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People of the reeds
The Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq were one of the most isolated communities in the world. Few outsiders, let alone Europeans, had been permitted to travel through their homeland, a mass of tiny islands lost in a wilderness of reeds and swamps in southern Iraq.
One of the few trusted outsiders was the legendary explorer, Wilfred Thesiger, who was Gavin Maxwell's guide to the intricate landscape, tribal customs and distinctive architecture of the Marsh Arabs. Thesiger's skill with a medicine chest and rifle assured them a welcome in every hamlet, and Maxwell's training as a naturalist and writer has left an invaluable record of a unique community and a vanished way of life.
'...prose close to poetry...' - New York Times
'an almost perfect book of travel' - The New Yorker
'we can only be grateful that... Maxwell recorded, while it lasted, a world whose existence would otherwise be impossible to imagine' - Times Literary Supplement
(from the book jacket)
One of the few trusted outsiders was the legendary explorer, Wilfred Thesiger, who was Gavin Maxwell's guide to the intricate landscape, tribal customs and distinctive architecture of the Marsh Arabs. Thesiger's skill with a medicine chest and rifle assured them a welcome in every hamlet, and Maxwell's training as a naturalist and writer has left an invaluable record of a unique community and a vanished way of life.
'...prose close to poetry...' - New York Times
'an almost perfect book of travel' - The New Yorker
'we can only be grateful that... Maxwell recorded, while it lasted, a world whose existence would otherwise be impossible to imagine' - Times Literary Supplement
(from the book jacket)
222 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
19 people are currently reading
290 people want to read
About the author
Gavin Maxwell
37 books52 followersGavin Maxwell was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his work with otters. He was born in Scotland in 1914 to Lieutenant-Colonel Aymer Maxwell and Lady Mary Percy, whose father was the seventh Duke of Northumberland. He was raised in the small village of Elrig, near Port William, which he later described in his autobiography The House of Elrig (1965).
After serving in the Second World War as an instructor with the Special Operations Executive, he purchased the Isle of Soay in the Inner Hebrides, where he attempted to establish a shark fishery. In 1956 he travelled to the Tigris Basin in Southern Iraq with the explorer Wilfred Thesiger to explore the area's vast unspoiled marshes; Maxwell's account of their travels was published as A Reed Shaken by the Wind (1959). It was there that he adopted the otter Mijbil. The story of how Maxwell brought Mijbil back to rise in his isolated home in Sandaig (named Camusfeàrna in the book) on the west coast of Scotland, is told in Ring of Bright Water (1960); the book sold more than two million copies and in 1969 was made into a film. It was the first in Maxwell's 'otter trilogy', for which he remains best known: its sequels were The Rocks Remain (1963) and Raven Seek Thy Brother (1968).
The house at Sandaig was destroyed by fire in 1968, and Maxwell moved into a former lighthouse keeper's cottage on the nearby island of Eilean Bàn. He died in 1969. His Eilean Bàn home remains a museum and the island a wildlife sanctuary.
After serving in the Second World War as an instructor with the Special Operations Executive, he purchased the Isle of Soay in the Inner Hebrides, where he attempted to establish a shark fishery. In 1956 he travelled to the Tigris Basin in Southern Iraq with the explorer Wilfred Thesiger to explore the area's vast unspoiled marshes; Maxwell's account of their travels was published as A Reed Shaken by the Wind (1959). It was there that he adopted the otter Mijbil. The story of how Maxwell brought Mijbil back to rise in his isolated home in Sandaig (named Camusfeàrna in the book) on the west coast of Scotland, is told in Ring of Bright Water (1960); the book sold more than two million copies and in 1969 was made into a film. It was the first in Maxwell's 'otter trilogy', for which he remains best known: its sequels were The Rocks Remain (1963) and Raven Seek Thy Brother (1968).
The house at Sandaig was destroyed by fire in 1968, and Maxwell moved into a former lighthouse keeper's cottage on the nearby island of Eilean Bàn. He died in 1969. His Eilean Bàn home remains a museum and the island a wildlife sanctuary.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 11, 2023
This is great. Second only to Thesiger's The Marsh Arabs, and essentially a retelling of Thesiger's final visit to the marshes, when Gavin Maxwell accompanied him. They were there around three months.
Maxwell has a great writing style. He describes the places and events well, and the photographs dispersed throughout the book are excellent.
