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Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival

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Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
List Price: $14.99
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Some stories are so enthralling they deserve to be retold generation after generation. The wreck in 1815 of the Connecticut merchant ship, Commerce, and the subsequent ordeal of its crew in the Sahara Desert, is one such story. With Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival, Dean King refreshes the popular nineteenth-century narrative once read and admired by Henry David Thoreau, James Fenimore Cooper, and Abraham Lincoln. King's version, which actually draws from two separate first person accounts of the Commerce's crew, offers a page-turning blend of science, history, and classic adventure. The book begins with a seeming false start: tracing the lives of two merchants from North Africa, Seid and Sidi Hamet, who lose their fortunes—and almost their lives—when their massive camel caravan arrives at a desiccated oasis. King then jumps to the voyage of the Commerce under Captain Riley and his 11-man crew. After stops in New Orleans and Gibraltar, the ship falls off course en route to the Canary Islands and ultimately wrecks at the infamous Cape Bojador. After the men survive the first predations of the nomads on the shore, they meander along the coast looking for a way inland as their supplies dwindle. They subsist for days by drinking their own urine. Eventually, to their horror, they discover that they have come aground on the edge of the Sahara Desert. They submit themselves, with hopes of getting food and water, as slaves to the Oulad Bou Sbaa. After days of abuse, they are bought by Hamet, who, after his own experiences with his failed caravan (described at the novels opening), sympathizes with the plight of the crew. Together, they set off on a hellish journey across the desert to collect a bounty for Hamet in Swearah.King embellishes this compelling narrative throughout with scientific and historical material explaining the origins of the camel, the market for English and American slaves, and the stages of dehydration. He also humanizes the Sahrawi with background on the tribes and on the lives of Hamet and Seid. This material, doled out in sufficient amounts to enrich the story without derailing it makes Skeletons on the Zahara a perfectly entertaining bit of history that feels like a guilty pleasure.--Patrick O'Kelley


DESCRIPTION:

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 916.48041
EAN: 9780316159357
ISBN: 0316159352
Label: Back Bay Books
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: 2005-04-12
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Studio: Back Bay Books


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CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: True-Life Adventure at its Horrific Best
Comment: "Skeletons on the Zahara" is a perfect example of why I'm a big fan of true-life adventure narratives--you can't make this stuff up, as they say. The book is a fascinating, and sometimes horrifying, account of early 19th century sea captain James Riley and his crew of the Commerce, who fought an epic battle to survive captivity and slavery among Arabic nomads after being shipwrecked off the northwest coast of Africa in August 1815.

Meant to sail through the Canary Islands, Riley's brig was swept off-course by contrary currents and ran aground on the Morocco coast, where it broke apart and left the captain and his crew adrift in two small boats. Once on shore, like many sailors before and after them, they were belguiled and attacked by muslim tribesmen, who killed a number of the crew and captured the rest, selling them off piecemeal to local slavers and other nomads. Those who survived their murderous and sometimes cannabilistic captors endured tortures, plagues of locusts, blinding sandstorms, thirst, starvation and other almost unimaginable horrors.

After finally being ransomed by a British consul-general, Riley returned to the United States and wrote a memoir of his experiences. Published in 1817, Riley's text became a famous and influential abolitionist document, and was translated into several European languages. A young Abraham Lincoln was apparently greatly affected by the book, as was Henry David Thoreau--who cited it in his "Cape Cod" writings. In an 1819 letter to Ohio governor E. A. Brown, Riley confessed to being perpetually tormented by recurring nightmares about his ordeal and by his anxieties over the fate of his enslaved shipmates who remained forever lost.

"Skeletons on the Zahara" is wonderfully readable, punctuated by profound moral and psychological insights about the human condition, and a page turner from start to finish. Highly recommended!

Customer Rating:
Summary: Astonishing and riveting!
Comment: Couldn't put this book down. The adventure-tale aspect alone would have been reason enough to read it, but the description of the nomadic Arabs who enslaved Captain Riley and his crew is not only fascinating but educational. While the story is at times heartbreaking and difficult to read, there are heroes and acts of kindness on both sides and ultimately the story is uplifting. Apparently the account of human bondage on which this book was based was very influential on the young Abraham Lincoln.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Skeletons of the Zahara
Comment: Amazing tale of survival. Gives insight into the life and customs of the people living in the desert. I enjoyed the book very much.

Customer Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Comment: I'm not much of a reader, but I couldn't put this book down. I watched the show about James Riley on the History Channel and had to read the book. I was so moved and inspired by what they went through. This story seems to be forgotten in our American History, and it needs to come alive again. Hopefully a great producer and director will team up and make a film honorable and true to the incredible men in this historical account. The world should know about their story.

Customer Rating:
Summary: The Desert As Dessert
Comment: I read "Skeletons On the Zahara" last year and thought it was by far, the best book I read all year. Once I started it, I could not wait to get through each day so I could curl up with this amazing adventure as a treat after dinner. The only problem I had with this book was putting it down.

There were moments of wonder, great excitement, sadness and tears too. I had to keep reminding myself that as thrilling as it was, it was true and so very remarkable. How strong we human beings are! What great writing this is! I have enjoyed giving copies of the book to friends as gifts. They've all been fascinated by it.

I might add that I haven't given away my own copy because I plan to read it again - for the 3rd time! Other than Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth", there are few books I have reread.

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