In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler's Tale

#546
Title: In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler's Tale
Author: Amitav Ghosh
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 1994
 400 pages

Ghosh, a then-young Indian living in Egypt while conducting research on the Indian slave of a Jewish master, interweaves the story of his own experiences with those of the slave that can be known or inferred, placing both in historical and cultural context. Because some of his experiences parallel his subject's, particularly cultural isolation, Ghosh is able to convey the poignancy, and sometimes disgust, of being a stranger in a strange land. Though the blending of the two stories doesn't quite jell, it's still a very interesting and moving memoir.