Where Four Worlds Meet, by Fosco Maraini. Translated by Peter Green. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc. 290 pages, 169 photos (28 color plates). Price: $12.50.

In 1959, an Italian expedition made the first ascent of 24,170-foot Mount Saraghrar in the Hindu Kush. Fosco Maraini, leader of the expedition, has written a unique account of the ascent of the mountain. Along with discussing the usual obstacles, dangers, and logistic problems encountered on the climb he gives an honest portrayal of the personal conflicts and disappointments that are apt to occur whenever men must work together under stress. The excellent photographs and the use of passages from individual diaries help present a clear picture of the climb. Yet in Maraini s book the climbing of Saraghrar is secondary to a much greater theme—the chronicle, past and present, of the world’s great blend of civilizations. The expedition traveled by land from Karachi to Saraghrar, a distance of about one thousand miles, every stone of which was "soaked in history” in a land where the four worlds of Buddhism, Communism, Islam, and Hinduism meet.

Maraini has gone to great lengths to summarize the history of the regions through which he traveled as well as to record the state of things as they stand today. His speculations about the future are both reasonable and provocative. Reading Where Four Worlds Meet is an exciting adventure in culture, history, anthropology, and ideas, as well as in mountaineering. It is strongly recommended.

Andy Lichtman