Thesiger is the last in a long line of British explorers who have
passionately explored the culture and lives of remote societies.
His first expedition was at the age of 23 into the land of the
Danakil in northern Abyssinia. Renowned for their love of
castrating strangers, Thesiger in fact found the Danakil to be
extremely hospitable and 'lavish with gifts of meat and milk'. It
marked him for life. He describes with horror the destruction of
Abyssinian society by Mussolini's invasion of 1935; the undoing by
oil companies of the Bedu way of life described in Arabian Sands;
and the levelling of the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq by war and
tyrannical governments. The Life of My Choice is beautifully
written by an explorer who fortunately for us arrived just in time
to capture the very heart of native societies. (Kirkus UK)
Wilfred 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.”
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
“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.”
E.S. TURNER, 'London Review of Books'
“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.”
GEOFFREY MOORHOUSE, 'Daily Telegraph'
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