Christopher Robbins

Travel writer Christopher Robbins relates a story by turns hilarious and grim as he finds Eminem-worship by a shrinking Aral Sea, hears the Kazakh John Lennon play in a dusty desert town, joins nomads hunting eagles, eats boiled sheep's head (a delicacy), and explores some of the most beautiful, unspoiled places on earth. Meet the country that gave the world apples, trousers, and possibly King Arthur. --From amazon.com.

The Land that Disappeared

Apples are from Kazakhstan

In Search of Kazakhstan

Drawing on materials that were, until recently, classified, this account depicts the intense air war fought over Laos and profiles the "Ravens," the pilots who risked their lives in this little-known field of war.

The Men who Flew in America's Secret War in Laos

The Ravens

The inside story of the covert CIA airline that was responsible for missions from the Flying Tigers of World War II to the air strikes, supply drops, and blackmarket deliveries over the jungles of Vietnam

Air America

Drawing on materials that were, until recently, classified, this account depicts the intense air war fought over Laos and profiles the "Ravens," the pilots who risked their lives in this little-known field of war

The Men Who Flew in America's Secret War in Laos

The True Story of the CIA's Mercenary Fliers in Covert Operations from Pre-war China to Present Day Nicaragua

Assassin

The only thing most people know about Kazakhstan is that it is homeland to Borat - and he isn't even real. Actually this vast place - the last unknown inhabited country in the world - is far more surprising and entertaining. For one thing, it is as varied as Europe, combining stupendous wealth, grinding poverty, exotic traditions and a mad dash for modernity. Crisscrossing a vanished land, Christopher Robbins finds Eminem by a shrinking Aral Sea, goes eagle-hunting, visits the scene of Dostoyevsky's doomed first love, takes up residence beside one-time neighbour Leon Trotsky and visits some of the most beautiful, unspoilt places on earth.

Old MacDonald had a farm . . . in Montana! In this delightful Montana twist on the familiar farm tune, the elk goes grunt grunt here, the gray wolf goes Ooooooo there, and everywhere there's lots of Montana pride! This chunky layered board book cleverly reveals each Montana animal and, when closed, forms an adorable pickup truck! Friendly Montana animals and scenery fill the pages of this irresistible book for kids.

Old MacDonald Had a Farm in Montana

Numbers and colors are more fun in Utah! In this dynamic, colorful primer, young readers count from 1 to 10 as they discover the places, animals, and other wonderful things that make Utah so unique.

Let's Count Utah

In this funny and revealing travelogue of Kazakhstan--a blank in Westerners' collective geography--Robbins reveals the country to be diverse, tolerant, and surprisingly modern. A superlative addition to the literature of travel--"The Observer" (UK). Illustrated.

Apples Are from Kazakhstan

Did you know elephants have parades, camels have caravans, and porcupines have prickles? From a shoal of aardvarks to a zeal of zebras, kids can learn the names of animal groups in this adorable padded board book. With bright, trendy illustrations and plenty of hidden puns, A Caravan of Camels showcases punny animal families of all kinds from A to Z. Whether it’s a smack, a barrel, or a zeal, it's a family!

A Caravan of Camels

Very funny and genuinely moving, THE EMPRESS OF IRELAND is an inspiring portrait of the unique and improbable friendship between Christopher Robbins, then an impoverished writer in his twenties, and Brian Desmond Hurst, Ireland's most prolific film director. It began when the author -- a journalist who had never read a script -- was asked to write the screenplay for Hurst's swansong movie, an ambitious biblical epic intended to be his ticket to heaven. As work commenced on the 'Box Office Blockbuster', and later the director's life story, the 'Big Bestseller', an unlikely but uproarious rapport was born. Full of character, incident and humour, Robbins' memoir is a warm and wonderful tribute to friendship and to one of life's true originals.

Chronicle of an Unusual Friendship

The Empress of Ireland

The incredible inside story of the world's most extraordinary covert operation. Air America - a secret airline run by the CIA - flew missions no one else would touch, from General Claire Cennault's legendary Flying Tigers in WW II to two brutal decades cruising over the bomb-savaged jungles of Southeast Asia. Their pilots dared all and did all - a high-rolling, fast-playing bunch of has-beens and hellraisers whose motto was 'Anything, Anywhere, Anytime'. Whether it was delivering food and weapons or spooks and opium, Air America was the one airline where you didn't need reservations - just a hell of a lot of courage and a willingness to fly to the bitter end.

Christopher Robbins was a down-at-the-heels freelance journalist in London when a "friend"—an expat American drug dealer who masqueraded as a count—linked him up with an elderly gay Irishman, purportedly the "greatest Irish filmmaker ever"—which turned out to be the case. Brian Desmond Hurst had made some thirty films in his eighty years (including A Christmas Carol, Tom Brown's Schooldays, Dangerous Moonlight, Simba, and Playboy of the Western World), and was on close terms with people such as John Ford, Laurence Olivier, Noël Coward, Sean O'Casey, Vanessa Redgrave, and a slew of other notables. Hurst immediately hired the young journalist to write the screenplay for his final work, a biblical epic about the birth of Christ, dubbed "The Box Office Blockbuster"—and subsequently his autobiography—"The Big Bestseller." No reader can fail to become spellbound and laugh-out-loud by the wit, warmth of heart, sense of mischief, Celtic charm, and vast appetite for life present in The Empress of Ireland.

A Chronicle of an Unusual Friendship

A biography of the death camp escapee who became a resistance fighter and later, a hunter of Nazis.

Christopher Robbins

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