Travels with Herodotus

About the Book

Travels with Herodotus is the last book Ryszard Kapuściński published in his lifetime, released in 2004. It is a personal, reflective summing-up of the author’s life and work — a story about his first steps in the profession of reporter and about an intellectual journey whose companion became the ancient Greek historian Herodotus.

Its starting point is the moment when the young journalist, setting out on his first foreign assignment (to India, and then China), receives a copy of Herodotus’s Histories from his editor. That book becomes for him a moral and intellectual compass — a model of curiosity about the world and of how to write about it. Kapuściński interweaves memories of his own reporting expeditions across Asia, Africa and the Middle East with passages from and commentaries on Herodotus, finding surprising parallels between antiquity and the 20th century.

In Herodotus the author sees the first reporter in history: a man who travelled, observed, talked with people and carefully recorded their stories in order to save them from oblivion. Travels with Herodotus is thus at once an autobiography, an essay on the art of reportage, and a meditation on the encounter with the Other — a foreign culture that can be understood only through curiosity, humility and attention. Today the book is required reading in Polish schools.

Herodotus as Guide

Kapuściński received a copy of Herodotus’s Histories from his editor before his first foreign assignment. The work of the ancient historian became for him a moral and intellectual compass throughout his travels around the world.

Structure

The book interweaves memories of reporting journeys (India, China, Africa, the Middle East) with passages from and reflections on Herodotus’s Histories.

Themes

• The encounter with the Other — a foreign culture and civilisation
• The craft of reportage and writing about the world
• History as a tool for understanding the present
• Curiosity as the driving force of knowledge
• Parallels between antiquity and the 20th century

Herodotus and Reportage

Kapuściński regarded Herodotus as the first reporter in history — a man who travelled, observed, spoke with people, and recorded their stories.

Reception

The book was very warmly received by readers and critics, who appreciated its intimate, reflective character.

See Also

• A Bitter Taste of Water — reportage from the first journey to India, Afghanistan and Japan, written on the spot in 1956–1957.

Polish Editions

See the list of Polish editions of Travels with Herodotus with ISBN numbers.