africa

Anyone skeptical about the limit human beings can and will go to survive need only read "Skeletons on the Zahara." This is the remarkable tale of Captain James King and his crew, their shipwreck off the North African coast in 1815 and the horrific privations they endured at the hands of the elements and their captors.
After their ship wrecks they barely survive and escape an initial encounter with natives. After days at sea on a longboat they must return to land and give themselves to the natives. From here they are slaves, often sold or traded for as little as a blanket.
King relies chiefly (though not exclusively) on King's account (which became a widely popular book read by the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Henry David Thoreau) and the account of another shipmate.
Through "Skeletons on the Zahara" author Dean King transports the reader to the vast, dry desolation of the dessert. One practically experiences the searing mid day heat, feels the cruel blows, suffers the humiliation of being stripped bare and taunted, and undergoes the indignity of slavery. Most of all there is thirst and hunger, twin horrors in heavy doses, Indeed the book can be all too depressing at times But the suffering is accompanied by hope and the endless stores of it that embolden the human spirit and make seemingly anything endurable.
"Skeletons on the Zahara" should appeal to wide audience as King's contemporary account did. It reads like good fiction with heroes, villains, adventure, narrow escapes and historical lessons.
Dean King obviously benefited from visiting the settings of the book. He also wisely includes maps at the beginnings of most chapters to help readers follow the course of journeys.
A great read.

After a frustrating run with a dozen or so mediocre books (three best-selling thrillers, two famous name memoirs, three populist science and the universe curios and assorted easy-digest sex and violence trash teasers) I've read TWO brilliant books in the last week! SKELETONS OF THE ZAHARA was one of them. Survival stories can be a real drag after a while, as the miseries begin to mount with no end, but King has managed to make this tale sing with the excitement of legend. There are times when there's something spiritual about the trials of these men, especially when they go out of their minds and into a trippy state with thirst and anxiety. A superb tale.

The other book that has simply stunned me is IN THE GHOST COUNTRY. It's about Peter Hillary's heart-breaking journey to the South Pole, the loneliest and most disturbing oddysey of his life on the edge. Hillary has survived where many, many of his friends have died in the mountains -- and many of them who were at his side at the time. On the body-wrecking and mind-warping haul to the bottom of the world, the ghosts of friends and family rise up to walk with him. Shocking, sad, captivating and a very trippy experience. Too many amazing stories to go into here.

King follows in the desperate footsteps of Captain Riley and his marooned crew -- and in the end almost replicates as their struggle for survive and sanity. King lives out their story in his head while tracing their paths through the cruel sands. Well done. An interesting contrast is Peter Hillary's diabolical attempt to complete Captain Robert Scott's famous fatal journey -- chronicled in the beguiling and very different IN THE GHOST COUNTRY -- and nearly ended up repeating it. What makes Hillary's book both important and effective is its exploration of the inner life, of fear and guilt and loneliness, which thereby makes it a book that anyone with half a brain and a full heart can relate to. A great one.