The Great Gamble

The Great Gamble, by Gregory Feifer; HarperCollins Publishing, 2009.

Reviewed by Jeff Youde

Former Moscow NPR correspondant Gregory Feifer offers this very interesting, retrospective critique on the Soviet Union's invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, based on first hand accounts. In The Great Gamble, Feifer points out the parallels between the ill-fated 1980's Soviet intrusion into that country, and the present American involvement, which (he feels) is undermined by our entanglement in the second front--Iraq. I also enjoyed In A Sunburned Country by travel writer Bill Bryson, offering a humorous, sometimes whimsical take on one man's travels across the vast Australian continent. For something closer to home, the Cascade Alpine Guide: Stevens Pass to Rainy Pass, by iconoclastic climber Fred Beckey, will offer our region's wanderers lots of details about various high country routes. This book is a Northwest classic.