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Swords from the Desert
Countless authors have swept us into the exotic east, but few based their tales there. In a time when westerners still spoke publicly about “the white man’s burden,” Harold Lamb was crafting action-packed stories featuring Arabs, Mongols, and Hindus as heroic, sympathetic, and believable men of honor and integrity ready to lay down their lives for their countries and their comrades. Assembled in this volume are four novellas and three short stories gleaned from the work of one of the greatest pulp writers. Lamb eventually won acclaim and awards for his accurate historical research and was regularly consulted by the State Department for his Middle Eastern expertise, but before any of that he drafted these thrilling tales of adventure. In “The Shield,” Khalil el Khadr reaches storied Constantinople just before it is besieged by a horde of crusaders. He must survive the intrigues of his rivals, bypass the invading Franks, rescue the maiden under his charge, and escape with the city’s most fabulous horse. Journey to sixteenth-century India with the brilliant Daril ibn Athir, a skilled Arab physician with a sharp wit and a sharper sword that he must wield in three novellas to keep schemers and assassins at bay. Three shorter tales of heroes and maidens from desert lands round out this volume, a must-have for those who thrill to tales of bold deeds and daring exploits.
328 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2009
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About the author
Harold Lamb
127 books161 followersHarold Albert Lamb was an American historian, screenwriter, short story writer, and novelist.
Born in Alpine, New Jersey, he attended Columbia University, where his interest in the peoples and history of Asia began. Lamb built a career with his writing from an early age. He got his start in the pulp magazines, quickly moving to the prestigious Adventure magazine, his primary fiction outlet for nineteen years. In 1927 he wrote a biography of Genghis Khan, and following on its success turned more and more to the writing of non-fiction, penning numerous biographies and popular history books until his death in 1962. The success of Lamb's two volume history of the Crusades led to his discovery by Cecil B. DeMille, who employed Lamb as a technical advisor on a related movie, The Crusades, and used him as a screenwriter on many other DeMille movies thereafter. Lamb spoke French, Latin, Persian, and Arabic, and, by his own account, a smattering of Manchu-Tartar.
From Wikipedia
Born in Alpine, New Jersey, he attended Columbia University, where his interest in the peoples and history of Asia began. Lamb built a career with his writing from an early age. He got his start in the pulp magazines, quickly moving to the prestigious Adventure magazine, his primary fiction outlet for nineteen years. In 1927 he wrote a biography of Genghis Khan, and following on its success turned more and more to the writing of non-fiction, penning numerous biographies and popular history books until his death in 1962. The success of Lamb's two volume history of the Crusades led to his discovery by Cecil B. DeMille, who employed Lamb as a technical advisor on a related movie, The Crusades, and used him as a screenwriter on many other DeMille movies thereafter. Lamb spoke French, Latin, Persian, and Arabic, and, by his own account, a smattering of Manchu-Tartar.
From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 12, 2011
The theme of this collection of some Lamb's adventure stories is that each of them has an Arab as either the story's protagonist or as a main character. I thought most of them were pretty good. Three of the longer stories ("The Guest of Karadak", "The Road to Kandahar", and "The Light of the Palace") detail the adventures of one Daril Ibn Athir, an Arab warrior turned physician as he journeys towards the court of the Mogul rulers circa 1620; a time period that seems to have been a favorite of Lamb's, as his more famous Khlit the Cossack stories occur about a decade before these tales. These were probably my favorite stories, although "The Shield" (set in Constantinople during the early 13th century when the city was pillaged by warriors of the Fourth Crusade) was also fairly good.
September 20, 2009
Harold Lamb wrote fine historical fiction from the 1920s to the 1950s, in addition to many respected history books. Most of his stories feature Cossacks and crusaders, but this collection focuses on people from Arabia to India, told from the point of view of the natives rather than through Western eyes.
This book contains four novellas published in Adventure magazine in the late 1920s, and three short stories published in Collier's magazine in the early 1930s. Three of the novellas feature Daril ibn Athir, a soldier turned physician, who finds himself embroiled in tribal conflicts. All of the short stories feature courageous girls.
