Before Sir Richard Burton, there was John Lewis Burckhardt. Like many of the great names featured in these pages, he is little known today; but he sacrificed his life in the cause of discovery, and acquired a knowledge of the Arabic language and Islamic customs that has been surpassed by very few–if any–Westerners. Had he lived longer, his achievements would likely have gotten the recognition that they deserved from posterity.
(To find the book, click on the image above)
This week I will consider one of the titans of Arabian exploration, Wilfred Thesiger. You can click here to read the article. Wilfred Thesiger (1910-2003) may be considered the last of the great English adventurer-explorers of the Orient in the tradition of many such characters from that unique island. Besides his travels in the Arabian desert, Thesiger also lived for many years among the Madan (“marsh Arabs”) of southern Iraq. He also traveled extensively in the Sudan, Syria, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
Quintus Curtius 
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