The heavily armed guard spat out a command in Assamese. Our guide whispered, “He is wanting your passports.” As we handed over our lifeline to American protection, my brother nervously joked, “Butch, what were you thinking?”
With trademarked humor, Williams takes readers on a fast-paced road trip across India from Delhi to the Burmese border, as she and her brother chase the ghost of their father and reimagine scenes from the World War II campaign to recapture Burma (Myanmar) from the Japanese.
Butch & Sundance
Do India
Williams captivated readers with
“The Last Romantic War”—the epic
story of her father’s exploits in WWII,
including her parents’ exotic global romance. Now here is the
exciting backstory: A research trip to India that turns into two
madcap weeks of unexpected adventure and culture shock.
Determined to find the Ledo Road and see the jungle Major
Traywick spoke of in his WWII reminiscences, the two take a
Book a World War II talk with Robin.
Available from:
rough drive to the most remote corner of India, where it is encircled by the Himalayas—as well as the unfriendly nations of China and Burma/Myanmar.
Along the way, they hunt for the historic Giant Leech, brave the near-death experience of Indian traffic, and boldly drink cocktails without ice. A visit to the Hill Country yields tea with a Buddhist abbot. An elephant ride reveals a jungle full of wild animals. From snake charmers to burning ghats, from the splendor of the Taj Mahal to the privation of a bamboo hut, our heroes absorb as much of Indian life as humanly possible in two weeks.
This is what they would have said if they had read the book--
A rollicking adventure story straight out of the British Raj, told with my kind of humor and irony. — Rudyard Kipling
Hookah bars, booze and pills, fantastic getaways with harum scarum driving—Gonzo journalism at its best!
— Hunter S. Thompson
India! We shoulda gone to India! — Robert Redford
I thought about India. The banks are ripe for robbing, but the money ain’t worth anything. — Paul Newman
A great introduction to the 1944-1945 China-Burma-India Theater of War. It made me nostalgic for my camp tent
in the Burmese jungle. — Gen. Joseph W. “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell
No wonder those Americans had culture shock. Imagine ordering a drink with ice!
— Queen Victoria, Empress of India
A wonderful look at Indian culture and history. I remember seeing the giant leech on my visit to India in 1911.
— King George V
Of course we have a god for everything. We need a lot of gods. We have a lot of people. — Mahatma Gandhi
The road conditions were highly exaggerated. The main highway across Assam will soon have all 793 sections
connected to each other. We have very few cattle sleeping in the highway anymore, and elephants are banned from limited access highways altogether. — Second assistant to the deputy under-secretary of transportation in Delhi
Excellent coverage of local driving conditions and how to cope with them.
— Wellspring Pharmaceutical Corp., makers of Bonine
They wasted their time looking for tigers. We made them all disappear. — Siegfried and Roy
I usually prefer black and white photographs, but the color pix were fabulous! — Ansel Adams