So Many Enemies, So Little Time: An American Woman in All the Wrong Places

by Elinor Burkett

Book Overview

At a time when Americans were so riveted by questions about their place in a newly hostile world and were swearing off air travel, Elinor Burkett did not just take a trip -- she took a headlong dive... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006052443X
• ISBN13: 9780060524432
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

adventurous spirit abroad

Elinor Burkett's account of her travels in Central Asia is vibrant, quirky, and fascinating. I especially admire her courage in traveling to a region not well known to most Americans, her observational powers, her attention to detail, and her ability to place her adventures in a global context. I also admire her integrity in sticking to her principles as a professor of journalism at Bishkek, Kyrgystan, and her sincere desire to inject the spirit of journalistic objectivity into her students' psyches. As I read over the other reviews of this book, I found it hard to believe that anyone who had not acted with the same bravery in traveling to the truly exotic locations in this book would dare to express a negative opinion of two who dared do so. I believe that Elinor and her husband Dennis made a great team as they explored foreign cultures, not only in Central Asia, but as far afield as China, and reported their own colorful experiences, as well as the stories of the many people they met who are dealing with enormous adjustments from the communism of the former USSR to a free market economy, and from age-old peasant practices to the rapid technological advances of the first world. Elinor describes in great detail the painful shifts in mindset that are occurring among the young people in Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan, as well as in Iraq and Iran, and the way that they are caught between conflicting desires for the past and the future. She sheds light on their world and their natural wish to be regarded as important by America and other developed nations. Perhaps the most compelling reason for which I appreciate this book is that Elinor succeeds in making us Americentric people aware that there are many other nations out there, many other peoples, all of whom have hopes, desires, and problems that are just as valid as ours. This book enriches our knowledge of the world. Bravo to a modern American trailblazer!

Elinor Burkett: Today's Marco Polo

Just finished Elinor Burkett's So Many Enemies, So Little Time. I liked it a lot. It's really a Marco Polo travel diary for today. Burkett provides needed background to world events, in a lively personal style. Fun to read, and you can think about it afterwards, too. The book recounts Burkett's adventures in Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, Burma (officially Myanmar), China, Vietnam, and Cambodia during the 2001-2002 events, when she was a Fulbright Scholar. I agree with her view that the Fulbright program is one US government initiative that really works as it was intended. She explains how her view of the world changed after her experience teaching abroad in the wake of 9/11--just the kind of growth experience Senator Fulbright wanted. Burkett has a real gift for noticing the interesting detail. Her description of the little things at her university in Bishkek--such as wandering around the hall trying to find a classroom after being kicked out for some sort of seminar--tracked pretty exactly to my experience at UWED in Tashkent (which I was pleased to see she called the Harvard of Central Asia). Burkett's observations are generally acute, the most telling ones based on her personal confrontations with age-old traditions. Most of all, I enjoyed Burkett's Kyrgyz anecdotes, which I think reflect a certain mentality--and reality--in the region. Here's a sample: While walking in the countryside, two Uzbeks and two Kyrgyz fell in a hole. "I'll give you a hand up," the younger Uzbek said to the older. "Then, when you're on solid ground, you can pull me up." The older man agreed, the Uzbeks freed themselves and then went on their way. The two Kyrgyz men looked at each other grimly, and one began climbing out of the hole on his own. "Hey, you can't do that," yelled the other man, pulling on his companion's legs. "If you get out, I'll be alone and stranded."

Loved it

I enjoyed Burkett's tales of her 1 year teaching experience in Kyrgyzstan and her sidetrips through Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, & Russia (hope I didn't leave any place out). Her bluntly honest writing style is refreshing in this age of political correctness. Her experiences in each country were different, but probably the main theme of the book can be summed up in one of her paragraphs:"Even the most virulent revilers of the Stars and Stripes were tangled in contradictions, spouting half-truths based less on U.S. foreign policy than on local political machinations. They were simultaneously applying for visas to a country they claimed to despise, and demanding that American cease its adventurism while insisting, with equal intensity, that American solve the world's problems."I do have to contradict one of Ms. Burkett's statements that Americans don't see Russian movies. I saw my first Russian movie while I was a student at U.T. Austin. It was "Siberiade". Now, 20 years later I enjoy Russian movies on VHS & DVD owned by my public library system, which, by the way, have pretty decent check-out histories.

A new perspective on the Middle East...

Unfortunately, most Americans "learn" about life in Islamic countries only through the news media and only in the context of the War on Terror. Burkett's most significant achievement with this book is to provide a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in Central Asia and the Middle East - one that avoids the dual pitfalls of self-indulgence (for the most part) and political demagoguery. After reading this book I found it much easier to imagine life in the Middle East and felt I had gained a better understanding of what people in that part of the world love and hate about Americans. It's not a political book per se, but I would highly recommend it as supplemental reading for anyone interested in the region.

What a Kick, and What an Education

This is the rarest of books: at once hugely entertaining and hugely thought-provoking; both an exercise in pure fun and an attempt (successful) at genuine political and sociological enlightenment. It's a breezy travel memoir; it's a serious and timely look at the image and impact of the United States abroad. It reflects very much the issues that 9-11 raised, and yet it's also more timeless than that. Burkett bops through the former Soviet Union, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, China and, in almost every place, challenges the conventional wisdom about what's going on and offers less predictable glimpses and insights. It's a book full of hope; it's a book laden with hilariously cranky pessimism. It's terrific.