The eye-opening account of an American journalist's trek across the Sahel, the southern region of the Sahara Desert. On his travels through mostly Islamic Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Mali, Cameroon and Senegal, Tayler witnessed poverty, the influence of harsh regimes, and both hostility and a willingness to discuss the relationship of the United States to the Islamic world. An Arabic speaker, Tayler (Glory in a Camel's Eye) writes candidly about what he discovers in this complex part of the world.  (WAF83, $25.00)