Skeletons on the Zahara

A True Story of Survival

De: Dean King

Narrado por: Michael Prichard

Everywhere hailed as a masterpiece of historical adventure, this enthralling narrative recounts the experiences of 12 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.

©2004 Dean King (P)2014 Hachette Audio

drags at times

long. drags at times. the author knows his history. drags on and on and on

A fascinating book about culture and grit

The book started slowly with quite a lot of background on the various people. Once the ship was on its way it became more and more interesting. Absolutely the men's ability to survive their ordeal was remarkable, however, what was much more interesting was a look into the culture of the desert. Stealing was simply a part of life, expected. If something was taken from you well too bad. It was your fault for allowing someone to take it. Very interesting.

If you have read "Endurance - The Shackleton Expedition" this is similar except in a desert setting.

I highly recommend this book.

Time very well spent

The book is a little slow at first, but once it gets going it really moves. I really enjoyed this book.

Do NOT be put off by the negative reviews.

I finished this in only a couple of days. Heart wrenching and touching, you'll be glad you listened to this story.

Disappointing

Long, boring, overly detailed, and poorly written. I usually love books which are described in reviews this way, but this time they were painfully accurate .

full of Heroes and villains

Amother great true story, reminded me of how tough we used to be. very humbling

Engaging story of survival

Amazing story, well performed, and exciting all the way through. One of those, “can’t believe it happened” stories but it did.

great story

The character development was shallower than in the Endurance, but the tale of the journey makes up for any shortcomings

Fascinating actual history

An eyewitness account of the life of nomadic caravan traders in the early 1800s in the Sahara desert, and a true, first person account of being shipwrecked and enslaved by people from a land and culture totally different from ours. Fascinating, and verified historically accurate.

Arabian scimitars shine above the desert.

Riley, his subordinates and captors came back to life through Dean King’s research and story telling. I learned a lot and enjoyed the book. I will be reading more of Dean’s work and would love to see Skeletons of the Zahara made into a movie. Looks like a role made for Kevin Costner.