Thesiger to Maxwell "Shooting here is not a bit like any ideas you might have. It's a strictly unsporting business, and we expect - and get - at least 200 percent" (This was quite untrue, although I did not yet know it; it was a laudable effort to instill principle rather than fact.) "You get as many coots in a row as you can; and you can only take single flying shots at duck and so on, and then God help if you miss. It's food we're after, we can't carry enough cartridges for sport. Your reputation among these people will stand or fall absolutely by what you kill or don't kill, and they're all watching you."
Having luckily shot 3 coots from 2 cartridges, Thesiger continues "Pity you aren't leaving us now; trouble about reputations won on flukes is that they're so shortlived."
At the end of the book, Maxwell obtains the otter he takes back to Scotland, and which becomes the star of his later otter books.
Read this book after Thesiger's The Marsh Arabs, and before Gavin Young's Return To The Marshes.
Maxwell has a great writing style. He describes the places and events well, and the photographs dispersed throughout the book are excellent.
Thesiger to Maxwell "Shooting here is not a bit like any ideas you might have. It's a strictly unsporting business, and we expect - and get - at least 200 percent" (This was quite untrue, although I did not yet know it; it was a laudable effort to instill principle rather than fact.) "You get as many coots in a row as you can; and you can only take single flying shots at duck and so on, and then God help if you miss. It's food we're after, we can't carry enough cartridges for sport. Your reputation among these people will stand or fall absolutely by what you kill or don't kill, and they're all watching you."
Having luckily shot 3 coots from 2 cartridges, Thesiger continues "Pity you aren't leaving us now; trouble about reputations won on flukes is that they're so shortlived."
At the end of the book, Maxwell obtains the otter he takes back to Scotland, and which becomes the star of his later otter books.
Read this book after Thesiger's The Marsh Arabs, and before Gavin Young's Return To The Marshes.
March 17, 2021
They were flying over an endless desert at 220mph. It stretched to the horizon from both windows. Rather than feeling excited about the flight into Baghdad, Maxwell felt a touch of fear. This journey had begun a couple of years before when he had written to the man sitting alongside him on the plane, they met in London. He explained there would be no home comforts and it would be incredibly tough travelling. In the end, he agreed to take him the next time he was going there. That man dozing alongside him was the legendary explorer Wilfred Thesiger and this was to be Maxwell’s first trip to the marshes of southern Iraq.
It was a place where outsiders were treated with suspicion, and not many ventured into their waterscape made up of a mass of tiny islands in a maze of reeds and swamps. They stopped for a few days in Basra where they were joined by the lads that Thesiger used to help him navigate the wilderness. They then all piled into a car and headed south before turning off the road and heading to where the lads had left their canoe. Finally, he was heading into the marshes.
Under a storm sky this landscape, too, could seem bleak and terrible, but now it seemed a wonderland, and the colours had the brilliance and clarity of fine enamel.
He would accompany Thesiger as he visited the various places that he wanted to go on this visit. They would only stay one night before moving on to another home so they didn’t become too much of a burden on their host. Moving across the water in a shallow draught canoe when the wind was blowing a gale is a bit nerve-wracking; especially if the local guides seemed to be worried too.
Maxwell is quite a good shot on land, shooting coots and ducks while sitting cross-legged in a gently rocking canoe is another matter. Sometimes he got lucky and sometimes he didn’t. As honoured guests, they attend weddings, watch dancers and share stories around the buffalo dung fires in the evenings. He watches how they construct their houses, and make the reed matting that is used for all manner of things.
It was a landscape as weird as a Lost World, and through it flew birds as strange and unfamiliar in flight as pterodactyls; snake-necked African darters, pygmy cormorants and halcyon kingfishers
The is the final book following on from Thesiger’s classic and Gavin Young’s Return To The Marshes in the triage of books I read about the Marsh Arabs. I think that I liked them all about the same but for a variety of different reasons. Thesiger and Young came across as more seasoned travellers, but in A Reed Shaken by the Wind, you got the sense that Maxwell was a little out of his depth travelling in the region for the first time.
Whilst he may have been outside his comfort zone, his prose can be magnificent at times. He has an eye for details about the people, their sparse but simple homes, the weather and the watery landscapes they are traversing in the canoes. I felt more of a sense of how it felt to be in the region more than with the other two authors. It was here too that he was to become the owner of an otter cub, Mijbil and the author of a book that would make him famous.
