Anthony Sattin

In a ruined temple on the Nile, Anthony Sattin sees a woman praying to the gods of ancient Egypt to bless her with a child. Later in central Cairo he experiences the exuberant celebrations of a saints day and hears their stony condemnation by an Islamist. The ancient continues to rub up against the modern just as dramatically as when Flaubert wrote, Egypt is a wonderful place for contrasts -splendid things gleam in the dust.In the company of Sattin, fearless in the face of snarling dogs and hostile guardians, we criss-cross modern-day Egypt in search of survivals from ancient Pharaonic culture. Inspired by the experiences of two long-dead English women, he visits moonlit temples and festivals, university professors and religious leaders to unearth snake hunters and magicians, wise women, tree worshippers and charlatans. The Pharaohs Shadow celebrates Sattins love of Egypt and his desire to understand her many facets -past, present and future.

Estambul es una ciudad sin igual: a caballo entre dos continentes, es el puente de unión entre oriente y occidente. Situada en la orilla del Mar de Mármara, el Cuerno de Oro (Haliç) y el estrecho del Bosforo (Bo?aziçi) la dividen en tres grandes zonas. La ciudad vieja tiene el sabor del oriente: miles de mezquitas, baños turcos (hamam?), iglesias sublimes y coloridos bazares. Atravesando el puente Karakoy aparece la cara europea de Estambul: los barrios de Galata y Taksim, en los que los monumentos medievales y otomanos conviven con bares sordidos, elegantes zonas comerciales y las mejores pastelerias de la ciudad. En la costa asiatica del Bosforo esta Uskudar, una zona muy bulliciosa hoy en dia, que cuenta con muchas mezquitas otomanas. Esta repleta de bazares alucinantes mezclados con sofisticados restaurantes occidentales, y a la vez que uno se ensimisma con restos antiguos (una fuente, una columna...), sorprenden detalles de modernidad (telefonos moviles, moda de diseño...). Al tiempo que se conserva la impresionante arquitectura bizantina y otomana, la ciudad crece a un ritmo acelerado.

De la mano de los escritores del pasado y ayudado por los manuscritos de dos mujeres fascinantes -la antropóloga Winifred Jackman y la egiptóloga Om Seti- Anthony Sattin rastrea en «La sombra del far

Estambul es una ciudad sin igual: a caballo entre dos continentes, es el puente de unión entre oriente y occidente. Situada en la orilla del Mar de Mármara, el Cuerno de Oro (Haliç) y el estrecho del Bosforo (Boaziçi) la dividen en tres grandes zonas. La ciudad vieja tiene el sabor del oriente: miles de mezquitas, baños turcos (hamam), iglesias sublimes y coloridos bazares. Atravesando el puente Karakoy aparece la cara europea de Estambul: los barrios de Galata y Taksim, en los que los monumentos medievales y otomanos conviven con bares sordidos, elegantes zonas comerciales y las mejores pastelerias de la ciudad. En la costa asiatica del Bosforo esta Uskudar, una zona muy bulliciosa hoy en dia, que cuenta con muchas mezquitas otomanas. Esta repleta de bazares alucinantes mezclados con sofisticados restaurantes occidentales, y a la vez que uno se ensimisma con restos antiguos (una fuente, una columna...), sorprenden detalles de modernidad (telefonos moviles, moda de diseño...). Al tiempo que se conserva la impresionante arquitectura bizantina y otomana, la ciudad crece a un ritmo acelerado.

T. E. Lawrence was one of the most charismatic characters of the First World War; a young archaeologist who fought with the Arabs and wrote an epic and very personal account of their revolt against the Turks in Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Yet this was not the first book to carry that iconic title. In 1914 the man who would become Lawrence of Arabia burnt the first Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a manuscript in which he described his adventures in the Middle East during the five years before the war. Anthony Sattin uncovers the story Lawrence wanted to conceal: the truth of his birth, his tortuous relationship with a dominant mother, his deep affection for an Arab boy, the intimate details of the extraordinary journeys he took through the region with which his name is forever connected and the personal reasons that drove him from being a student to becoming an archaeologist and a spy.Young Lawrence is the first book to focus on the story of T. E. Lawrence in his twenties, before the war, during the period he looked back on as his golden years. Using first-hand sources, museum records and Foreign Office documents, Sattin sets these adventures against the background of corrosive conflicts in Libya and the Balkans. He shows the simmering defiance of Arabs, Armenians and Kurds under Turkish domination, while uncovering the story of an exceptional young man searching for happiness, love and his place in the world until war changed his life forever.

