Rating: 
Summary: Cinical review with a disturbing passivity.
Review: This book is a good introductory book to world's geography and cultural and political history. The cinical stance towards the crimes and murderous attitudes of governments, regimes and geopolitical forces is more than disturbing. The whole matter is presented in a "humorous", "light" manner, as if death and murder are part of our everyday life and most of all moral acceptance. As if things are externally imposed (by God?) and we just observe them and live with them. It suggests a passive compliance to events and invites us to indulge our "bourgeois" right of tourism with caution, end of story and travel safely. The 2 stars are just for the amount of condensed information about the world's situation.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't let the size scare you - impossible to put down
Review: This highly entertaining and informative book really teaches a lot of practical advice about different hot spots in the world. This book will scare you out of ever wanting to visit some places (Columbia) and will convince you that other places might not be so bad (Iran). You'll also learn just how screwed up U.S. foreign policy really is. Buy this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but poorly written
Review: Pelton's accounts of the darker parts of our globe are interesting, particularly the cannibalism in Sierra Leone and the eerie safety of North Korea. However, I feel he doesn't collect the wealth of experience he has and weave it into gold. Rather, he writes an adrenaline junkie's Fodor book, if you will. The result is quite entertaining, but I can't help but wonder how a Krakauer or a Sebastian would have made the material riveting. That's my two cents, anyways.
Rating:
Summary: The Best in Five-Star Travel
Review: From the beautiful beaches of Mogadishu to the get-away sands of Southern Algeria, Mr. Pelton has put together a wonderful travel guide for those who really like adventure. Oh, and be sure to bring a big enough suitcase to pack your body home in.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: I bought this book thinking it was mostly stories of Robert Young Pelton's journies to dangerous places. It is instead, a book filled with history, social studies, geography, you name it it has it. He details each country's background and what is likely going on there now, along with stories of his travels. I have learned so much from this book that you just don't get listening to the occasional news story about various foreign countries. If you have any interest at all in the World around the world you live in, give this book a read.
Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Guide to the World,
Review: And even a refreshingly, brutally honest depiction of the U.S.A. Not only does this book keep you interested from one page to the next, but it offers something rare: Information you can actually use. These guys aren't Rambo, and warn hot-blooded thrill-seekers that trying to be Rambo will get you killed, under no uncertain terms. Including the information on the customs of Islamic regions probably saved my butt in Kuwait. This should be required reading in the military. Overseas briefings cannot compete. This book serves another purpose. The author makes it crystal clear that it is good to get out of your house and do something, anything. Statistically, he shows you that the most dangerous place in the world is your own home. Information and adrenaline junkies, activists, military personnel, the average joe, and anyone who just wants to keep something novel and interesting to read while using the toilet should get this book. It actually has information on how to get involved with just about any group you can imagine, from the Red Cross to the French Foriegn Legion. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: World Politics in a Nutshell
Review: I have read this book (in this version and it's earlier editions) several times, and I still cannot get enough. This is due to a number of reasons. First, because I have found Pelton's accounts of various places I personally have been to be accurate, I trust the author. And trustworthiness is an important characteristic of a writer in Pelton's position - ie. advisor to individuals contemplating travel into some of the world's most dangerous places. Second, I keep going back to DP because I enjoy Pelton's style. He is a no-nonsense, "tell it like it is" guy...but he never loses his sense of humor - an essential quality to have when traveling in places that are dangerous, uncomfortable, or inconvenient. Third, I find this book invaluable, not only because of the excellent travel advice dispensed, but also because, for me, reading each new edition of DP is like getting an update in worldwide current events - but NOT from the network TV drones who report only what America wants to hear! No...Pelton tells us the TRUTH - from the inside. Not some watered-down, American-propagandized version. For example, I first came to admire Pelton a few years ago after I spent a year in Russia and central Asia: his coverage of Russia and Chechnya was excellent - and accurate. And nothing like what was reported on American TV. It is for this last reason that I would recommend DP to anyone - not just to those considering travel to the world's war zones and crime centers. This book is not just about travel - it is an annual education in world events!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Report on Where You DON'T Want to Visit
Review: After receiving this book as a gift, I ignored it's incredible white-pages size girth and began reading about everyplace in the world myself, as an American and Westerner, should avoid, and for what reasons. Written as a true guidebook for aspiring war-zone journalists and adventurers, DP doesn't skimp on the facts nor gloss over details that might decide your life or death in the most war-torn (Chechnya, Algeria) or statistically dangerous (Colombia, Cambodia) countries on the Earth. With well over 30 countries examined, you'll learn first hand why a Westerner shouldn't visit there, followed by detailed descriptions of who to avoid, what regional areas to steer clear from, and in case you really want to experience life on the wild side or if you really need that Solider of Fortune byline, how to get in and out without dying. Most fascinating to me is the rating system DP gives to certain countries. You'd be alarmed to learn why places such as Ethiopia gets a solid 5 star avoidance rating (constant, recent war with Enteria and the abundance of landmines) yet other tradionally Western-unfriendly places like Iraq and North Korea (rated "safer" than even America) due to their brutal punishment of minor crimes and police-state environments. With well over 200 pages of "helpful" research involving which transportation to avoid in any country, how to walk around various types of land mines, and what penalties you can expect for smuggling drugs out of the mountanious roads surrounding Pakistan, this book is an almost guilty, factual read that never impresses on the reader the author's morals. I kept reading from county to country, hoping that the next alphabetical sequence was somehow more deadly or destructive for visitors than the last. An incredible abundance of recent (DP is in it's 4th edition) web-links for the various rebel factions and government parties kept me interested well after I put the book down. Most country chapters are supplemented by the author's (or contributing author's) true, diary-like details regarding what he went through during his experience "in country".
Rating:
Summary: 1000 pages of why these places make the nightly news.
Review: This is the second copy of DP that I have purchased, and the new 4th edition is "must have" for anyone curious about what is going on around the rest of the planet, and why it is happening. In addition, Mr. Pelton does a great job early on in the book by putting the risk of travel to these nations into proper perspective. Although many of the nations profiled are semi-safe to travel to, I got to say, these guys got huge you know what to travel to some of the locations covered in this book. Overall, a wealth of information about some of the more unstable countries on this planet.
Rating:
Summary: Knowledge is Power
Review: I found this book in a Rand McNally Map Store and knew I had to have it. Places like Afghanistan & Algeria fascinate me. I am absolutely terrified of ever going anywhere near the Middle-East and couldn't get enough of the information in this book. Once I got past the initial terror these horrid countries evoke in my soul, I found the wealth of history and information on the countries profiled to be substantial. I am much more informed about the world around me and am only 1/2 way through the book. Like many people, I pay little attention to the nightly news. I hear about places like Chechnya and Somalia and Kurdistan and dismiss them as far away places I would never vist. Now, I have facts and understanding of what is going on in these places, why it is happening, and have a never before sense of despair for those that live in cities like Grozny. It is truly amazing that these horrors are happening in our world today and the majority of the American population has no idea and no concern. This book has truly enlightened my concern for the peoples of the world. The book is written with wit and humour and first hand details. I consider it a valuable resorce for anyone interested in the world we live in today.
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