The Other Side of Beauty

An essay and a letter to a friend make up this short collection of travel by Garrett Rittenberg. A return-journey to India gives the opportunity to reflect on the changes on the sub-continent, while a literary pilgrimage to the city of Harar in eastern-Ethiopia provides a window into a part of the world few have seen. The Other Side of Beauty discusses cultures seemingly at odds with life in the west and the impact they can have on the western mind. The time spent in such places affords the opportunity to understand that beauty often exists in unconventional forms. Things once considered repulsive and absurd are made beautiful in the mind of a traveler willing to understand. The reader is shown the power of experiencing distant cultures through the reflections of a traveler who was fortunate enough to see them for himself.