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Libya

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

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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)

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)

 
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 Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?

The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?


by John L. Esposito

  • RELIGION
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 328 PAGES

An insightful survey of Islam, its history and contemporary politics. (ISL03, $19.99)

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)

Ancient Rome: Art, Architecture, and History

Ancient Rome: Art, Architecture, and History


by Ada Gabucci

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

This lively, illustrated survey of Ancient Rome's monuments, history and art is a terrific introduction. (ITL419, $19.95)

Adventures in Arabia: Among the Bedouins, Druses, Whirling Dervishes, and Yezidee Devil Worshippers


by William Buehler Seabrook

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 356 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

An account of Seabrook's lurid, sensational adventures, first published in 1928 -- and here reproduced in a notebook-sized facsimile edition. (ARB59, $31.95)

Desert Divers

Desert Divers


by Sven Lindqvist

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

A lyrical account of Lindqvist's travels through the Sahara, taking as its theme the stereotypes and racial prejudices of Andre Gide, Antoine de St. Exupery and other literary idols who found inspiration in the desert. (NAF12, $12.95)

Eastern Approaches

Eastern Approaches


by Fitzroy MacLean

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 543 PAGES

Fitzroy MacLeans's action-packed account of his amazing adventures undercover in the Central Asian Republics of the USSR during Stalin's reign, as a commando in the Long Range Desert Group in North Africa, and with the Partisans in Yugoslavia during World War II. Touted as the real-life inspiration for James Bond, Maclean is not only a terrific writer but an eyewitness to historic events. Originally published in 1949. (CAS48, $30.00)

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)

Skeletons on the Zahara, A True Story of Survival

Skeletons on the Zahara, A True Story of Survival


by Dean King

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

King weaves a gripping tale of Captain James Riley and the men of the merchant ship Commerce, shipwrecked, captured and sold into slavery in 1815. King relies on published journals and his own travels to recreate the drama and hardship of the four-month trek across the Sahara. (NAF16, $14.99)

South from Barbary, Along the Slave Routes of the Libyan Sahara

South from Barbary, Along the Slave Routes of the Libyan Sahara


by Justin Marozzi

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 354 PAGES

The blistering account of a three-month-long, 1,500-mile journey by camel through the deserts of Libya on the old slave route by an ill-equipped and ornery British journalist and his companion. Marozzi interweaves politics and history with his tale of modern adventure. (NAF23, $14.99)

Sufferings in Africa, The Astonishing Account of a New England Sea Captain Enslaved by North African Arabs

Sufferings in Africa, The Astonishing Account of a New England Sea Captain Enslaved by North African Arabs


by James Riley

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

The classic tale of a shipwrecked and enslaved captain in North Africa, first published in 1817. (NAF15, $14.95)

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)

Travels with a Tangerine, From Morocco to Turkey in the Footsteps of Islam's Greatest Traveler

Travels with a Tangerine, From Morocco to Turkey in the Footsteps of Islam's Greatest Traveler


by Tim Mackintosh-Smith

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 342 PAGES

A captivating, well-informed account of travels in the footsteps of the Medieval pilgrim and world traveler Ibn Battuta from Tangiers to Constantinople via Egypt, Syria, Oman, Anatolia and the Crimea. (NAF26, $16.00)

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)

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 Perfumed Garden of the Cheikh Nefzaoui, A Manual of Arabian Erotology

The Perfumed Garden of the Cheikh Nefzaoui, A Manual of Arabian Erotology


by Umar Ibn Muhammad Nafzawi | Richard Francis Burton

  • LITERATURE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

A handbook to sex for married men of medieval Tunisia, this beautiful "pillow book" edition features 60 full-color illustrations. Written in the late 15th-century, it's one of the first works of erotic literature. (TUN17, $19.95)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.