Desert exploration, like climbing Everest or polar expeditions, is not for the faint-hearted, and many of the vivid tales within this fascinating biographical history end in tragedy. However, the informative and absorbing descriptions of the extraordinary journeys, challenges and achievements of these intrepid figures, are captivating. They risked their lives variously for good old fashioned epic adventure, solitude, fame, the answer to mythical questions and some were even spies. They experienced fear, excitement and hardship in their journeys into the unknown. There are many books on exploration but remarkably few on desert exploration. Moreover, some of the great desert explorers of the last three hundred years are now very little remembered or appreciated in comparison, say, with those who ventured to the poles, climbed Everest, or sought the source of the Nile. Yet, crossing unknown deserts is no less challenging. This volume finally brings these Great Desert Explorers into the limelight, with short, illustrated biographies of around 60 of the most interesting, intrepid and important explorers of the world’s greatest deserts. There is also a brief introduction to each desert region. The many original quotations, illustrations and maps, contemporary figures, as well as plates of a range of desert landscapes make this a colourful, lively and informative read.

Can a society, a culture, a country, be trapped by its own memories? The question is not easy to answer, but it would not be a bad idea to cautiously say: ‘It depends’. This book is about one society – Rwanda – and its culture, traditions, identities, and memories. More specifically, it discusses some of the ways in which ethnic identities and related memories constitute a deadly trap that needs to be torn apart if mass violence is to be eradicated in that country. It looks into everyday cultural practices such as child naming and oral traditions (myths and tales, proverbs, war poetry etc.) and into political practices that govern the ways in which citizens conceptualise the past.Rwanda was engulfed in a bloody war from 1990 until 1994, the last episode of which was a genocide that claimed about a million lives amongst the Tutsi minority. This book – the first in the Memory Traps series – provides a new understanding of how a seemingly quiet society can suddenly turn into a scene of the most horrible inter-ethnic crimes. It offers an analysis of the complexities and dangers resulting from the ways in which memories are managed both at a personal level and at a collective level.The main point is that Rwandans have become hostages of their memories of the long-gone and the recent past. The book shows how these memories follow ethnic lines and lead to a state of cultural hypocrisy on the one hand, and to permanent conflict – either open and brutal, or latent and beneath the surface – on the other hand. Written from a memory studies perspective and informed by critical theory, philosophy, literature, [oral] history, and psychology, amongst others, this book deals with some controversial subjects and deconstructs some of the received ideas about the recent and the long-gone past of Rwanda.About the author:Olivier Nyirubugara is a lecturer of New Media and Online Journalism at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (Erasmus University Rotterdam). In 2011, he completed a PhD in Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam with a dissertation entitled Surfing the Past: Digital Learners in the History Class, in which he empirically explored ways in which pupils use the Web to find historical information. Nyirubugara has also been practicing journalism since 2002 and has been training and coaching journalists in mobile reporting in Africa since 2007.

Egypt, Carthage and other African civilisations are well documented but the land and people between them are less well known yet also worthy of consideration. This collection of extracts from classical authors on subjects relating to ancient Libya presents more than fifty writers from Homer to the end of the Roman Empire and provides an eclectic mixture of descriptions of Libya, its people, flora, fauna, climate, geography and episodes in its history as presented by politicians, poets, philosophers, priests, historians and soldiers, both native and foreign.Newly translated and illustrated with a variety of photographs, maps, line drawings and specially commissioned illustrations, with a comprehensive glossary and suggestions for further reading and research, the book is suitable for both the general reader and the specialist.Readers are invited to dip in and enjoy whatever may take their fancy… voyages of exploration, the many uses of silphium, romantic poetry, the horrors of war, the dangers posed by snakes and scorpions, the exploits of kings and emperors, strange native customs, farming the desert and many other topics in both the texts and the illustrations which inform and amuse. Snakes, Sands and Silphium is an excellent introduction to ancient North African, complements any travel guide, and provides context for the archaeologist and historian.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of Animism as a religion and a culture of the Nilotic peoples of the Upper River Nile in modern "Southern Sudan". It gives an account of how the animistic ritual performances of the divine chief-priests are strategies in conflict management and resolution. For centuries, the Nilotic peoples have been resisting changes to new religious identities and conservatively remained Animists. Their current interactions with the external world, however, have transformed their religious identities. At present, the Nilotics are Animist-Christians or Animist-Muslims. This does not mean that the converted Nilotics relinquish Animism and become completely assimilated to the new religious prophetic dogmas, instead, they develop compatible religious practices of Animism, Christianity and Islam. New Islamic fundamentalism in Sudan which is sweeping Africa into Islamic religious orthodoxy, where Sharia (Islamic law) is the law of the land, rejects this compatibility and categorises the Nilotics as "heathens" and "apostates". Such characterisation engenders opposing religious categories, with one side urging Sharia and the other for what this study calls "gradable" culture. Kuel Jok is a researcher at the Department of World Cultures at the University of Helsinki. In Sudan, Jok obtained a degree in English Linguistics and Literature and diplomas in Philosophy and Translation. He also studied International Law in Egypt. In Europe, Jok acquired an MA in Sociology from the University of Joensuu, Finland and a PhD in the same field from the University of Helsinki, Finland.

