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Untethered From the Facts
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt Barth had a scientist’s horror of inaccuracy, and during his explorations he rigorously corrected the mistakes of his predecessors. He criticized Johann Ludwig Burckhardt’s...
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Weird White Men
European explorers went to Africa certain that they carried the banner of civilization and were superior to the natives, whose skin, after all, was dark, and whose fashions and physiognomies often...
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Tim Jeal, Horror, and Rose-Tinted Spectacles
Tim Jeal is the current dean of writers about African exploration, so I was pleased to see his name atop a recent review of A Labyrinth of Kingdoms in the Wall Street Journal. But halfway through it,...
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The Hill of the Christians
One of the most fascinating and perilous segments of Barth’s journey occurred in the district of Aïr in the Sahara, in present-day Niger. About 300 miles long and 200 miles wide, Aïr consists of steep...
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Labyrinth: Reviews & Interviews
Some recent reviews and interviews about the book: Boston Globe review. Shelf Awareness review. Bibliobuffet review. Expedition News review. Wall Street Journal review and my response. Christian...
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August Petermann, Cartographer of Exploration
Heinrich Barth’s invitation to join the British expedition can be traced back to a German cartographer named August Petermann. Petermann was working at the London Observatory when he heard about James...
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Images: Some Expedition Documents
A few of the dozens of pages devoted to merchandise taken by the expedition. First, arms and ammunition: Supplies: Instruments: Letter of transit in Arabic, carried by Barth, given to him by the...
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Why Timbuktu Will Overcome Its Latest Fundamentalist Conquerors
Caravan routes Many of today’s headlines about Islamic north-central Africa would look familiar to the explorer and scientist Heinrich Barth, who traveled 10,000 miles there for the British from 1850...
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Nearing the End of the Journey
It’s been almost a year since I started this blog about Heinrich Barth and his travels. My book about his great expedition is now three months old. I think it’s time for the caravan to move on. I’ll...
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Honors
The Boston Globe has named A Labyrinth of Kingdoms one of 2012’s eleven best books of nonfiction, putting it in some distinguished company. I’m honored.
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