| AFRICA |
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| Author/photographer: Philippe
Bourseiller |
Sprawling over 3.5 million square
miles, from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Red Sea, the Sahara is a mythical land,
enchanting not only for its extreme
beauty but also for its complex culture.
Wrapping its arid terrain around Africa,
this vast desert is shared, and sometimes
fought over, by some dozen countries.
Enraptured by the desert's magical
light and amazingly diverse terrain--its
spectacular dunes, stone fortresses,
and Edenic oases-- Bourseiller embarked
on the first truly comprehensive photographic
exploration of this enormous territory.
Here, in 200 images ranging from the
white sands of Arguin (Mauritania) to
the colorful banks of the Niger river
(Mali), from the rock paintings of Tassili
n'Ajjer (Algeria) to the lakes of Ennedi
(Chad), Bourseiller communicates his
powerful experience of the desert. A
series of texts by Sahara specialists
deepens our understanding of the history,
people, and landscape of this fascinating
area. This is an invitation to travel
the Sahara and to experience the desert,
its life and its mysteries.
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From Publishers Weekly
Award-winning photojournalist Bourseiller, who spent four years documenting
the Sahara Desert, collects the best of his photographs in this huge coffee-table
book. Besides the expected shots of sand, sand and more sand—which
are gorgeous in scope and detail despite their ubiquity—there are
a surprising number featuring sparkling water and lush marshes. The book's
fold-out map reveals that the Sahara is dotted with oases and springs
and borders oceans, rivers and lakes. Still, water is a precious commodity
in the desert, and Bourseiller reveals both its value and its scarcity
in the lives of the desert's human inhabitants. Images of fish traps,
sailboats, rice paddies and lapping waves contrast sharply with rocky
outcroppings, dune seas, camels and veiled nomads. The photographs, organized
into chapters with short introductions written by six of Bourseiller's
scientist, geographer and journalist peers, usually spill across two vivid,
glossy pages. While Westerners may think of the Sahara as the archetypal
desert, an untracked wasteland of sand, Bourseiller shows it both as an
unforgiving environment and as a beautiful place that stretches across
four million square miles and 10 countries and encompasses ancient fortresses,
hardy plants, thriving fishing villages, green farm fields and endless
starry skies.
© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. |
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$50.00 (hardcover)
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