It was a place where outsiders were treated with suspicion, and not many ventured into their waterscape made up of a mass of tiny islands in a maze of reeds and swamps. They stopped for a few days in Basra where they were joined by the lads that Thesiger used to help him navigate the wilderness. They then all piled into a car and headed south before turning off the road and heading to where the lads had left their canoe. Finally, he was heading into the marshes.
Under a storm sky this landscape, too, could seem bleak and terrible, but now it seemed a wonderland, and the colours had the brilliance and clarity of fine enamel.
He would accompany Thesiger as he visited the various places that he wanted to go on this visit. They would only stay one night before moving on to another home so they didn’t become too much of a burden on their host. Moving across the water in a shallow draught canoe when the wind was blowing a gale is a bit nerve-wracking; especially if the local guides seemed to be worried too.
Maxwell is quite a good shot on land, shooting coots and ducks while sitting cross-legged in a gently rocking canoe is another matter. Sometimes he got lucky and sometimes he didn’t. As honoured guests, they attend weddings, watch dancers and share stories around the buffalo dung fires in the evenings. He watches how they construct their houses, and make the reed matting that is used for all manner of things.
It was a landscape as weird as a Lost World, and through it flew birds as strange and unfamiliar in flight as pterodactyls; snake-necked African darters, pygmy cormorants and halcyon kingfishers
The is the final book following on from Thesiger’s classic and Gavin Young’s Return To The Marshes in the triage of books I read about the Marsh Arabs. I think that I liked them all about the same but for a variety of different reasons. Thesiger and Young came across as more seasoned travellers, but in A Reed Shaken by the Wind, you got the sense that Maxwell was a little out of his depth travelling in the region for the first time.
Whilst he may have been outside his comfort zone, his prose can be magnificent at times. He has an eye for details about the people, their sparse but simple homes, the weather and the watery landscapes they are traversing in the canoes. I felt more of a sense of how it felt to be in the region more than with the other two authors. It was here too that he was to become the owner of an otter cub, Mijbil and the author of a book that would make him famous.
April 21, 2012
I found a 1959 copy of this book and picked it up years ago because I had read Maxwell's Ring of Bright Water series and really liked them. I've read it many times. This book shows the same meticulous writing as Maxwell's other books, focused on people who were essentially decimated by Saddam Hussein when the Iraq marshes were drained. Maxwell had an opportunity to explore this culture with Wilfred Thesiger, a recognized expert on the culture and respected by these people. The book is somewhat of a travelogue on Maxwell's experiences, but much more focused on the people as opposed to the place. Maxwell, a descendent of British aristocracy, is a funny blend of the noblesse oblige and periodic condescension of the privileged along with the respect for another culture and the humility of someone who knows he's just a visitor. It would be a good book to read aloud, which is my ultimate judgement of good writing. Very elegantly and precisely written. About nights in the marsh reed houses..."I remember, too, the proud curving silhouettes of the canoes and their reflections on moon-whitened water, the moon gliding through troubled cloud...the fresh wind blowing through the house all night with the smell of rain upon it....I used to wake in the night and take in these sights and sounds with a curious intimacy, like the memories of childhood, as though they were things once known and forgotten."
Want to read
August 19, 2010Searching for a copy of this. Hope to find one soon. Douglas Botting reviews this book in his biography of Maxwell (Gavin Maxwell; A life)and it is the place where Maxwell first encountered his lifelong love of otters and the country that changed the way he viewed the world and man's place in it. He was to become a staunch conservationist after Iraq.
Maxwell's account of the Marshes was the only one written before the Marshes ceased to exist after droughts and Saddam Hussein's draining of the Mesopotamian marshes of Iraq – (recorded as the Garden of Eden in the Bible) - was one of the most infamous outrages of his regime, leaving a vast area of once-teeming river delta a dry, salt-encrusted desert, emptied of insects, birds and the people who lived on them.
But nearly two decades later the area is buzzing and twittering with life again after local people and a new breed of Iraqi conservationists have restored much of what was once the world's third largest wetland to some of its former glory. In terms of conservation rehabilitaton the area is one to watch.
