From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium - William Dalrymple

From the Holy Mountain is the third outing of William Dalrymple's writing career, and a highly successful one. It is very apparent right from the outset that Dalrymple himself is very pious and there a clear religious intonations to his writing style. This, for me, was a new and unexpected genre of reading - religious travel writing. I'm far from religious myself, but I could appreciate Dalrymple's accuracy and descriptiveness of the places, cultures and people he met which were remarkably far ranging from the off. From the holy mountain itself, is almost a mission as you will note once you finish the book. Dalrymple is in search of the ever ...  Read the complete review

~~~~~~~~~~ INTRODUCTION ~~~~~~~~~~ I came across the work of travel writer William Dalrymple quite by accident. I had arrived early for a meeting in London, and, spotting a branch of Waterstone's quite close to my destination, I wandered in for a spot of window-shopping. The artwork on the front cover of "From the Holy Mountain" (FTHM) was what initially attracted me, but on picking it up, the subject of the book was not immediately obvious. The back cover was adorned by a number of gushing quotes praising the author, and the only clues to what lay within were brief references to Byzantium and Eastern Christianity. Having been ...  Read the complete review