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| Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival | 
 enlarge | Author: Dean King
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
Buy New: $2.33
You Save: $12.66 (84%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $2.33
Avg. Customer Rating:  (75 reviews)
Sales Rank: 12661
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0316159352
Dewey Decimal Number: 916.48041
EAN: 9780316159357
ASIN: 0316159352
Publication Date: April 12, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 amazing tale of survival April 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This story of survival of members of a shipwrecked crew in the mid-1800s is truly astounding, sold into slavery they are forced to survive in the incredibly harsh environment of the western Sahara. An interesting account of the daily lives of the people who scratch a living out of this barren landscape
 A fiction-reader's review February 25, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This review is intended for people who, like me, typically avoid non-fiction. It's a character flaw, I know, but I couldn't even point you to the non-fiction sections of my local bookstores.
However, the subject matter of Skeletons--desert survival--intrigued me. The gorgeous cover with the elongated shadows of a caravan plodding over the dunes didn't hurt either.
The book was well worth leaving my comfort zone. I pestered my wife with mind-boggling factoids and stranger-than-fiction events drawn from nearly every chapter as I read, but the real beauty of the experience was that I was enthralled by the sensual descriptions of the captives' plight; I gained a vast appreciation for the water bottle I nursed while reading.
Perhaps the greatest draw for the fiction-reader, however, was the suspense the author managed to generate regarding a deal brokered between the captain and one would-be savior. Naturally, I knew at least two characters would survive the ordeal, and admittedly, I never came to care as much for most of the other sailors as I might have in a fictionalized version of the story. However, the outcome of Captain Riley's bargain of faith kept me guessing, and I felt every pang of guilt and uncertainty right along with him.
I have to admit overcoming an interest-curve (if such a thing exists) in the text preceding the shipwreck. A lot of names, dates, and locations flew right by me: I was in this for the adventure, and the first 50-or-so pages plodded a bit for me. I now view that portion of the experience like the gradual exposition in many great novels and films; the non-fiction approach to setting and character development.
I really did love this book, and recommend it to those who feel intimidated by any stacks but Fiction. Maybe we'll bump into each other making those first tentative steps into the other aisles of the bookstore!
 Barbarism, cruelty and sand, lots of sand. February 9, 2008
This is an extraordinarily depressing, horrific account of severe hardship suffered by a few American seamen shipwrecked on the Western African coast in 1815, and subsequently enslaved by an Arab tribe. It's apparently a true account, pieced together from diaries and simple recollections of the crew, held as slaves over several months during a sojourn through the desert amounting to a few hundred miles. Although at times revolting, the book provides a very detailed account of the living conditions and customs of these simple Arab tribes who literally scratch out an existence in the harsh, unforgiving climate of the Western Sahara.
 Skeletons on the Zahara January 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
While this is a fascinating (and supposedly a true) story, it was too brutal for my taste. I had to give it up about half-way thru.
Yet another "truth is stranger than fiction" story November 19, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
These guys are tough. Shipwrecked, then passed around as slaves to nomadic desert Muslims, many of them survived an ordeal that is very well described by the author. Even at the end, you are sure they are going to get whacked. Great afterward chapters put the event into context in that period (1800's).
Between this and the tale of the Essex whaler, I have learned way too much about consuming one's own urine.
Although I found this book a much, much better read than Wilfred Thesiger's Arabian Sands, you might give that one a try if you require more time in the Empty Quarter than this books offers.
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