2001-2009 20thcentury adventure afghanistan asianhistory companionship courage cultural culture danger descriptionandtravel eastern-world endurance essays exploration foreign-affairs foreign-experience foreign-policy general geographical hiking history journey landscapes memoir middle-east middleeasternhistory modernhistory non-fiction nonfiction nonfiction-literature observation personal-growth personal-journey political politics resilience rory rural-life social socialaspects sociallifeandcustoms socialsciences survival travel travel-literature travel-writing travelogue travelogues travelstewart walking wanderlust war war-torn waronterrorism