Arabian Sands

This travel narrative records Thesiger's journeys in the late 1940s across the Empty Quarter of southern Arabia, travelling by camel with Bedouin companions of the Rashid and other desert tribes. He describes the logistics of water, grazing, and raids; the codes of hospitality and blood feud; and the physical facts of dunes, salt flats, and thirst. The book follows two major crossings of the sands and shorter journeys in Oman and the Trucial Coast, at a moment when oil money and motor transport are beginning to reach a way of life organised around camels and wells. It is reportage and portraiture, not a political history of the region.

Quarter bound in brown buckram with photo printed paper cover. Map in rear pocket. Dark brown slipcase.