Skeletons On The Zahara: A True Story Of Survival

Skeletons On the Zahara: A True Story of Survival certainly qualifies as memorable. Those who enjoy the drama of true stories of survival will be astonished at what befell the unsuspecting and unprepared crew of the Connecticut merchant vessel Commerce in the utterly unforgiving Saharan desert in 1815. And readers who demand historical accuracy and context will have an additional reason to appreciate this story. Dean King is not only a perceptive and talented writer - he�s a fine historian as well.

The book starts with a skilled description of the lower Connecticut river communities just as the War of 1812 had ended and New England could finally resume the sea trade that was central to the well being and vitality of the region. Hard times were over. Hope and confidence were in the air. Once the story moves to Africa, the Commerce is wrecked and the crew stranded. Kidnapped and then made slaves by Islamic tribesmen, they began an almost incomprehensible journey into the inferno of the Sahara. Survival against extreme climatic elements was only the beginning of their ordeal; enduring brutality, starvation, and arbitrary violence at the hands of their masters was perhaps worse.

King's superb research pays dividends, not only in reconstructing the chronology of the story, but also in carefully recreating a time and place that, to the American sailors, was as alien as it was cruel. Still, its inhabitants were entirely human and thus possibilities of survival, life, and even freedom remained. What ultimately did occur was suggestive of those possibilities.

Everywhere hailed as a masterpiece of historical adventure, this enthralling narrative recounts the experiences of twelve American sailors who were shipwrecked off the coast of Africa in 1815, captured by desert nomads, sold into slavery, and subjected to a hellish two-month journey through the bone-dry heart of the Sahara. The ordeal of these men - who found themselves tested by barbarism, murder, starvation, death, dehydration, and hostile tribes that roamed the desert on camelback - is made indelibly vivid in this gripping account of courage, brotherhood, and survival.

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Distributor: Hachette Book Group USA
Publication Date: 04-12-2005
Pages: 384
Measurements: 8.25in X 5.5in X 1in X .79lb