The World's Most Dangerous Places
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Robert Young Pelton's, The World's Most Dangerous Places (ISBN 0-06-273738-4) (1022 pages) is a frequently updated handbook written by Robert Young Pelton and an unusual crew of contributors. Although it is not meant to be used as an actual travel guide like Frommers, the book's advice to staying alive and the facts about the world's most dystopian countries is still unique in the publishing world. It continues to be the only non aligned, apolitical, on the ground guide to high risk regions. It is as much a primer on political science as it is a humorous book about the impressive ability for apparently rational humans to routinely plunge their world into chaos and violence.
The first edition came out in 1994 and has gone through 5 editions. The most recent book in the series will be the upcoming DP Professional Strength from HarperResource.
The thick book is divided into three basic parts. The intro is a primer on the basics of staying safe in war zones and high crime areas.
| Section | Notes |
|---|---|
| What is Dangerous | general travel statistics that help tourists assess their travel risks and put things into prospective. |
| What Danger Awaits the Weary Traveler | Teaches you about the safest mode of transport statistically, including third world airplanes, buses, trains and taxis. |
| Making the Best of Nasty Situation | Including dealing with terrorist territories, thievery, impoverished countries, political upheaval and more. |
| Business Travelers | Dangerous places for business travel and dealings with gangsters. |
| Tourists | Dangerous places for tourists. |
| Bribes | When to, when not to and how to. |
| Dangerous Diseases | Covers STDs and AIDS, malaria, worms, Hepatitis AB and C, the fevers, old fashioned diseases and more. |
| Drugs | Covers cocaine, heroin, cannabis and dangerous drug hotspots. |
| Getting Arrested. | self explanatory. |
| Guns | covers different types of weapons. |
| Intelligence | Safety information for journalists ad writers as well as the traveling public. |
| Kidnapping | Security resources and kidnap, rescue and extortion insurance. |
| Land Mines/UXO | more than you ever wanted to know about land mine dangers. |
| Mercenaries | Hiring them, using them and surviving them |
| Military and Paramilitary Organizations | dealing with military rule. |
| Terrorism | Staying as safe as possible in terrorist situations. |
| Adventure Calls | Adventures |
The second section is a country by country breakdown of what Pelton considers to be the most dangerous places. It usually includes about 26 countries or regions including the US. They would then be broken down to a rating of 5 stars to 1 star.
The final and third element of this book (besides web links, addresses and even cell phone numbers for terrorist and rebel leaders) are the stories of what it is like for Pelton and his band of DP'ers to be in the middle of some of the planets most brutal events. They freely tell the reader how they got in, who they met and many of their failures. The book is a favorite of correspondents, military, NGO's, the US State Department, and is used by a number of intelligence agencies due to its access to the world's rebel groups.
