{"product_id":"arabian-sands","title":"Arabian Sands","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the spirit of T.E. Lawrence, Wilfred Thesiger spent five years wandering the deserts of Arabia, producing \u003ci\u003eArabian Sands\u003c\/i\u003e, 'a memorial to a vanished past, a tribute to a once magnificent people'. The Penguin Classics edition includes an introduction by Rory Stewart.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWilfred Thesiger, repulsed by what he saw as the softness and rigidity of Western life - 'the machines, the calling cards, the meticulously aligned streets' - spent years exploring in and around the vast, waterless desert that is the 'Empty Quarter' of Arabia. Travelling amongst the Bedu people, he experienced their everyday challenges of hunger and thirst, the trials of long marches beneath the relentless sun, the bitterly cold nights and the constant danger of death if it was discovered he was a Christian 'infidel'. He was the first European to visit most of the region, and just before he left the area the process that would change it forever had begun - the discovery of oil.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis edition contains an introduction by Rory Stewart discussing the dangers of Thesiger's travels, his unconventional personality and his insights into the Bedouin way of life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger (1910-2003) was a British travel writer born in Addis Ababa in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). Thesiger is best known for two travel books: \u003ci\u003eArabian Sands\u003c\/i\u003e (1959), which recounts his travels in the Empty Quarter of Arabia between 1945 and 1950 and describes the vanishing way of life of the Bedouins, and \u003ci\u003eThe Marsh Arabs\u003c\/i\u003e (1964), an account of the traditional peoples who lived in the marshlands of southern Iraq.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you enjoyed \u003ci\u003eArabian Sands\u003c\/i\u003e, you might like T.E. Lawrence's \u003ci\u003eSeven Pillars of Wisdom\u003c\/i\u003e, also available in Penguin Modern Classics\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Thesiger is perhaps the last, and certainly one of the greatest, of the British travellers among the Arabs'\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Following worthily in the tradition of Burton, Lawrence, Philby and Thomas, it is, very likely, the book about Arabia to end all books about Arabia'\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HOLIDAY BOOKS","offers":[{"title":"Neuware","offer_id":52997873402192,"sku":"9780141442075","price":16.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/3834\/5940\/files\/unnamed_58e6e62e-ef06-422a-b16b-9153228a06f6.jpg?v=1778528117","url":"https:\/\/holiday-books.de\/products\/arabian-sands","provider":"HOLIDAY BOOKS","version":"1.0","type":"link"}