Tracing a crescent from Cairo to Khiva, art historian and archaeologist Karen Polinger Foster takes readers on four unforgettable journeys – to Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and Central Asia. Exploring the interplay of thought and belief, art and architecture, language and literature, tradition and innovation, Foster transforms her travel experiences into a beguiling kaleidoscope of photo essays. With an eye both incisive and discreet, and a gift for the telling detail, her elegant text and stunning images invite readers to a realm she describes as ‘existing in the atlas of the mind, at the intersection of image and imagination’.

A specialist in the art and archaeology of the Ancient Near East and Bronze Age Aegean, Karen Polinger Foster taught for many years in the Departments of Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations and History of Art at Yale University. While she has published numerous books and articles in her scholarly field, East of the Moon is her first photo essay venture.