Journey Among Brave Men

by Dana Adams Schmidt

On July 4, 1962, near the beginning of the First Iraqi-Kurdish War, New York Times foreign correspondent Dana Adams Schmidt left his post in Beirut to be voluntarily smuggled into Iraqi Kurdistan. It was the beginning of a nearly two-month journey that would climax in a days-long visit with the leader of the Kurdish rebellion, the most loved and feared man in Kurdistan, Mullah Mustafa Barzani. Accompanied by armed Kurdish guides and a 72-year-old Turkish interpreter, the six-feet-three-inch, seersucker-suit-clad Schmidt traveled, often at night, a secret route by foot, mule, horse and, on two occasions, jeep into the high Kurdish mountains to report on “the fightingest people in the Middle East” as no foreign journalist had done before. The physical dangers were acute―his group was strafed more than once by the Iraqi air force. Along the way, Schmidt learned about the history and culture of the Kurds, whose cause Barzani hoped Schmidt could convey to the world. Originally published in 1964 and now back in print with a new foreword by historian Charles Glass, Journey Among Brave Men is an enduring testament to the power of audacious journalism and to the strong will of the Kurds, an embattled people who remain in search of an independent state today.

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2018

About the author

Dana Adams Schmidt was a correspondent for the New York Times for three decades, covering Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. He also worked as a correspondent for the United Press and for the Christian Science Monitor. He authored four books: Anatomy of a Satellite, Journey Among Brave Men, Yemen: The Unknown War, and Armageddon in the Middle East.

A graduate of Pomona College and the Columbia School of Journalism, he won a Pulitzer traveling scholarship from Columbia in 1937 and received the George Polk Award from the Overseas Press Club for his reporting on the Kurdish rebellion.

Reviews

[Olivia Ransom]

Very interesting story, sharp and well described. The kurds, the forgotten people, this book has motivated me to read more about them as Dana, the journalist and author that travelled to them, did it in 1963/64; lots have happened afterwards, not only in Iraq, but certainly more bad than good also in Iran and Turkije.