The stories exhibit much better writing than most "pulp" stories of that period, with very good plots and characters. As a scholar of the Middle East who traveled the area and spoke many languages, Lamb makes his fiction seem realistic.
This book contains four novellas published in Adventure magazine in the late 1920s, and three short stories published in Collier's magazine in the early 1930s. Three of the novellas feature Daril ibn Athir, a soldier turned physician, who finds himself embroiled in tribal conflicts. All of the short stories feature courageous girls.
The stories exhibit much better writing than most "pulp" stories of that period, with very good plots and characters. As a scholar of the Middle East who traveled the area and spoke many languages, Lamb makes his fiction seem realistic.
December 17, 2011
A great read. Harold Lamb immerses you into the cultures and customs of the East Asia. I enjoyed all the stories, but Road To Kandahar is my favorite. The book is written in reflection of the times so there are some attitudes that are out of step with modern times, but it is a good read nonetheless. I recommend it to all historical fiction and heroic fiction fans.
March 25, 2020
Always relishing adventure, I’ve tended to gravitate towards this genre of literature and movies over the years. Therefore, you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon this book. There was the thrill of discovering a strange, exotic land brimming with desert people and turbin covered nomads, I couldn’t help get carried away to a different time and place, recalling the stories I’d read as I child, stories of caravans crossing the desert, wave upon wave of interminable sand interrupted only here and there by the shimmering water of an oasis and accompanying palms. Visions of shieks, sultans, dancing girls, the distant shout of marauding bandits in the line of Ali Baba and the forty thieves came to mind. While this book contained a smattering of all these things, the stories themselves left me rather dissapointed lacking the excitement I had anticipated.
Perhaps it was this building of them up in my mind prior to reading that left me with such a dismal impression of this book. However, that being said, I found most of these stories somewhat lacklustre and tedious with flat, unimpressive endings.
The author insists on referring to many of the characters with multiple titles sometimes by name, other times by tribal affiliation, physical characteristics or occupation, position or title. For instance in one story he mentions Shamil by his Arabic name and later in that same story as the one eyed Pashan. I found it unnecessarily confusing when James Fenimore Cooper in “The Last Of The Mohicans” refers to the main character Hawkeye as Natty Bumpo, La Longue Carabine (The Long Rifle), or the scout and uses these seperate titles to identify him in isolated passages throughout the story. It makes it harder for the reader to keep track of the characters when authors do this. Lambs work suffers from the same offense here.
Be prepared for some difficult reading that includes an incongruous spattering of Arabic and Persian words intermingled throughout the English text, use of archaic terms and those found only in literature that could have been substituted with commonly used alternatives, poor editing including mispelled words and incorrect punctuation that left this reader confused and frustrated at times with its convolution.
Perhaps it was this building of them up in my mind prior to reading that left me with such a dismal impression of this book. However, that being said, I found most of these stories somewhat lacklustre and tedious with flat, unimpressive endings.
The author insists on referring to many of the characters with multiple titles sometimes by name, other times by tribal affiliation, physical characteristics or occupation, position or title. For instance in one story he mentions Shamil by his Arabic name and later in that same story as the one eyed Pashan. I found it unnecessarily confusing when James Fenimore Cooper in “The Last Of The Mohicans” refers to the main character Hawkeye as Natty Bumpo, La Longue Carabine (The Long Rifle), or the scout and uses these seperate titles to identify him in isolated passages throughout the story. It makes it harder for the reader to keep track of the characters when authors do this. Lambs work suffers from the same offense here.
Be prepared for some difficult reading that includes an incongruous spattering of Arabic and Persian words intermingled throughout the English text, use of archaic terms and those found only in literature that could have been substituted with commonly used alternatives, poor editing including mispelled words and incorrect punctuation that left this reader confused and frustrated at times with its convolution.
October 5, 2012
Wow! I can't believe I haven't been reading Harold Lamb already. These stories were uniformly good.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews