Essay · 1 min · EN
Spies and the Twilight of Empire
Frederick Marshman Bailey in the uniform of an Austrian soldier.
Writing
Essays and field notes
Essays, field notes and research by Noam Backner on China, Inner Asia, Buddhism, the Silk Roads, food, agriculture and the lived experience of place.
Essay · 1 min · EN
Doomsday Raki
A certain Sufi sat in the town square at midnight, pondering the things Sufis ponder at such hours, seasoning his thoughts with a bottle of raki.
Travel Journal · 9 min · EN
A Thousand Celestial Meadows: Kyrgyzstan
A nation of Siberian nomads on a trans-civilisational frontier, and the summer pastures that still hold its identity.
Essay · 6 min · EN
In the Gates of Turan
Why the Shahnameh's oldest quarrel is an ecological one: the sown land against the sea of grass.