Terrifying True Story of Survival

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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

The Desert As Dessert

I read "Skeletons On the Zahara" last year and thought it was by far, the best book I read all year. Once I started it, I could not wait to get through each day so I could curl up with this amazing adventure as a treat after dinner. The only problem I had with this book was putting it down.

There were moments of wonder, great excitement, sadness and tears too. I had to keep reminding myself that as thrilling as it was, it was true and so very remarkable. How strong we human beings are! What great writing this is! I have enjoyed giving copies of the book to friends as gifts. They've all been fascinated by it.

I might add that I haven't given away my own copy because I plan to read it again - for the 3rd time! Other than Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth", there are few books I have reread.

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Skeltons On The Zahara

Hollywood couldn't create a movie with as much intensity as this true tale of suffering. Follow a group of shipwrecked sailors as they trek across the Zahara, mere chattel of their cruel captors. If you enjoy a tale of overcoming adversity tenfold, then this book will fit the bill nicely. Keep a tall, cold drink handy.

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Great Story

The author, Dean King, has done a remarkable job of piecing together the story of the Commerce, from the previous works of both James Riley, the Captain of the merchant ship the Commerce and Archibald Robbins, a seaman on the same ship. Not only is this a remarkable story of survival under the worst conditions imaginable, I was also captivated by the strong bond that developed between Captain Riley and his "owner" Hamet, who bought Riley and his crew to utilize as his slaves, to ransom the men for a larger profit.

This is a fast paced, heart wrenching story. I highly recommend it!

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Terrifying True Story of Survival

Skeletons on the Zahara was one of the most amazing survival stories I have ever read. What an awesome account of living as a slave amongst the Arab nomads in the early 1800's. Camel spiders, sand storms, dehydration, starvation, abuse, incredible heat...how could anyone live through all that? Yikes! If you are looking for a great read, this is it!

amazing tale of survival

This story of survival of members of a shipwrecked crew in the mid-1800s is truly astounding, sold into slavery they are forced to survive in the incredibly harsh environment of the western Sahara. An interesting account of the daily lives of the people who scratch a living out of this barren landscape

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Some stories are so enthralling they deserve to be retold generation after generation. The wreck in 1815 of the Connecticut merchant ship, Commerce, and the subsequent ordeal of its crew in the Sahara Desert, is one such story. With Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival, Dean King refreshes the popular nineteenth-century narrative once read and admired by Henry David Thoreau, James Fenimore Cooper, and Abraham Lincoln. King's version, which actually draws from two separate first person accounts of the Commerce's crew, offers a page-turning blend of science, history, and classic adventure. The book begins with a seeming false start: tracing the lives of two merchants from North Africa, Seid and Sidi Hamet, who lose their fortunes?and almost their lives?when their massive camel caravan arrives at a desiccated oasis. King then jumps to the voyage of the Commerce under Captain Riley and his 11-man crew. After stops in New Orleans and Gibraltar, the ship falls off course en route to the Canary Islands and ultimately wrecks at the infamous Cape Bojador. After the men survive the first predations of the nomads on the shore, they meander along the coast looking for a way inland as their supplies dwindle. They subsist for days by drinking their own urine. Eventually, to their horror, they discover that they have come aground on the edge of the Sahara Desert. They submit themselves, with hopes of getting food and water, as slaves to the Oulad Bou Sbaa. After days of abuse, they are bought by Hamet, who, after his own experiences with his failed caravan (described at the novels opening), sympathizes with the plight of the crew. Together, they set off on a hellish journey across the desert to collect a bounty for Hamet in Swearah.King embellishes this compelling narrative throughout with scientific and historical material explaining the origins of the camel, the market for English and American slaves, and the stages of dehydration. He also humanizes the Sahrawi with background on the tribes and on the lives of Hamet and Seid. This material, doled out in sufficient amounts to enrich the story without derailing it makes Skeletons on the Zahara a perfectly entertaining bit of history that feels like a guilty pleasure.--Patrick O'Kelley

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