Arabian Sands - Hardcover

Wilfred Thesiger

4.19

5,554 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670130052 ISBN 13: 9780670130054

Publisher: Viking, 1984

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In the spirit of T.E. Lawrence, Wilfred Thesiger spent five years wandering the deserts of Arabia, producing Arabian Sands, 'a memorial to a vanished past, a tribute to a once magnificent people'. The Penguin Classics edition includes an introduction by Rory Stewart.

Wilfred Thesiger, repulsed by what he saw as the softness and rigidity of Western life - 'the machines, the calling cards, the meticulously aligned streets' - spent years exploring in and around the vast, waterless desert that is the 'Empty Quarter' of Arabia. Travelling amongst the Bedu people, he experienced their everyday challenges of hunger and thirst, the trials of long marches beneath the relentless sun, the bitterly cold nights and the constant danger of death if it was discovered he was a Christian 'infidel'. He was the first European to visit most of the region, and just before he left the area the process that would change it forever had begun - the discovery of oil.

This edition contains an introduction by Rory Stewart discussing the dangers of Thesiger's travels, his unconventional personality and his insights into the Bedouin way of life.

Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger (1910-2003) was a British travel writer born in Addis Ababa in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). Thesiger is best known for two travel books: Arabian Sands (1959), which recounts his travels in the Empty Quarter of Arabia between 1945 and 1950 and describes the vanishing way of life of the Bedouins, and The Marsh Arabs (1964), an account of the traditional peoples who lived in the marshlands of southern Iraq.

If you enjoyed Arabian Sands, you might like T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, also available in Penguin Modern Classics

'Thesiger is perhaps the last, and certainly one of the greatest, of the British travellers among the Arabs'
Sunday Times

'Following worthily in the tradition of Burton, Lawrence, Philby and Thomas, it is, very likely, the book about Arabia to end all books about Arabia'
Daily Telegraph

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

Following worthily in the tradition of Burton, Lawrence, Philby and Thomas, ["Arabian Sands"] is, very likely, the book about Arabia to end all books about Arabia.
"The Daily Telegraph," London
The narrative is vividly written, with a thousand little anecdotes and touches which bring back to any who have seen these countries every scene with the colour of real life.
"The Sunday Times," London

aFollowing worthily in the tradition of Burton, Lawrence, Philby and Thomas, ["Arabian Sands"] is, very likely, the book about Arabia to end all books about Arabia.a
a"The Daily Telegraph," London
aThe narrative is vividly written, with a thousand little anecdotes and touches which bring back to any who have seen these countries every scene with the colour of real life.a
a"The Sunday Times," London

"Following worthily in the tradition of Burton, Lawrence, Philby and Thomas, ["Arabian Sands"] is, very likely, the book about Arabia to end all books about Arabia."
-"The Daily Telegraph," London
"The narrative is vividly written, with a thousand little anecdotes and touches which bring back to any who have seen these countries every scene with the colour of real life."
-"The Sunday Times," London

"The narrative is vividly written, with a thousand little anecdotes and touches which bring back to any who have seen these countries every scene with the colour of real life." --The Sunday Times (London)

From the Back Cover:

With this book Wilfred Thesiger took his place among the few great Arabian travellers – not only as an explorer, but as a writer.

'Arabian Sands' covers the five years ending in 1950 which, with the exception of brief interruptions only, Thesiger spent in and around the Empty Quarter, the half million square miles of one of the cruellest deserts of the world. Before him, no othe trraveller European or Arab – apart from the Bedu who live there – had twice dared to cross those empty wastes. Travelling without European companions and living as an Arab, Thesiger's experience and knowledge of the desert life are unique – and will remain so, for the world he describes has vanished, succumbing to the invasion of technicians in search of oil.

Thesiger's account of the Arabian Sands and its people, its tribal warfare and ancient history, its daily life and landscape is widely hailed as a classic of Arabian travel literature.

'The crowning touches have been placed on this exploratory activity in Arabia by Wilfred Thesiger who is probably the greatest of all the explorers'
ST JOHN PHILBY

'This splendid book, magnificently illustrated with the author's photographs, is a feast.'
DAILY EXPRESS

'Wilfred Thesiger is perhaps the last, and certainly one of the greatest, of the British travellers among the Arabs'
LT GEN. SIR JOHN GLUBB, 'Sunday Times'

'A MJOR ADDITION TO THE LITERATURE OF EXPLORATION'
PETER WORSLEY, 'Guardian'

'THE LAST GREAT BOOK ON ARABIAN TRAVEL'
ECONOMIST

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