Robert Byron

Robert Byron (1905–1941) was a British travel writer, art historian, and journalist who died at the age of thirty-five when his ship was torpedoed in the Mediterranean during the Second World War. Despite his short life, he produced one of the greatest travel books in the English language. The Road to Oxiana is Byron's account of a journey through Persia and Afghanistan in the 1930s in search of the origins of Islamic architecture. The book is a masterpiece of travel writing — witty, learned, vivid, and endlessly entertaining — and has been championed by writers from Bruce Chatwin to Paul Fussell as the finest travel book of the twentieth century. Byron's audiobook and book remain essential for listeners and readers who love travel writing. The Road to Oxiana is a classic that rewards re-reading, offering a portrait of a region and a world that has since been transformed beyond recognition.