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Libya

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Get the featured set of Essential Reading, our top picks of what to read, and get free shipping on anything else you order.

Essential Reading

Item EXNAF68. Buy these 5 items as a set for $89 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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Lonely Planet Libya

Lonely Planet Libya

by Lonely Planet

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

This practical guide in the popular series features essential information for getting around, as well as plenty of details on sightseeing and several maps. (NAF18, $25.99)

Culture Smart! Libya

Culture Smart! Libya

by Roger Jones

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 168 PAGES

A concise and practical guide to local customs, etiquette and culture. (NAF62, $9.95)

A Traveller's History of North Africa

A Traveller's History of North Africa

by Barnaby Rogerson

  • HISTORY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 408 PAGES

Wide-ranging, accessible and effectively condensed, this brief history marches confidently through the centuries, covering key events and personalities in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria to 1999. (NAF01, $15.95)

A Cure for Serpents

A Cure for Serpents

by Alberto di Pirajno

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

The Duke of Pirajno, who served as Italian ambassador in North Africa in the 1920s and 1930s, writes with candor and grace about everyday life and culture in the region, including the chieftains and courtesans, Berber princes and Tuareg entertainers. (NAF49, $33.95)

Libya Map

Libya Map

by ITMB

  • 2006
  • MAP

A full-color detailed traveler's map at a scale of 1:2,650,000. (NAF32, $10.95)

 
Bradt Guide North Africa, The Roman Coast

Bradt Guide North Africa, The Roman Coast


by Ethel Davis

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

This practical, informative guide brings to life the ancient Roman heritage of modern-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. (NAF68, $25.99)

A History of Modern Libya

A History of Modern Libya


by Dirk Vandewalle

  • HISTORY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 274 PAGES

A professor of government at Dartmouth, Vanderwalle presents an authoritative history of Libya from the 1900s through the Italian colonial period, monarchy and rule by Qadhafi since the 1969 revolution. (NAF41, $31.99)

A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period

A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period


by Jamil Abun-Nasr

  • HISTORY
  • 1987
  • PAPER
  • 460 PAGES

An authoritative, scholarly history of North Africa from the seventh century until independence, covering the Berber dynasties, Ottoman rule, colonial period and independence. (NAF31, $72.00)

Islam, A Short History

Islam, A Short History


by Karen Armstrong

  • HISTORY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 230 PAGES

Armstrong brings authority and experience to this vivid, clear-headed survey of the history and impact of Islam from the birth of Muhammad to present-day challenges. The best short introduction to the subject. (ISL15, $15.95)

Islam, The Straight Path

Islam, The Straight Path


by John L. Esposito

  • RELIGION
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

A well-written survey of the faith, practice and beliefs of Islam. It's a balanced tone intended for an undergraduate audience, yet it also functions as an excellent overview for the general reader. (MDE22, $49.95)

Lion of the Desert


by Moustapha Akkad

  • HISTORY
  • 2009
  • DVD

Oliver Reed and Anthony Quin star in this epic tale of guerila leader Omar Mukhtar and his struggle to stop the conquest of Libya. (NAF80, $14.95)

Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome

Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome


by Christopher Scarre

  • HISTORY
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

A vivid overview of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and its expansion throughout North Africa and the Mediterranean, illustrated with ingenious color maps on many topics (political borders, trade, defense, religion) and 80 color photographs. (ITL29, $18.00)

Rome in Africa

Rome in Africa


by Susan Raven

  • HISTORY
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 254 PAGES

Long the standard history of Roman influence in Northern Africa, this book is scholarly and comprehensive. It is a wonderfully written, illustrated introduction to the geographic setting, the rise of Carthage, historical personalities, individual trading centers and archaeological sites. (NAF04, $49.95)

The Berbers

The Berbers


by Michael Brett | Elizabeth Fentress

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

A comprehensive overview of the indigenous people of North Africa from antiquity through the Roman and Islamic periods to modern times. It surveys the history, literature and culture of the Berbers, exploring the identity they have forged in the region. (NAF02, $49.95)

The Lost Oasis, The Desert War and the Hunt for Zerzura

The Lost Oasis, The Desert War and the Hunt for Zerzura


by Saul Kelly

  • HISTORY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 392 PAGES

A well-researched, detailed account of exploration of the Libyan desert in the 1920s and 1930s -- and the subsequent Long Range Desert Group. (NAF21, $16.95)

Southern Frontiers, A Journey Across the Roman Empire

Southern Frontiers, A Journey Across the Roman Empire


by Don McCullin

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2010
  • HARD COVER
  • 272 PAGES

Roman sites, both world famous and obscure, from Syria and Lebanon across North Africa to Morocco, Algeria and Libya are presented in gorgeous black-and-white splendor in this collection of oversized photographs by the celebrated Don McCullin. Historian Barnaby Rogerson supplies the accompanying text. (MED172, $69.95)

The North African Stones Speak

The North African Stones Speak


by Paul Lachlan MacKendrick

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 246 PAGES

MacKendrick's lively history explores the life and culture of the North African provinces of Rome as revealed by its archaeology. With 60 pages on settlements and cities in ancient Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, including site plans and black-and-white photographs of Shahat, Apollonia, Leptis Magna and Fezzan. (NAF51, $47.50)

Sahara Unveiled, A Journey across the Desert

Sahara Unveiled, A Journey across the Desert


by William Langewiesche

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 302 PAGES

Traveling across the Sahara from Algiers to Dakar, Langeweische has written an uncommonly good memoir of the desert, with meditations on its history, inhabitants and allure. (NAF05, $16.00)

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta, A Muslim Traveler of the 14th Century

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta, A Muslim Traveler of the 14th Century


by Ross E. Dunn

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 359 PAGES

A modern historian's account of Ibn Battuta's travels in the medieval Islamic world. When Battuta left his native Morocco in 1325, he intended a pilgrimage to Mecca; however his travels ultimately took him as far as Mali in the west and Malaysia in the east, stopping in China, the Middle East, and Africa en route. (AFR103, $25.95)

Wind, Sand and Stars

Wind, Sand and Stars


by Antoine de Saint Exupery

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1967
  • PAPER
  • 229 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

St. Exupery's luminous account of flying early postal routes over South America, Europe and the deserts of North Africa in the 1930s includes the classic tale of his crash in the Libyan desert. (DES11, $13.95)

In the Country of Men

In the Country of Men


by Hisham Matar

  • LITERATURE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

This hauntingly beautiful short novel, set in Tripoli in wake of Khadafy's 1969 revolution, shows the bewilderment and fear of the Libyan people through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy. (NAF53, $15.00)

Leo Africanus

Leo Africanus


by Amin Maalouf

  • LITERATURE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 360 PAGES

A fictional memoir of the first 40 years in the life of Leo Africanus, a Muslim whose travels led him throughout the Mediterranean and North Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. (MED55, $16.95)

The English Patient

The English Patient


by Michael Ondaatje

  • LITERATURE
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 305 PAGES

Ondaatje's luminous novel, even better than the movie, unfolds at a villa in Tuscany and in the North African desert during World War II. (ITL703, $15.95)

Sahara, The Extraordinary History of the World's Largest Desert

Sahara, The Extraordinary History of the World's Largest Desert


by Sheila Hirtle | Marq de Villiers

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 326 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

A chronicle of the geography, history and nature of the Sahara. The authors combine travelogue, science and archaeology in this informative report. (NAF13, $14.00)

Birds of the Middle East

Birds of the Middle East


by Richard Porter | Simon Aspinall

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

An outstanding guide to 700 species of the birds in the region from the Arabian peninsula to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Cyprus. Second edition. (MDE17, $39.95)

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