminating travelogue through Central Asia.... As a genial travel guide, Mould, an academic who doesn't write like an academic, shows how one should resist the temptations to stereotype a culture too easily and understand it too quickly. Show Less