Maxwell's account of the Marshes was the only one written before the Marshes ceased to exist after droughts and Saddam Hussein's draining of the Mesopotamian marshes of Iraq – (recorded as the Garden of Eden in the Bible) - was one of the most infamous outrages of his regime, leaving a vast area of once-teeming river delta a dry, salt-encrusted desert, emptied of insects, birds and the people who lived on them.
But nearly two decades later the area is buzzing and twittering with life again after local people and a new breed of Iraqi conservationists have restored much of what was once the world's third largest wetland to some of its former glory. In terms of conservation rehabilitaton the area is one to watch.
May 8, 2023
I read this book because I am interested in the environment and ecology of marshes. The writing is beautifully descriptive of plants, animals, and birds. There is also a historical description of the Ma’dan (Marsh Arab) people who live in the southern marshes of Iraq; the marshes which surround the southern Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The writing transports the reader into the fascinating cultural adaptations of a dynasty that has survived for centuries in the marsh, but is in peril because of environmental degradation and political strife. Many of the numerous villages Mr. Maxwell visited are well known to the people, but do not exist on maps. Here are a few of the locations described in the book: [Iraq: Baghdad, Basra, Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Ramla, Daima Lake, Amarah, Turabah, Kut Barrage, Chahala River, Ezra’s Tomb (Al Uzair)]
Near the end of the book, Mr. Maxwell describes how he obtained some otters from the marsh men; these otters become the subjects of his book Ring of Bright Water. I found reading through this dissertation, which can be obtained online, a helpful supplement because it lists the plants, has maps, and has descriptions that supplement Mr. Maxwell’s book: Shadow States: The Archeology of Power in the Marshes of Southern Mesopotamia. December 2015. Ph.D. Dissertation by Adulameer Al-Dafar. 253 pp.
Near the end of the book, Mr. Maxwell describes how he obtained some otters from the marsh men; these otters become the subjects of his book Ring of Bright Water. I found reading through this dissertation, which can be obtained online, a helpful supplement because it lists the plants, has maps, and has descriptions that supplement Mr. Maxwell’s book: Shadow States: The Archeology of Power in the Marshes of Southern Mesopotamia. December 2015. Ph.D. Dissertation by Adulameer Al-Dafar. 253 pp.
May 4, 2017
I read this because I loved Thesiger's _Marsh Arabs_. I discovered Thesiger because I wanted to read about Iraq after the disastrous invasion. This is Iraq in the 1950's. The Marsh culture was very foreign and very dangerous. But this is an excellent book - an example of why I love the genre so much.
July 3, 2025
4.5 stars. a fascinating and sensitive account of the author's visit to a region and peoples no longer present. I appreciate the respect and genuine interest paid to the people and the culture here, and their unique lifestyle built within the marshlands. the author tells the story of his trip to the southern marshes of Iraq in 1956 alongside the more experienced Wilfred Thesiger, who had been traveling in the area for years and whowas a familiar visitor to many communities. this was Thesiger's final trip, and Gavin Maxwell joined him. although Maxwell was an outsider, he did get to know a few side characters, speak to strangers, and hear about local drama and lore. the physical conditions of the trip were uncomfortable - constantly sitting cross-legged, either in a boat or in a mudhif (hand-woven reed house), having little solid ground to walk upon, being often damp and muddy, and sleeping on the ground. there was also mental discomfort, not speaking much Arabic and so being on the outskirts of many conversations, and spending so much time in close proximity to his travel partner. but Maxwell was transfixed and transformed by his trip nonetheless, and came across as a generally positive and good-natured guy who willingly endured those discomforts to experience such a unique place. it wasn't all bad though, as this was the largest wetland in the middle east and the landscape of the marshes seemed beautiful and otherworldly. he describes particular scenes of nature in vivid detail and takes interest in the local wildlife, including frogs, birds, wild boar, and otters. there are very cool black and white photos included in the book too. overall this is a really interesting report of such a unique place and time. sadly the marshlands do not exist like that anymore as up to 90% were lost by 2000 after Saddam Hussein drained them to displace the very Marsh Arabs the author visited and traveled among. this book captures a place and a way of life since destroyed by politics and greed. it's a shame what's been lost, but I'm glad this book exists to preserve it in memory. i enjoyed reading it.
December 31, 2022
For a book that is based upon experiences that took place in my life time it is interesting how some things have changed and some remain all too familiar.
