Author(s): ANNE FREJ

Travel Pictorials

A gorgeously illustrated, unforgettable account of the authors' twenty journeys through the Himalaya, spanning forty years, and through many areas now closed to foreigners. Travels across the Roof of the World provides a sweeping yet intimate view of the breathtaking peaks, splendid valleys, and extraordinary people of this vast region, from the Pamir Mountains in Kyrgyzstan through Afghanistan's fabled Hindu Kush, the Karakoram in Pakistan, and the Great Himalaya Range that stretches across northern India, Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan. Unique in scope among photo books on the Himalaya, Travels across the Roof of the World chronicles William and Anne Frej's more than twenty pilgrimages throughout the area spanning forty years and 3,000 miles through some of the world's most remote and difficult-to-reach country. Inspired by the devotion to the practice of Tibetan Buddhism they encountered in the villagers they met on their first trek to Nepal in 1981, they set out on a quest to document Asia's highest peaks as well as the lives of the resilient people living in these remote mountain communities. When they began, trekkers from the West through these regions were few. Even now, trips are demanding - but not nearly as harsh as the daily lives of the residents, who continue to exist in a kind of stunning isolation that has allowed them to maintain the rich cultural traditions and spiritual practices that have sustained them over many centuries. Edwin Bernbaum's essay adds to the depth of the pictures, with his focus on the symbolism, religious importance, and associated legends of these sacred places. The authors also share extensive vignettes about the places they saw and how they have changed over time. AUTHORS: Anne Frej is a retired urban planner who focused on feasibility studies and design concepts for real estate projects in the United States, Indonesia, Central Europe, and Central Asia. At the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C., she directed books on real estate development, and at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, she served as a cultural resources planner. William Frej has been photographing indigenous people for more than forty years while living in Indonesia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and other remote, mountainous regions of Asia as a career diplomat with the United States Agency for International Development. His work has been featured in a number of exhibitions, galleries, and museums in the U.S. and Mexico. His recent book of black-and-white photographs, Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler (2020), is the recipient of eight awards, including the Silver Medal from both the Independent Publishers Book Awards and the Moscow International Photography Awards. 220 colour photographs,