An account of a four-year sojourn in Iraq and Iran in the 1930s, the first of Dame Freya Stark's many travel books. Over her long career (and more than 30 books), Stark ventured into the forbidden territory of Druze, became the first woman to explore Luristan in western Iran and was credited with reducing sabotage against the Allies on the eastern front with her knowledge of Middle Eastern languages and life.  (MDE75, $17.00)