Sahara Unveiled
A Journey Across the Desert
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
It is as vast as the United States and so arid that most bacteria cannot survive there. Its loneliness is so extreme it is said thatmigratory birds will land beside travelers, just for the company. William Langewiesche came to the Sahara to see it as its inhabitants do, riding its public transport, braving its natural and human dangers, depending on its sparse sustenance and suspect hospitality. From his journey, which took him across the desert's hyperarid core from Algiers to Dakar, he has crafted a contemporary classic of travel writing.
In a narrative studded with gemlike discourses on subjects that range from the physics of sand dunes to the history of the Tuareg nomads, Langewiesche introduces us to the Sahara's merchants, smugglers, fixers, and expatriates. Eloquent and precise, Sahara Unveiled blends history and reportage, anthropology and anecdote, into an unforgettable portrait of the world's most romanticized yet most forbidding desert.
Customer Reviews
Insightful, thrilling and poignant
Although written in the 1990's it's hard to imagine much has changed besides the names of the players. Reads more like a novel ( perhaps sheltering sky ) than a travel essay. Highly recommended for anyone with even a slight interest in the Sahara or desert cultures.