The Life of My ChoiceWilfred Thesiger is the last of the great British eccentric explorers, a legendary figure, renowned for his travels through some of the most inaccessible places on earth. As a child in Abyssinia he watched the victorious armies of Ras Tafari returning from hand-to-hand battle, their prisoners in chains; at the age of twenty-three he made his first expedition into the country of the Danakil, a murderous race among whom a man's status in the tribe depended on the number of men he had killed and castrated. His widely acclaimed books, 'Arabian Sands' and 'The Marsh Arabs' tell of his two famous sojourns in the Empty Quarter and the Marshes of southern Iraq. But Thesiger's true character and motives have until now remained an enigma. In this, his autobiography, he highlights the people who most profoundly influenced him and the events which enabled him to lead the life of his choice. "One of the very few people who in our time could be put on the pedestal of the great explorers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries." "A treasure galleon built to the same specifications as 'Arabian Sands' and 'The Marsh Arabs' ... it is the record of a man magnificently and unabashedly out of step with his times." "He is, unquestionably, one of the greatest travellers the British have ever produced, the last of our recognizable primitives. He also writes with much distinction and honesty." |
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... commanded by a sergeant - major , were always smartly dressed . They were armed with service rifles , and each man had his own camel or horse ; all were ready to go anywhere at a moment's notice . In the office we had a staff of three ...
... commanded the countryside along the Blue Nile , and was the only Patriot leader in a position to disrupt the eventual Italian withdrawal into Shoa from Debra Markos . Though of hum- ble origin , among a people who set great store by ...
... commanded the Imperial Bodyguard , and they both owed everything to the Emperor's favour . Some other officers in the palace , whom the Emperor trusted , were also involved . During the night the rebels rounded up various ministers and ...
Contents
List of Maps | 7 |
Introduction | 15 |
Arrival in Addis Ababa | 23 |
Copyright | |
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