Sahara Man: Travelling with the Tuareg

by Jeremy Keenan

Keenan..."takes us into the heart of the Saraha - into the lives and minds of the Tuareg, into his own past and into the fearful history and the present-day experience of Algeria itself."

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Africa, Algeria, Memoir, Middle East

285 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough one to sum up in a review, this one. While the content is great, and the information about the Tuareg comes across as accurate and authentic, I found it a hard book to maintain momentum with. It is hard to explain, because the story was interesting - a return visit to Algeria after 30 years to reconnect with people the author had met and spent time with, and the author had an obvious passion for the Tuareg, and the experiences he had with them, but it just didn't pass that passion on to the reader at times.
My coping mechanism in these cases is to read a couple of chapters of this, then read a different book, and return to this when complete, or is a frame of mind to try this again. Hence the long read duration - almost a month! This is course has the negative impact on the book, in that there isn't the continuity, or the ability to retain detail about the people in the narrative.
Nevertheless, this isn't a bad book by any means, and for those with some prior understanding of the Tuareg, a particular interest in the the author, or perhaps someone more focussed on the reading it is probably more compelling. However, I can't fault the content.
3.5 stars, rounded down.

[Louis Agate-Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Algeria:

A really fascinating book on a subject and people I had zero previous knowledge about.

Keenan’s writing made this whole book feel like I was there travelling with him and meeting the Tuareg myself, and now all I think about is planning a trip to this forgotten area of Algeria and the Sahara.

As a history graduate who has studied public history and rock art, I was amazed to find so much time and effort had been made by Keenan to discover and delve into the world of Tuareg rock art, and its subsequent destruction and looting.

A really great read!

[Mike Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author returned to Algeria after many years away and , I guess, went searching for ghosts of his past. He bumped into a younger man, Mokhtar, and they took a look at the Hoggar region together. It's a very simple story but it does give an insight into return and to making a new, and different, connection with a region.

[Otto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great travel book. Keenan is a respected anthropologist who in recent years has perhaps been slightly too enamoured with conspiracy theories about CIA involvement and false flag operations in North Africa. But don't let that deter you: this book is a wonderful account of Algeria, the Tuareg and how things had changed for both in the c.30 years since he had been there.