Wilfred Thesiger, the last of the great gentlemen explorer-adventurers, became a legend in his own lifetime. This authorised biography by a longstanding friend and associate delves into his little-known character and motivations, as well as recounting the details of his extraordinary life. Wilfred Thesiger, the great explorer-adventurer and author of 'Arabian Sands' and 'The Marsh Arabs', and one work of autobiography 'The Life of my Choice', became a legend in his own lifetime, but his character and motivations have remained an intriguing enigma. In this authorised biography -- written with Thesiger's support before he died in 2003 and with unique access to the rich Thesiger archive -- Alexander Maitland investigates this fascinating figure's family influences, his wartime experiences, his philosophy as a hunter and conservationist, his writing and photography, his friendships with Arabs and Africans amongst whom he lived, and his now-acknowledged homosexuality.

About the Author

Alexander Maitland was a close friend of Thesiger for forty years. He edited Thesiger's anthology, 'My Life and Travels' (2002) and helped produce Thesiger's 'My Kenya Days', 'The Danakil Diary', 'Among the Mountains' and 'A Vanished World'. He is the author of biographies of Freya Stark and John Hanning Speke, and most recently of 'Wilfred Thesiger: A Life in Pictures'.

Prizes

Wilfred Thesiger, the last of the great gentlemen explorer-adventurers, became a legend in his own lifetime. This authorised biography by a longstanding friend and associate delves into his little-known character and motivations, as well as recounting the details of his extraordinary life. / The fascinating and intimate personal account of the enigmatic adventurer Wilfred Thesiger. / The official biography, written with Thesiger's approval, by one of his oldest friends and collaborators. / Magnificently illustrated, mostly with Thesiger's own photographs.

Reviews

'A model biography of the explorer!Maitland has meticulously separated reality from legend!here was such a remarkable personality, who did so many indisputably remarkable things, that the embroidery does not seem important.' Sunday Telegraph 'This book is a worthy testament to an exceptional life -- and as an authorised biography it is also the last cry of Thesiger himself, someone who evoked complete worlds of brutal majesty now denied the rest of us forever.' Independent on Sunday 'Masterly.' The Times 'In his long and extraordinary life Wilfred Thesiger was compared to the greatest travellers of the Victorian age!Maitland captures that strange attractiveness, his undoubted love and understanding of a now-vanished world.' Financial Times 'What makes Maitland's book so worthwhile are the letters which Thesiger wrote home to his devoted mother Kathleen.' The Spectator 'This thorough biography will be fascinating to Thesiger aficionados.' Mail on Sunday 'Maitland has done justice to an extraordinary subject.' Scotsman 'In this important biography of one of England's great legendary figures, Wilfred Thesiger's life and works are analysed in minute detail!(his life) was so full of interest and excitement!that it reads like an adventure story.' Country Life

It's the inner journey that resonates most in this sweeping biography of a late exemplar of the British yen for exotic self-exile. Wilfred Thesiger (1910-2003), best known for epic crossings of Arabia's Empty Quarter along with classic travel memoirs and photos of his sojourns in the Middle East and Africa, was a rather minor explorer of an already well-surveyed 20th-century globe. What he sought was less a specific destination than backward tribal societies still imbued with the kind of "barbaric splendor... savagery and color" that was fast dying out in the machine age. (He did discover and attach himself to a string of handsome tribal youths and eventually developed a sideline in adolescent circumcisions.) Maitland (Speke and the Discovery of the Source of the Nile), Thesiger's longtime friend and editor, serves up a vivid account of his adventures and a perceptive portrait of a complex man-ebullient hunter, repressed homosexual, man's man, and spiritual seeker who hoped that desert sand would scour clean his soul. The narrative is a ramble; as one Thesiger trek swirls into the next, it becomes clear that his life story isn't really going anywhere. Still, the scenery is magnificent, and Thesiger makes for a charismatic travel companion. Photos. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

This authorized biography, published in the UK in 2006, will stand as the definitive work on Wilfred Thesiger (1910-2003). Maitland makes extensive use of Thesiger's letters and previous publications, e.g., My Life and Travels, which Maitland, a personal friend, edited. Thesiger had an idyllic childhood in Ethiopia (then called Abyssinia), where his father served in Britain's Foreign Office. In 1933-34, he was the first known European to journey to the end of the Awash River there. He traveled on foot with tribal guides and loved the freedom to map, hunt, and collect birds and other animals. But the biggest thrill was the danger of traveling through hostile territory. He served in the Sudan Political Service from 1935 until the outbreak of World War II, when he served in Sudan, Ethiopia, Syria, and Egypt. Following a stint as political adviser to the crown prince of Ethiopia, Thesiger joined the Middle East Anti-Locust Unit and traversed southern Arabia's deserts. Later he traveled extensively through Kurdistan and the marshes of southern Iraq. Thesiger took many photos of the tribal people he encountered, later donating over 38,000 negatives and assorted artifacts to a museum in Oxford. VERDICT Maitland's biography shows Thesiger as a (sometimes unacknowledged) giant in the field of exploration. An essential purchase for exploration collections.-Margaret -Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.