Part graphic novel travelogue, part tongue-in-cheek travel guide, this collection gathers the adventures of caustic cartoonist Ted Rall in the wild and woolly central Asian countries, a veritable powder keg sitting atop the oil the world will need tomorrow. The book combines articles with comics in chapters that relate Rall’s experiences retracing the legendary Silk Road, from the sublime history of China to the absurdity of the present-day petty dictatorships of the “The ’Stans,” to which the author had the temerity—or perhaps stupidity—to return, including once with a group of listeners on his radio show, on a dare. This always-lively compendium offers readers an exotic adventure, satire, and a fun way to find out more about an often overlooked part of the world that looms in importance with its immense, and immensely coveted, reserves of oil.

Ted Rall is one of the most widely syndicated political cartoonists in the United States, an award-winning graphic novelist, and a columnist and occasional war correspondent best known for his coverage of Afghanistan and Central and South Asia. He is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award. He is the author of 17 books, including Revenge of the Latchkey Kids and To Afghanistan and Back. He lives in East Hampton, New York.