Shifting Sands: A Human History of the Sahara
May 2025 · Profile Books
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231
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About this ebook
'Engrossing, enlightening, original ... brilliant' The Times
This is the story of the Sahara as you've never seen it before
In this sweeping, majesterial account, Judith Scheele reveals the rich history and complex reality of the world's largest hot desert. Drawing on decades of research, and years spent living in the region, Scheele leads us from the ancient Roman Empire through the bloody colonial era to the geopolitics of the present - and the race for resources that will define the future. The Sahara covers parts of eleven countries, and Scheele follows in the footsteps and tyre-tracks of the many people who cross the desert, taking us into the homes, mosques, palm groves and battlefields where history is written, spoken and remade.
The result is a masterful portrait of the Sahara. Encompassing the geology, religions, peoples and politics that shape and fracture the region, Shifting Sands tells the immersive story of a place whose future holds implications for us all.
'A detailed, often gritty, picture of a fragile world ... a clearsighted study of life on the edge' Wall Street Journal
'A fascinating and intimate perspective of the region from the ground-up' Barnaby Rogerson
This is the story of the Sahara as you've never seen it before
In this sweeping, majesterial account, Judith Scheele reveals the rich history and complex reality of the world's largest hot desert. Drawing on decades of research, and years spent living in the region, Scheele leads us from the ancient Roman Empire through the bloody colonial era to the geopolitics of the present - and the race for resources that will define the future. The Sahara covers parts of eleven countries, and Scheele follows in the footsteps and tyre-tracks of the many people who cross the desert, taking us into the homes, mosques, palm groves and battlefields where history is written, spoken and remade.
The result is a masterful portrait of the Sahara. Encompassing the geology, religions, peoples and politics that shape and fracture the region, Shifting Sands tells the immersive story of a place whose future holds implications for us all.
'A detailed, often gritty, picture of a fragile world ... a clearsighted study of life on the edge' Wall Street Journal
'A fascinating and intimate perspective of the region from the ground-up' Barnaby Rogerson
About the author
Judith Scheele is professor of social anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in France. She has carried out extensive field research in Algeria, Mali and Chad, and published highly acclaimed books and articles on Saharan societies past and present, including Smugglers and Saints of the Sahara.
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