Full Moon over Noah's Ark

Acclaimed travel writer Rick Antonson sets his adventurous compass on Mount Ararat, exploring the regions long history, religious mysteries, and complex politics. Mount Ararat is the most fabled mountain in the world. For millennia this massif in eastern Turkey has been rumored as the resting place of Noahs Ark following the Great Flood. But it also plays a significant role in the longstanding conflict between Turkey and Armenia. Author Rick Antonson joined a five-member expedition to the mountains nearly 17,000-foot summit, trekking alongside a contingent of Armenians, for whom Mount Ararat is the stolen symbol of their country. Antonson weaves vivid historical anecdote with unexpected travel vignettes, whether tracing earlier mountaineering attempts on the peak, recounting the genocide of Armenians and its unresolved debate, or depicting the Kurds ambitions for their own nations borders, which some say should include Mount Ararat. What unfolds in Full Moon Over Noahs Ark is one mans odyssey, a tale told through many stories. Starting with the flooding of the Black Sea in 5600 BCE, through to the Epic of Gilgamesh and the contrasting narratives of the Great Flood known to followers of the Judaic, Christian and Islamic religions, Full Moon Over Noahs Ark takes readers along with Antonson through the shadows and broad landscapes of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Armenia, shedding light on a troubled but fascinating area of the world.