No Friends but the Mountains: Dispatches from the World's Violent Highlands

by Judith Matloff

A veteran war correspondent journeys to remote mountain communities across the globe-from Albania and Chechnya to Nepal and Colombia-to investigate why so many conflicts occur at great heights
Mountainous regions are home to only ten percent of the world's population yet host a strikingly disproportionate share of the world's conflicts. Mountains provide a natural refuge for those who want to elude authority, and their remoteness has allowed archaic practices to persist well into our globalized era.
As Judith Matloff shows, the result is a combustible mix we in the lowlands cannot afford to ignore. Traveling to conflict zones across the world, she introduces us to Albanian teenagers involved in ancient blood feuds; Mexican peasants hunting down violent poppy growers; and Jihadists who have resisted the Russian military for decades. At every stop, Matloff reminds us that the drugs, terrorism, and instability cascading down the mountainside affect us all.
A work of political travel writing in the vein of Ryszard Kapuscinski and Robert Kaplan, No Friends but the Mountains is an indelible portrait of the conflicts that have unexpectedly shaped our world.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, War, Travel, Journalism

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 7, 2017

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well-reported accounts of violent conflicts in various highlands around he earth. Matloff emphasizes the need to understand the cultures that these mountains breed and the necessity for western militaries to prepare to fight in such harsh environments.

[Matthew Gleason · Rating 5 out of 5]

"No war chest can crush angry people living on the elevated margins of society."

Conflict journalism is one of my favorite genres, this work by Judith Matloff does not disappoint. She travels across the globe from Mexico and Colombia, to Chechnya, Nepal, the Hindu Kush, and Kashmir to research the violence that often occurs in highland areas.

This book ranks up at the top of my list with "The Ends of the Earth," by Robert D. Kaplan.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I agree with the thesis and the book is interesting to read, the book is lacking in substance. The chapters read more like an expanded magazine article. The author makes relevant observations in some cases and captures a number of essential elements, but fails to back them up with a real knowledge of the political, social, cultural, strategic and even tactical aspects of each situation. While the book provides a number of things to think about and is entertaining, it would not stand up to any real substantive scrutiny to justify her analysis.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing was good and well organized. Matloff did a good job of proving the thesis that mountain peoples routinely fight to secure self-determination and our efforts to ignore that tendency result in consistent failure, such as in Afghanistan. Excellent notes at the end provide access to details that more thoroughly prove the point.

[Sarah Furger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and timely. I love Matloff's approach and her style, would definitely recommend. I have so many questions about some of her travels that I almost wish each one could have been it's own book. Really great read.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here we have an intrepid reporter seeking places in the world where life is tough. And dangerous. In the Northern Albanian mountains she finds persistent blood feuds. No male child, upon reaching age 13, is immune from being killed by males from a rival clan. No escape; police do not patrol such craggy heights. In Mexico's southern Sierra Madre she finds the Maya Zapatistias waging a fight for survival and for rights to their ancient properties. She camps with soldiers on a perilously narrow ledge in Columbian Andes. Their task: keep drug-related guerrillas at bay. She also finds in the clan-related grudges, rivalries and vengeful killings in the Himalayas, in the Russian Caucasus and the Hindu Kush. Are all high mountain places violent? No. A final upbeat chapter depicts cultures in the Swiss Alps and the Pyrenees between France and Spain where controversies are more akin to those of a county fair. Packed with insightful observations and personal bravery, this book is gutsy journalism at its best.

[Judd Street · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting travelogue style account of why highlands lend themselves to political instability and contestation.

Normally I would be tempted to fault this book for the classic "the key points could have been a long-form essay, instead of a full-length book." And, it's true: we're not necessarily offered super solid answers beyond these somewhat abstract explanations. But, the redeeming quality is the travelogue: the book is really Matloff's journey to different highland regions, and so it functions relatively well if read as a series of long-form dispatches from places sharing a common height. The cases don't necessarily advance a thesis or refine the claims so much as they show us the same core ideas from multiple angles... but it still makes for a very enjoyable read if you're into travel stories blended with political analysis.

[Mihai · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Delayed review) This was a memorable read (even though it took me a year or so to go back and finish), and I appreciate the connections it makes between different geographies and political environments. It can get a bit repetitive in its thesis, but that helps make it the kind of book that comes to mind when I hear of a relevant news story. It gave me a new lens to see these issues. I also just loved her storytelling approach, and I enjoyed feeling like I was along with her traveling to all of these places on the map that I may not experience myself.

[Debbie Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book by accident. I had mixed it up with a book called No Friend but the Mountains. Still, It turned out to be one of the best mistakes I ever made. Matloff's research and journalism are remarkable. I gave it four stars instead of five because I found there was repetition in some places and descriptions were disconcerting at times. But it is an interesting and important piece of journalism.

[Rachel Saper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t think I have ever picked up and put down a book more, than this one. I wanted to read it, but the format didn’t work. It seems like each chapter was comprised of multiple magazine articles that she forced together then went back and made some comparisons to other chapters to unite it. It felt forced and was draining to read, despite the interesting premise.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the mark of a good book like this is that I want to knife more. This book is a good overview of the conflicts in mountainous communities around the world and why the terrain is partly the problem, or the kinds of people who live there.

[Wayne Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite book. Seems like a collection of short stories covering high altitude societies with an emphasis on their problems and possible ways to solve them. It just never got my attention or interest.

[Jon Garrard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent. A bit mundane but educational.

[Majeda Wazani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like documentary

Why using sophisticated language, while you can use a simple one

I was disappointed, cause i put in mind that the book will be about mountain inhabitants daily life :(

[CJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great introduction for me to south Asian political issues. Could have used a bit more journalistic rigor though

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a captivating book, beautifully written and logically put together. It wasn't an easy read but it was very interesting and informative, educational, important.

The concept is that the high mountains of the world result in isolated populations that distrust or mistrust authority and want to be left alone to run their own affairs, including violence, from blood feuds like the Hatfields and McCoys on steroids to tribal warfare against each other or central governments. Or both.

No pictures (I'd have loved to see some but I suppose that would have been "fluff"; instead she provided handdrawn maps of each mountainous area). That would have been icing on the cake and the book is focused on the cake.

I think it is not the altitude that causes the violence but the isolation and insular nature of those isolated (as well as the fact that the govts responsible for/to them mostly ignore them when not raiding them for men or materials). It is true that "mountainous regions host a disproportionate share of the world's conflicts." The question is Why. (The author posits that in part it is because "lowlanders" or "flatlanders" cannot fight in the mountains, cannot follow fighters into the mountains successfully (as the US learned in A'stan but could have learned from Russia's experience there.... but that's another story).) Switzerland, by the way, is the exception that does or does not prove the rule. It is entirely mountainous and among the most peaceful nations on earth.

So, does geography explain human behavior and cultural differences?

And if so, is it altitude? Or just isolation?

I'm not sure I completely agree with her premise but it certainly made me think. This is a fascinating and important book for that reason alone.

[Liz]

The Awl

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matloff's writing is, for the most part, clear and compelling. I learned a tremendous amount from reading this book, which always gets you at least one extra star from me. The peppering in of anthropological, political science, and economics studies / arguments related to mountainous conflicts was instructive. The coda, as it were, on the US Army's attempts (such as they are) to prepare some fractional percentage of soldiers for mountain combat was a clever punctuation mark on the preceding cases. I'm not sure Switzerland can serve as an example for all of the conflicts she covers throughout the book. But I'm an optimist, so I chose to read her inclusion of that chapter as a reminder of the gravity of the responsibilities that come with (close-to) direct democracy, rather than a Pollyanna-ish bow to tie up the work.