Camel Urine and Dead Locusts/Stockholm Syndrome

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	• Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival Dean King Back Bay Books, 2005 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 74 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A gripping and heroic tale of survival

The story of the 1815 wreck of the American cargo ship Commerce is a gripping and heroic tale of survival and a tribute to the human spirit. This book will grIp you until the final page and leave you exhausted and amazed at their ability to withstand a seemingly hopeless situation.

and 1/2 stars - Good adventure story.

This was a good true-survival story. It would be hard to imagine many worse situations than what James Riley and the crew of the commerce went through.

One of the things that struck me the most while reading this was the similarities between landing on an uncharted West African shore in the 19th century & being a western soldier or citizen in modern day (war torn) Iraq. Either way if you were captured by an Arab / Muslim you likely have a very poor future if you manage to survive at all. If you are lucky you may eventually be returned for ransom.

In this book the author describes how terrible the "Christians" were treated by their Muslim captors - treated much worse than animals in most cases...and often it was the Muslim women who were cruelest of all. Unbeleivable as it may seem the author says that a native African (black) were treated even worse by the Arabs.

Perhaps the best thing to come out of the whole terrible journey was the captain's (James Riley) effort to talk of the horrors of slavery (of any type) for the remainder of his life.

I thought Dean King did a good job of research & bringing the story to life. I did read a similar book (survival in the early 1800's) recently & because I read them so close I was comparing them often as I was reading this book. The other book was In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. It is not about desert survival but I thought it was a little better than this book. Both are worth reading though.

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Camel Urine and Dead Locusts/Stockholm Syndrome

THe food items listed above are just a few of the treats and libations the survivors of the shipwreck of the Commerce had to eat in their lengthy forced trek across the Sahara DEsert in the 1800's. They also endured slavery, starvation, intense heat and thirst, and the strange customs of their captors. But like any good adventure/survival story, the suffering of the participants is only part of the picture. THIs book's vivid portrayal of life in the Sahara and the communistic principles of the Bedouins that live there is riveting reading. By the end of the book one is sympathetic to both the sufferings of the captives and the shifting loyalties of their Muslim captors. Indeed, both the reader and the sailors become victims of the Stockholm Syndrome, whereby one becomes sympathetic to the plight of your captor, despite your own travails.

I've read hundreds of adventure stories. both modern and historical, and this is one of the best, combining adventure, history, sociology and geography in a thoroughly riveting tale of suffering and redemption. Tales where those who must endure are doing it as part of legitimate scientific, commercial or other interests are always more compelling than those adventure stories based on mere adrenalin or adventure seeking participants who stumble into disaster. HIghly recommended!

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Beyond Human Endurance

Shipwrecked and held captive by Muslim slavers, this true story is so well written and researched and the story so unbelieveable it is difficult to put down. I have deliberately not read the ending because I don't want the experience to end. With every step that these brave souls take through the unforgiving desert and the treatment they receive, because they are Christians and therefore "dog dung" is beyond human endurance. Their story of survival and their belief in their salvation is the best book I have ever read of this genre. I am grateful to the author for giving me this life altering experience.

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Great Adventure Story!

I'm an avid reader of real life adventure stories, especially ones that bring out survival instincts in the face of tragedy and deprival. This is one of the best true stories I have ever read. Dean King brings to life the historical background of the shipping industry in the early 1800s, the adventures of world trade by sea, and most of all brutal slavery and daily raw survival in the Sahara desert. Every imaginable horror occurs to the shiprecked crew and yet many of them make there way to eventual safety. Incredible!

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

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