From the Sahara to Samarkand: Selected Travel Writings of Rosita Forbes 1919-1937

by Rosita Forbes, Margaret Bald, Margaret Bald (Introduction)

Overview

The extraordinary Rosita Forbes explored the Libyan desert, sailed across the Red Sea, and trekked more than a thousand miles into remote Abyssinia. She wrote some thirty books about these and other journeys, as well as biographies, histories, novels, and memoirs. She was a widely published journalist and commentator on international affairs, a popular lecturer, and a documentary filmmaker. Her story deserves to be retold and her writing discovered by a new generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604190304
Publisher:	Axios Press
Publication date:	09/16/2010
Pages:	369
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Editor's Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction xv

Editor's Note xxxv

1919: Into Java and Sumatra

Java 3

Java and Sumatra 9

1919: Between Two Armies in China

Southern China 17

Chin-Chow 27

1921: The Secret of the Sahara: Kufara

We Enter on the Great Adventure 39

The Elusive Dunes 59

1922: An Attempted Pilgrimage to Mecca

An Adventure that Failed 81

Being the Account of an Attempted Pilgrimage to Mecca 91

The Pilgrimage Continued 103

1923: Odyssey in Yemen and Asir

The Odyssey of a Sambukh 119

Guests of a Hermit Emir 131

The Menace of a Crowd 141

1924: Morocco: The Sultan of the Mountains

Into the Days of Haroun Er Rashid 153

The Wild Land of Raisuli 161

Raisuli Himself 171

1925: A Thousand Miles of Abyssinia

Anticipation 179

The Arks at Harrar 191

Chiefly Mules and Marriages 203

The Palaces of Gondar 215

1928: A Woman with the Legion-South of the Atlas, Morocco

A Woman with the Legion-South of the Atlas, Morocco 231

1931: Interlude in Turkey, Iraq, and Persia

Veiled and Unveiled Women of the Middle East 255

Iraq and the Holy Cities of Shia Islam 265

Interlude in the Anderun 279

From Isfahan to Shiraz by Motor-Truck 291

Through the Mountains of Kurdistan 301

1937: From Kabul to Samarkand

The Nomads' Road to Kabul 321

Kabul 327

In Kandahar 331

Travelling with Afghans 335

Bamyan, Valley of the Giant Buddhas 343

Through the Hindu Kush to Doab 349

The Glory of Tamerlane 357

Books by Rosita Forbes 367

About the Editor 369

Editorial Reviews

[Rosita Forbes's] incredible courage, with her apparent implacability in the face of often daunting odds . . . has one spellbound from start to finish of this remarkable anthology. . . . An inspiring volume for modern-day travelers, whether of the armchair variety or of the more adventurous kind, this book is not to be missed.
— BookPleasures.com

Lois Henderson

All through Eurasia, Rosita Forbes became a writing icon of her time. “From the Sahara to Samarkand: Selected Travel Writings of Rosita Forbes 1919-1937” tells the story of her epic journeys through the land, giving a sample of the work that has proven to be her claim to fame. A solid perspective of the Middle East and Asia before World War II, “From the Sahara to Samarkand” is a choice addition to any literary collection focusing on travel writing.

Midwest Book Review

“From the Sahara to Samarkand is the first anthology of [Rosita Forbes’s] travel writings to be published. It includes selections from eight of her travel books…a thorough and enthusiastic introduction to her life and work, and a photo gallery.”--(Patricia Dubrava )

The Bloomsbury Review

“Almost a century ago, Rosita Forbes, the bride of an adulterous Scottish army officer, pawned her wedding ring, bought a horse, a revolver, and a camera and embarked on what would be a long, adventurous career as a travel writer…. Margaret Bald provides a taste of some of Forbes’s forays into the Libyan Desert, Iraq, Afghanistan and a disintegrating, post-World War I China…. Best… is the story of her attempted pilgrimage to Mecca in August 1922. Swathed in a shapeless black abaya, she identifies herself as half Turk, half Egyptian and sets out with hundreds of Muslim pilgrims on a boat sailing across the Red Sea from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.”--(Joshua Hammer )

Sunday Book Review The New York Times