In Barbary: Restored Classics to Go Edition

· Otbebookpublishing
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581
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About this ebook

E. Alexander Powell's North African travel narrative is driven by wander-thirst and by a determination to replace postcard fantasy with firsthand reality. Drawn back to the road by a conversation with France's colonial minister, he sets off through Tunisia, Algeria, the Sahara, and Morocco, following routes made possible by steamship lines and modern roads yet still shadowed by the risks of the Spanish zone and the Riff. Along the way, he argues that Barbary is not a land of corsairs and Hollywood sheikhs, but a region of Berber heritage, Roman ruins, mountain ranges, forests, desert oases, and complex colonial politics. Powell mixes practical travel guidance, history, and sharp observation, tracing the region's Punic, Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, and Arab past while describing Biskra, Sidi Okba, the legend of Okba ibn Nefi, the Ouled-Naïl dancers, and the eerie rites of the Aïssaoua. His richly illustrated journey captures both the romance and the unease of North Africa, from elegant gardens to smoky cafés, from desert legends to modern imperial infrastructure, all filtered through a candid, skeptical eye. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
E. Alexander Powell's North African travel narrative is driven by wander-thirst and by a determination to replace postcard fantasy with firsthand reality. Drawn back to the road by a conversation with France's colonial minister, he sets off through Tunisia, Algeria, the Sahara, and Morocco, follo...

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About the author

E. Alexander Powell, born Edward Alexander Powell, was an American journalist, war correspondent, and travel writer whose restless curiosity carried him from one corner of the world to another at a time when travel writing could still open windows onto places many readers only imagined. Educated in New York and drawn early to reporting, he built a career on firsthand observation, covering conflicts, colonial worlds, and distant cultures with a vivid, immediate style that made his writing both informative and entertaining. Over the course of his long career, he became known for books and articles that blended adventure, political insight, and sharp eye-witness detail, establishing him as one of the most readable popular chroniclers of the early twentieth century. His work often explores the meeting point between empire and local life, the thrill of travel, and the uneasy realities behind romantic notions of foreign lands, themes that still resonate today in a global age shaped by cultural encounter, power, and mobility. Powell's legacy lies in his ability to make faraway places feel urgent and real while also revealing the human drama beneath headlines and stereotypes. Readers who enjoy lively travel writing, historical reportage, and accounts of the wider world seen through a perceptive and adventurous eye will find him especially rewarding.

E. Alexander Powell, born Edward Alexander Powell, was an American journalist, war correspondent, and travel writer whose restless curiosity carried him from one corner of the world to another at a time when travel writing could still open windows onto places many readers only imagined. Educated ...

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