World Tour 2020: Northern Africa and Arabia

It’s April and the world is in the throes of the Corona Pandemic. For all of you who practice social distancing by staying at home, you can take a safe tour to the deserts of northern Africa and Arabia with 10 gems from our catalogue.

In the early 20th century, women power was supposed to be focused on the home. Rosita Forbes, however, thought otherwise and explored The Secret of the Sahara: Kufara, a hidden oasis in the Libyan desert on a four months long trip.

Lord Borrow and Captain Fenton also keep a secret, one that will make them very rich. On their way, they meet others who are hiding secrets of their own, among them a reincarnation of Cleopatra… Find out what it is exactly that Happened in Egypt in the adventure by Charles and Alice Williamson.

The life of Tor, a Street Boy of Jerusalem, is filled with adventures as he tries to scrape by as a mere beggar. But when a man called Jesus comes to town around the Jewish Pessach festival, Tor’s life takes a different turn in the novel by Florence M. Kingsley.

When in 480 BC King Xerxes took on the Greeks in the battle of Salamis, the lives of The Persians in his empire were also completely changed. Other than typical Greek dramas, this one by Aeschylus is concerned with historical events.

Both historical and fictional are the stories collected by Eva March Tappan in her series “The World’s Story.” Volume 3 is full with great historical information and stories about Egypt, Africa and Arabia.

What is your first thought when hearing “Arabia”? Probably The Book of A Thousand Nights and a Night, a classic full of tales of genies and beautiful women and muslim folklore. Our English version has been masterfully translated by Richard Burton.

Our collection A Multilingual Rubaiyat presents a number of different translations into seven languages of the famous quatrains by Omar Khayyam, who is sometimes called the Astronomer-Poet of Persia.

In the Arabic original of “The Nature of Despotism” – Tabai al-Istibdad wa-Masari al-Isti’bad – Abd-al Rahman Al Kawakibi criticises tyranny, in particular that of the Ottoman Empire, and the tendency of rulers to use religion to oppress the people.

The Myths of Babylonia and Assyria by Donald Mackenzie contain a fair share of stories about local gods as they follow these states from their founding through their rise and golden age until their final days of destruction.

Too many did not live to see the end of the Great War. Tickner Edwardes, an operating theater orderly, shares his experiences With the Royal Army Medical Corps in Egypt in 1918. There, within only 10 days of landing at Gallipoli, 16.000 soldiers had to be taken care of in field hospitals.

We did it once then – we can do it now again!
Take care of yourself – and stay healthy and safe!