The same events are also recalled in Thesiger's The Marsh Arabs. Maxwell refers to Thesiger but Thesiger makes no reference to Maxwell. Maybe internal politics maybe he wasn't part of the scenery. I feel sure this has been observed else ware but I am ignorant of any reference.
One of ways the world has changed is in slavery. with Pele's recent death the media made references to the fact he was born just 60 years after the abolition of slavery in Brazil but here in Iraq in the 1960's there are numerous references to Negro, black or Ethiopian slaves living there. The slaves of Iraq are not restrained and are frequently trusted with guns and appear to accept their lot in life. Another change is with Homosexuality, this appears to be openly practised and tolerated. From what I know of the world today this is now not the case. The world changes but in its own time and not always in the direction you think it is.
The same events are also recalled in Thesiger's The Marsh Arabs. Maxwell refers to Thesiger but Thesiger makes no reference to Maxwell. Maybe internal politics maybe he wasn't part of the scenery. I feel sure this has been observed else ware but I am ignorant of any reference.
One of ways the world has changed is in slavery. with Pele's recent death the media made references to the fact he was born just 60 years after the abolition of slavery in Brazil but here in Iraq in the 1960's there are numerous references to Negro, black or Ethiopian slaves living there. The slaves of Iraq are not restrained and are frequently trusted with guns and appear to accept their lot in life. Another change is with Homosexuality, this appears to be openly practised and tolerated. From what I know of the world today this is now not the case. The world changes but in its own time and not always in the direction you think it is.
January 30, 2020
After absolutely adoring Maxwell's RING OF BRIGHT WATER trilogy, I've been slowly working my way through the rest of his oeuvre; he's one of my favourite writers for the interesting detail and humanity he brings into his writing. It also helps that he was writing right in the middle of the 20th century, so his works contain that fascinating mix of the old and the new. This one sees him travelling through the marshes of southern Iraq (close to Basra) for three months in the company of the slightly stuffy explorer Wilfred Thesiger. People and customs are described in detail, some of them shocking; there's animal cruelty here, which always seems to make an appearance in the author's work (although this is nowhere near as bad as HARPOON AT A VENTURE, which I struggled to read). The descriptions are excellent and have an elegaic feel to them, and I found the closing passages particularly moving. Travel writing with both heart and character, then.
November 3, 2018
A description of a journey by boat into the marshes to the north of Basra (Iraq) in the 1950s, when Gavin Maxwell (also the writer of the famous otter book 'ring of bright water') accompanied famous explorer and travel writer Wilfred Thesiger for the trip. An interesting insight into the lives and surroundings of the Marsh people of Iraq, though the journey lacks any coherent overall shape or storyline.
November 27, 2025
"...for those who wake at night in desert and in jungle to see the stars at strange slants in the sky have some goal before them, some enemy to conquer before returning home...What went ye forth for to see?"
I agree with the Spectator, this is a work of art. Not usually my area of interest, and grabbed on a whim based on that recomendation on the cover, I'll keep this as a particular favourite in my travel collection and look for other works by the author.
I agree with the Spectator, this is a work of art. Not usually my area of interest, and grabbed on a whim based on that recomendation on the cover, I'll keep this as a particular favourite in my travel collection and look for other works by the author.
March 13, 2021
Gavin Maxwell joins legendary explorer Wilfred Thesiger in a journey across the lost Iraqi marshes and guides him to the homeland of the Marsh Arabs. Poetic, beautiful, and at times melancholic, the book is a fascinating account of a forgotten culture and a lost landscape. I found the book a bit uneven in its style, otherwise would have been a solid 5.
December 9, 2025
This book was a wild surprise. It's an exploration of the Marshland of southern Iraq in the 1950's. The author didn't speak the language and only had one English speaking companion during the entire trip. There are many interesting and beautiful scenes described, crazy tension during multiple interactions with wild animals and feuding tribes and a heartbreaking ending I was not expecting.
August 9, 2021
“Travel” books aren’t my favorite genre—and I suppose in this case I hoped for more historical data about the marsh Arabs—but this is still an impressive and well-done book and makes me curious about Maxwell and maybe even his otter.
September 17, 2024
I found this book during my intellectual journey to learn more about Iraq. Although this travel book depicts the marshes in 1957, it provided vivid imagery of how the Marsh Arabs might have lived. Much must have changed since then. I am now more curious than ever to visit the marshes today.
