To Babel and Back

A deadly trail from the U.S. uranium mines to Saddam Hussein's Iraq is traced in this part documentary, part dream-travel narrative. From Berlin and Buenos Aires to New York and the place that the author's guides insist is the sight of the Tower of Babel, this singular blend of cultural referencing, poetic lyricism, and environmental concerns traverses the globe to find a world that is simultaneously familiar and bizarre, capable of communicating moments of utter silence alongside the background noise of contemporary society. Jet- and culture-lagged, the narrator returns to his native Wales and reflects on how the country's coastline and valleys are as extraordinary as anything encountered in the mythical lands of the deserted Babylon.