Sahara Unveiled: A Journey Across the Desert | William Langewiesche

Sahara Unveiled: A Journey Across the Desert | William Langewiesche | A Great Book

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Sahara Unveiled: A...

	Sahara Unveiled: A Journey Across the Desert William Langewiesche Vintage, 1997 - 302 pages average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Demythologizing the Desert

Very, very good book about author's 1990(?) trip from Algiers south through the Sahara desert into Niger, Mali and Senegal. He has apparently spent a fair amount of time in Algeria and had been to much of the Algerian desert prior to the trip he recounts in this book (actually, many of the anecdotes he tells are from previous trips). He nicely mixes in digressions on science (physics of sand dunes, ecology of scorpions, desertification) with his history and sociology. Langewiesche seems particularly keen to de-romanticize the Sahara, and spends a great deal of time chiding the French for doing so. A nice travel book which captures the terror of the desert quite well. I recommend not reading on once he exits the Algerian desert. He speeds through the final portion of the trip and has taken to heart the writer's adage that no ending is better than a bad ending!

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A Great Book

Sahara Unveiled was one of the most interesting books in a long time. Langewiesche travels through Algeria, Mali, and into Senegal. Also included is a fascinating chapter taking place in Mauritania, a country for which there doesn't seem to be much interest. This book is not just a travel book about the author's adverture through a relatively remote area, it is also an education about the desert; the effects it has on the lives of its habitants. Langewiesche explains how the desert has influenced various cultures as well as the effect it had on him. The author raises issues of history, geography, and culture in a manner which is both entertaining and educational. I only wish the book was longer.

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Three cheers!

An excellent book: one of the best pieces of travel literature I've read in a long time. Mr Langewiesche is keenly observant and brutally honest. In his book he has brought to life the stark beauty of the desert and its people, in a synthesis of life and art. In my view, he has joined the ranks of great contemporary American writers. Let us rejoice!

Smart, insightful, sensitive

Langewiesche conjures a place that is terrible and beautiful at the same time. He's a bare-bones traveler who somehow gets inside every village, hut, and head he encounters...then spills it back on the page with a spare, gritty poetry. I've read all three of his books..."Cutting for Sign" and "Inside the Sky" are more of the same clean, investigative journalism with passages that make the reader want to pack up and hit the road...or skies. I just read his latest piece in "Atlantic", and I only hope we will soon see a book about Deep Ecology and its effects on developing nations. He would do a fantastic job!

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An interesting journey into the harshest environment possibl

This book is one which keeps you interested. Starting in Algeria, at the northern edge of the Sahara, the author makes his way through the Sahara. His descriptions of the land and the people are very intriging. I kept thinking what it would take to make a journey like this. At times it is very depressing to consider life in this environment - the author has genuine empathy for the people in the book.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5

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