In recent years there has been a renewed interest in the “War in the Desert”, that epic struggle of the Second World War between Axis (Italian and German) and Allied (principally British Commonwealth) forces for control of North Africa, from 1940 to 1943. The current literature concentrates on the military battles, but war cannot be separated from politics: War and Politics sets out to fill this void by chronicling and analyzing the key political debates.For the first time, Kelly describes the political background to the future of the Italian colony of Libya, and the tribes, sects and factions dwelling in Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and the Fezzan, and their fundamental importance in the development of Libya towards independence in 1951. A prologue and an epilogue excellently summarise the preceding and following periods to place the story firmly within its historical context. The extensive bibliography is invaluable for those wishing to further their knowledge. With newly drawn maps taken from WWII sources and many black and white and colour photographs, some not previously published, this is not only a compelling and intellectually stimulating read but also a vivid one.The twists and turns of the politics of the war in the desert in War and Politics will be fascinating not only to the participants at the time but to historians and all readers interested in this period or geographical area.

Forty years ago (September 1969) Moammar Gadafi seized power in Libya in a military coup. To mark this event, John Wright has made this selection from his own shorter writings which examine and explain Libya's complex and troubled past - the historical interplay of events, influences and personalities that helped to shape the modern state.From this selection read about...o Why, in about 1860, Britain lost its earlier enthusiasm for Tripoli and the Sahara as a 'Gateway to Africa'o What made the Zionist movement drop plans to settle one million East European Jews in Cyrenaicao Why Mussolini accepted the 'Sword of Islam' in Tripoli in 1937o The first welfare issue to preoccupy the British Eighth Army as it captured Tripoli in January 1943o Why Libya had such an easy passage to independence in 1951o How, as a young leader, Moammar Gadafi was publicly ridiculed and put down by an Arab leader nearly old enough to be his grandfather who claimed Libyans were still living in the days of Adam and Eve.These are just some of the issues John Wright discusses in these 20 chapters, here usefully collected under one cover from the many books and journals in which they first appeared. John Wright, was formerly the chief political commentator and analyst of the BBC Arabic Service, specialising in Libya, the Sahara and the international oil industry.

This is the first in a new series of guides to the archaeology of Libya, from prehistoric times until the invasion of the Bani Hilal in AD 1051. It deals with a region which offers the visitor not only the classical splendours of UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as Sabratha and Lepcis Magna, but also a hinterland which is rich in standing monuments of the Punic, Roman and early Islamic periods. All are described and explained in a comprehensive gazetteer, packed full of plans and photographs, and with GPS coordinates and directions for visiting. "THE guidebook to Libya's archaeology" - David Mattingly

In between the search for the Poles, the climbing of Everest and the Space Race, the exploration of the Sahara - a huge swathe of terrain, the size of India - by motor car is one of the untold chapters in the story of twentieth-century exploration. Many people have become fascinated by this area since falling in love with the scenery of 'The English Patient'.