1 comments about Blue Guide Morocco, Fourth Edition (Blue Guides).

1. You won't find the latest Casa Blanca club or Ouerzazate-Marrakech bus schedules in it, but you can't beat the Blue Guide for concise historical background and comment on art and architechture. In places where this really matters, like Volubilis, Moulay Idriss, and Fes, it surpasses more mainstream guide books. Pen-and-ink sketches replace glossy photos, giving the book the feel of a war correspondent's diary (or the Wall Street Journal?). ...

No comments about On the Missionary Trail : A Journey through Polynesia, Asia and Africa with the London Missionary Society.

No comments about Alexandria & The Egyptian Mediterranean: A Traveler's Guide.

No comments about Travellers Namibia: Guides to destinations worldwide (Travellers - Thomas Cook).

1 comments about Outcast Cape Town.

1. South African Apartheid remains alive and well, as this study of brutal resettlement programs illustrates. Nelson Mandela's failure to protect the human and civil rights defenseless Cape Town minorities is nothing short of criminal. Author's focus is primarily on "Cape Coloureds", people of mixed race. Written from the unique perspective of a British social geographer, now on the faculty of a major American university.

1 comments about An Indian Affair: From Riches to Raj.

1. AN INDIAN AFFAIR: FROM RICHES TO RAJ by Archie Baron was written as a companion book to a British television historical documentary series. It is therefore clear and beautifully written for the general public. It chronicles the interaction of Great Britain with India before 1858.
   My ideas about the British in India were fuzzy at best and basically informed by tales and legends from the Victorian age. This book turns all my ideas upside down. It's wonderful.
   It begins with an introduction and ends with an afterword and inbetween are 9 chapters. Chapter 1 entitled Rogue Traders and Spice Girls relates the beginnings of the British East India Company. Chapter 2, Accidental Empire gives information about Clive and the beginning of military power in India to protect trade. Chapter 3, Nabobs tells of the British who lived in India and got rich off her wealth. Chapter 4, An Indian Love Affair basically gives details about Warren Hastings, a governor-general of India and William Jones, an intellectual. Both these men loved India and thought the Indian culture was on par with most any cultures and maybe exceeded those of Great Britain. Chapter 5, Going Native, is about men like Hindoo Stuart who embraced India, not just intellectually but in all ways. These are the White Mughals. Chapter 6 First Fusion informs us about the profound influence Indian culture had back home in Great Britain and about some of the Indians who visited or came to live in Great Britain. Chapter 7, First Among Equals is about the schemes and military actions between France, the Indian rulers, and Great Britain. Chapter 8, The New Rome, chronicles the events that started the beginning of the British Government as the rulers of India. Chapter 9, Brown Englishman, tells how native Indian languages and learning were thrown over for English and western culture in India and even, for good and bad, embraced by Indians.
   AN INDIAN AFFAIR has gorgeous color plates and pictures interspersed throughout the chapters. It is 254 pages in length with Sources and Further Reading, Acknowledgements, and an Index. It is altogether a satisfying, beautiful reading experience.

No comments about Cape Town (Cities of the World).

1 comments about The Deserts of Africa.

1. This is a beautiful study of the Sahara, Rift Valley, Kalahari and Namib, and the people who live in the respective areas. It is accompanied by a CD of music The Garden Of Mirrors by Stephan Micus. The impressive photographs are complemented by an informative text dealing with the beauty of these deserts and the life and cultures of the people that inhabit them. For example, the Bororo of Senegal and Chad, the Tuareg, and the Tubu of the Tibesti Mountains are discussed under Sahara: Sea Without Water, an area with two and a half million people.
   
   Rift Valley: Land Of Nomads provides a window on Djibouti, Somalia and the Tanzanian Highlands with information on the Afar, Issa, Danakil and Maasai peoples. The San (Bushmen) people live in the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, but this desert encompasses the wetlands of the Okavango River and its verdant delta. The Namib, a coastal desert of Namibia adjacent to the Kalahari, is considered the oldest desert on earth. The Damara, Herero and Himba peoples are covered here.
   
   Of the photographs, the ones that impressed me most are those of the weird volcano the Trau au Natron in the Tibesti Mountains. There are also several examples of rock art from the Sahara and Southern Africa. The appendix includes a map of each desert, a portrait of the author, acknowledgements and a facts section. Under the title Ornaments, there are examples of Arabic and Tuareg writing and rock art.
   
   Besides the vocals, the instruments on the enclosed CD are the Bolombatto (harp), the Sinding (harp), the Nay (reed flute), the Shakuhachi (bamboo flute), the Suling (reed flute) and the tin whistle. Track listing: Earth, Passing Cloud, Violeta, Flowers In Chaos, In The High Valleys, Gates Of Fire, Mad Bird, Night Circle and Words Of Truth.

No comments about Tunisia Insight Guide (Insight Guides).

No comments about Forest of Memories: Tales from the Heart of Africa.