Wounded Tigris: A River Journey Through the Cradle of Civilisation

"It was fascinating to read this book alongside A Stranger in Your Own City— they make excellent companion pieces. Wounded Tigris is a river journey along the length of the Tigris, from its source in the Turkish mountains, across northern Syria and through Iraq. The author, Leon McCarron, is a writer and filmmaker who was based in Iraq at the time of the research. In many ways, it’s a classic-style travelogue: it has a well-paced narrative and McCarron is an empathetic writer who paints vivid and sympathetic portraits of the people he meets, as well as the river’s historical, cultural, political and economic significance. He also emphasised the immense environmental challenges it faces—it’s good to see a piece of travel writing fully engaging with the climate emergency. This is another book that will stay with you. Yes. I think the idea of the travel writer as some kind of impartial ‘observer’ who is completely objective about the places he or she sees is thankfully being consigned to the past. Travel writers are on the frontlines of many of the touchstone issues of the 21st century. I’ve certainly found that in my own experience of writing about Latin America. In terms of the climate crisis, you have to wilfully ignore it for it not to be foregrounded in your work. In Wounded Tigris , it’s very much at the forefront and McCarron clearly outlines the human impact. He shows that this is not something to think about in the future: this is happening to people now, and has been happening to them for many years. So yes, it’s very welcome that travel writing is becoming increasingly politically engaged. Though, of course, travel writing has always been political, whether authors have acknowledged it or not."