In Search of the Nomads: An English Obsession from Hester Stanhope to Bruce Chatwin

by JohnUre (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2003

  $4.78

  From time immemorial the tradition of the campfire has faced that of the pyramid : settled peoples have contemplated nomads with a mixture of fascination, envy, disdain and fear. The English-speaking world seems to have had a particular obsession with certain nomadic peoples, stemming often from their own wanderlust and admiration for the unfettered life of those who roam the deserts and mountains of the world's remotest corners. Jon Ure looks at four regions that are rich in nomadic culture: the Arabian peninsular with its Bedouin; the Sahara with its Moors and Tuareg; the mountains of Southern Iran with their migratory pastoral tribes; and the steppes of Central Asia with their Mongol horsemen and Tartar descendants. He has travelled with all these peoples and here observes their special characteristics and what he learnt about their past. But most appealing are his insights into the array of eccentric Britons and Americans who also chose to seek them out, sometimes even to travel with them. Many of them, as he discovered, were often odder than the exotic peoples they sought. Some, like Lady Hester Stanhope and the Hon. Jane Digby, were exiles from 19th-century high society; others were footloose adventurers, like Richard Burton and T.E. Lawrence. There were distinguished literary figures like Vita Sackville-West, Freya Stark and Bruce Chatwin; and notable scholars like Gertrude Bell and Owen Lattimore. Whoever they are, John Ure has found them and brings them all to life here with skill and humour.

• Used

  Paperback
  2004

  $3.25

  John Ure has travelled with the Bedouin of the Arabian peninsular, the Moors and Tuareg of the Sahara, migratory pastoral tribes of southern Iran, and the Mongol horsemen and Tartar descendents of Central Asia. He also writes of the eccentric Europeans who sought out nomads - exiles from high society, like Lady Hester Stanhope and the Hon Jane Digby; adventurers Richard Burton and T. E. Lawrence; and, distinguished figures like Vita Sackville-West, Freya Stark and Bruce Chatwin, and oddities - a tetchy Consul Abbot in Persia, or two missionary ladies in the Gobi Desert. Often stranger than the exotic peoples they visited, John Ure brings them to life with practised skill and humour.