Across Mountains, Land and Sea
REVIEWS, 13 Oct 2025
Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould – TRANSCEND Media Service
A Review of Mir Rahimi’s Memoir, Across Mountains, Land and Sea
Sep 2025 – The book opens with a stunning scene of his mother giving birth to Mir in the freezing dark alone in a war torn village in Afghanistan. Mir’s birth circumstances made clear that he received a foundation in life from his mother that has sustained him ever since. Her mantra to any news, no matter how bad, “God is kind” was a pure message of hope that gave Mir the inner strength to get through unimaginable hardships.
It started in his childhood and then, having to flee his homeland alone until, after years on the road, he was allowed to enter the UK as a refugee. Once settled, Mir got his first chance to enter school at 14 years old. Stunningly only a decade later he graduated from the London School of Economics with a master’s degree in political theory.
Since then Mir has continued to work with charities and the UN to help relieve the suffering of people impacted by conflicts from around the world. What Mir’s memoir tells us is how he walked that unbelievably challenging course with a humility and thoughtfulness that is both humbling and inspiring. It is vital we all learn this lesson from Mir’s story.
We must come together to replace the endless war cycle that leads too many victims to justify revenge and retribution with a vision for building the just peace we all deserve, especially Mir and his fellow Afghans.
Across Mountains, Land and Sea is available for purchase at the publisher’s bookstore HERE. For more information about Mir Rahimi visit his website HERE.
_________________________________________________
Mir Rahimi is a passionate advocate for peace, justice and human rights. Born in Afghanistan and arriving in the UK as a refugee in 2001, he began formal education at fourteen and went on to earn a master’s degree in political theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2011. Since then, Mir has worked with charities, local authorities, international NGOs, and the United Nations across continents—including in Africa, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the UK to support vulnerable communities particularly displaced children in crisis. He has also spoken at leading global forums, including the UN High Commissioner’s Dialogue in Geneva and the UN Annual Conference in Copenhagen, advocating for peace, justice and the protection of children in conflict zones and in displacement. He is the founder of Edu-Change, a UK-based charity that empowers young people from displaced and disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed in education, develop leadership skills, and become agents of peace, inclusion, and positive change within their communities and beyond.
Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, are the authors of Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story, published by City Lights (2009), Crossing Zero The AfPak War at the Turning Point of American Empire, published by City Lights (2011). Their novel The Voice, was published in 2001. Theirs memoir, The Valediction Three Nights of Desmond Book 1 was published by TrineDay (2021) and The Valediction Resurrection Book 2 was published by TrineDay (2022). For more information visit invisiblehistory , grailwerk and valediction.net
Tags: Afghanistan, Autobiography, Memoirs, Mir Rahimi, Reviews
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 13 Oct 2025.
Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: Across Mountains, Land and Sea, is included. Thank you.
If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Join the discussion!
We welcome debate and dissent, but personal — ad hominem — attacks (on authors, other users or any individual), abuse and defamatory language will not be tolerated. Nor will we tolerate attempts to deliberately disrupt discussions. We aim to maintain an inviting space to focus on intelligent interactions and debates.