February 22, 2017
Travel writing is my favourite genre after literary fiction and I loved this book about a completely vanished way of life. Maxwell's prose is a delight to read, unlike the horribly heavy stuff Thesiger produced (I found him SUCH hard work). Thesiger's travels are fascinating, so finding that someone else wrote about them was a joy. He's also not as ridiculously macho. If only Maxwell had accompanied Thesiger on every trip!
May 3, 2014
Gavin Maxwell's Ring of Bright Water sold a million copies and became a much-loved movie. It tells the story of Maxwell's life with Mijbil the otter on a Scottish island. Before this, Maxwell had already had an incident-packed life, and A Reed Shaken by the Wind tells of one of his adventures, a journey through the marshes of Southern Iraq with Wilfred Thesiger, one of the few Westerners who was familiar with this part of the world.
Thesiger had an honorary Arabic name: Mubarak bin London (the blessed one from London) and was welcomed almost wherever he went, thus allowing Maxwell a unique insight into this strange world. The journey took place in 1957, but Maxwell's lyrical descriptions are timeless. One can imagine that life in the marshes had remained unchanged for centuries. This was before the world came to associate the area around Basra with war, and presumably life for the Marsh Arabs has now changed unrecognisably. Which makes this book all the more remarkable, a fascinating glimpse of an alien world, now gone forever.
Told self-deprecatingly with sensitivity and humour, this is the book that should have made Maxwell famous, but we capricious readers were more captivated by the otter than by our fellow humans. However, there is a link between the two books. It was in the marshes of southern Iraq that Maxwell was given Mijbil, later found to be of a species of otter previously unknown and named after Maxwell. And the next part of the story, of course, is history.
Thesiger had an honorary Arabic name: Mubarak bin London (the blessed one from London) and was welcomed almost wherever he went, thus allowing Maxwell a unique insight into this strange world. The journey took place in 1957, but Maxwell's lyrical descriptions are timeless. One can imagine that life in the marshes had remained unchanged for centuries. This was before the world came to associate the area around Basra with war, and presumably life for the Marsh Arabs has now changed unrecognisably. Which makes this book all the more remarkable, a fascinating glimpse of an alien world, now gone forever.
Told self-deprecatingly with sensitivity and humour, this is the book that should have made Maxwell famous, but we capricious readers were more captivated by the otter than by our fellow humans. However, there is a link between the two books. It was in the marshes of southern Iraq that Maxwell was given Mijbil, later found to be of a species of otter previously unknown and named after Maxwell. And the next part of the story, of course, is history.
April 4, 2013
A fantastically unique style of travel writing from the day before travel writing became so popular. I love the middle east so this was my main attraction for seeking this out and it didn't dissapoint. A funny, irreverent look at a culture that we know know doesn't exist anymore. Makes the book all the more valuable as a testament to the marsh arabs or Iraq.
March 13, 2014
As much as I enjoyed this book, it brought me great sadness. I suppose that no matter when I read this book I would have been aware of the unlikelihood of that culture surviving and my getting a chance to experience it. But I read it in April 2003, just after the US invasion. I can't imagine there is anything left.
June 20, 2016
A fascinating account of an almost lost culture. Maxwell spent a great deal of time with the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq, a way of life that was almost lost when Saddam Hussein drained the marshlands these people lived in and off, forcing them to move away to near starvation in more urban areas of Iraq. Fortunately, this habitat is being restored and the Marsh Arabs are moving back.
July 28, 2010
Hilarious counter to Thesiger's book (which makes no mention of taking along Maxwell on one of his trips), very Fish-Out-of-Water [Gavin:] vs. Effortless Assimilation [Wilfred:]. Easy, relaxed read...I finished it in about 2 days.
September 13, 2012
I just picked up a 1966 Pyramid edition of this book, titled, "People of the Reeds: A fascinating trek into a land that time forgot," at a bookstore for 1 dollar. What a great find! Maxwell writes with clarity and humor - I'm only 3 chapters in but this book is carrying me away swiftly.
January 20, 2008
Not nearly as good as Lords of the Atlas.
August 25, 2008
Great description of both the marsh arabs way of life and of Wilfer Thessigers travels there. Maxwell was a great writer.
August 28, 2016
A very different book to Thesiger's but a very good companion piece
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews