Wilfred Thesiger in Africa [a unique collection of essays & personal photographs]. Publ. to accompany Wilfred Thesiger in Africa: A centenary exhibition

A unique collection of essays accompany Wilfred Thesiger’s own personal photographs of the Africa he experienced as one of the world’s most celebrated explorers Along with Sir Wilfred Thesiger's beautiful photographs—most of them previously unpublished—the essays in this volume explore and evaluate his lifetime of African exploration and travel, as well as, for the first time, his photographic practice and its legacy as a museum collection. Wilfred Thesiger was, in the words of David Attenborough, "one of the very few people who in our time could be put on the pedestal of the great explorers of the 18th and 19th centuries." Throughout his life he journeyed through some of the remotest, most dangerous areas of Africa, witnessing and photographing fast-changing cultures to great acclaim. During the 1960s he traveled extensively in East Africa, and from 1978 he spent the greater part of each year living among the pastoral Samburu in Kenya, until retiring to England in 1994. His books, including Arabian Sands and The Marsh Arabs , have been hailed as classics of modern travel writing. Here in this collection, Thesiger is featured in conversation with David Attenborough, while other contributors include Benedict Allen, Jeremy Coote, Elizabeth Edwards, and Schuyler Jones. Published to coincide with the centenary of Wilfred Thesiger's birth in Ethiopia in 1910, this book is a moving celebration of Thesiger's enduring relationship to the continent, and his fascination with its peoples and landscapes. **A unique collection of essays accompany Wilfred Thesiger’s own personal photographs of the Africa he experienced as one of the world’s most celebrated explorers**Along with Sir Wilfred Thesiger's beautiful photographs—most of them previously unpublished—the essays in this volume explore and evaluate his lifetime of African exploration and travel, as well as, for the first time, his photographic practice and its legacy as a museum collection. Wilfred Thesiger was, in the words of David Attenborough, "one of the very few people who in our time could be put on the pedestal of the great explorers of the 18th and 19th centuries." Throughout his life he journeyed through some of the remotest, most dangerous areas of Africa, witnessing and photographing fast-changing cultures to great acclaim. During the 1960s he traveled extensively in East Africa, and from 1978 he spent the greater part of each year living among the pastoral Samburu in Kenya, until retiring to England in 1994. His books, including __Arabian Sands__ and __The Marsh Arabs__, have been hailed as classics of modern travel writing. Here in this collection, Thesiger is featured in conversation with David Attenborough, while other contributors include Benedict Allen, Jeremy Coote, Elizabeth Edwards, and Schuyler Jones. Published to coincide with the centenary of Wilfred Thesiger's birth in Ethiopia in 1910, this book is a moving celebration of Thesiger's enduring relationship to the continent, and his fascination with its peoples and landscapes. A unique collection of essays accompany Wilfred Thesiger's own personal photographs of the Africa he experienced as one of the world's most celebrated explorers. While Wilfred Thesiger's own classic writings (including 'The Marsh Arabs', 'Arabian Sands', 'Desert', Marsh and Mountain', 'The Life of My Choice' and 'My Kenya Days') comprehensively cover his classic journeys amongst the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq, or across the Empty Quarter in Arabia, they fail conspicuously to shed light on his character and motives, which have remained an enigma. Maitland's biography had Thesiger's support before he died in 2003, and has been written with full access, granted to no one else, to the rich Thesiger archive – vivid, intimate family correspondence, and his own letters, diaries and notebooks which are far more confiding than his scrupulously edited published accounts. Maitland investigates in depth Thesiger's parents and family influences; his wartime experiences and the ethos of conflict; his philosophy as a hunter and conservationist; his development as a writer and photographer; his close friendships with the Arabs and Africans amongst whom he lived; and his sexuality. In all, this major biography of a great and unusual man will take its place on the shelf of outstanding lives of the great explorers. Edited By Christopher Morton And Philip N. Grover. Published To Accompany Wilfred Thesiger In Africa: A Centenary Exhibition, Pitt Rivers Museum. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.