Les peuples sont en mouvement depuis les origines de l’humanité. Même après la construction des premières grandes cités, comme Uruk, Babylone, Rome ou Chang’an, les êtres humains ont continué à vivre

À l’hiver de 1849, une jeune Anglaise malheureuse et un obscur écrivain français montent, le même soir, à bord du vapeur qui relie Alexandrie au Caire. Ils ont un peu moins de 30 ans et partagent l’e

T.E. Lawrence est une des figures les plus charismatiques de la Première Guerre mondiale. Jeune archéologue anglais, il prend les armes contre les Turcs pendant la révolte arabe de 1916-1918 ; c’est

Due to the level of detail, maps are best viewed on a tablet. The history of the African Association, the worlds first geographical society, dedicated to the exploration of the interior of a continent known only through legend and vague report. Africa was once seen as an El Dorado a gold-encrusted continent of hope and prosperity, where the ancient civilisations of the Phoenicians and the Egyptians might have survived intact. The African Association, the worlds first geographical society, set itself the task of revealing the mysteries of the interior of Africa. Founded in 1788 by a group of London-based gentlemen, made famous by the amazing exploits of its adventurers, for forty-three years it was engaged in a quest for geographical knowledge, personal glory, immense wealth and the fulfilment of national ambitions. There are two strands to the narrative. First there are the people who planned and paid for expeditions, the geographers, scholars, politicians, humanitarian activists and sharp-eyed traders, the richest commoner in England and two former prime ministers among them. Theirs is a lively tale of tavern meetings, court lobbying and salon intrigue during one of the most dramatic periods of world history. Then there are the adventurers, a mixed group of ex-cons and social outcasts British, French, Germans and Americans among them who went to the magical continent in search of glory and the unknown. They included Mungo Park, whose account of his travels was a bestseller for more than a century, and Jean Louis Burckhardt, discoverer of Petra and Abu Simbel. Each of their journeys was extraordinary, packed with drama and excitement, made notable by geographical discoveries and, with very few exceptions, ending in death. An outstanding account of a unique period characterised by the passion, ambition, courage and sheer sense of adventure of its participants.

A Sunday Times Best History Book of the YearA Spectator Book of the YearA book of beauty and beguiling rhythm that offers unsettling lessons about our present-day world of bordersThe TimesThoughtful, lyrical yet ambitiously panoramic . . . an important, generous and beautifully-written book William DalrympleThe ground-breaking story of Nomadic peoples on the move across history.Humans have been on the move for most of history. Even after the great urban advancement lured people into the great cities of Uruk, Babylon, Rome and Changan, most of us continued to live lightly on the move and outside the pages of history. But recent discoveries have revealed another story . . . Wandering people built the first great stone monuments, such as the one at Gobekli Tepe, seven thousand years before the pyramids. They tamed the horse, fashioned the composite bow, fought with the Greeks and hastened the end of the Roman Empire. They had a love of poetry and storytelling, a fascination for artistry and science, and a respect for the natural world rooted in reliance and their belief. Embracing multiculturalism, tolerant of other religions, their need for free movement and open markets brought a glorious cultural flourishing to Eurasia, enabling the Renaissance and changing the human story.Reconnecting with our deepest mythology, our unrecorded antiquity and our natural environment, Nomads is the untold history of civilisation, told through its outsiders.

In the winter of 1849, Florence Nightingale was an unknown 29-year-old - beautiful, well-born and deeply unhappy. After clashing with her parents over her refusal to marry, she had been offered a lifeline by family friends who suggested a trip to Egypt, a country which she had always longed to visit.By an extraordinary coincidence, taking the same boat from Alexandria was an unpublished French writer, Gustave Flaubert. Like Nightingale, he was at the crossroads in his life that was to lead to futureacclaim and literary triumph. Egypt for him represented escape and freedom as well as inspiration.But as a wealthy young man travelling with male friends, he had access to an altogether different Egpyt: where Nightingale sought out temples and dispensaries, Flaubert visited brothels and harems.In this beguiling book, Anthony Sattin takes a key moment in the lives of two extraordinary figures on the brink of international fame, and provides a fascinating insight into the early days of travel to one ofthe greatest tourist destinations on the planet.

Hay una conexión que ha sido muchas veces ignorada por la historia: la relación transformadora, y a menudo sangrienta, entre sociedades sedentarias e itinerantes a lo largo de los siglos. Desde la revolucion neolitica hasta el siglo XXI, pasando por el auge y la caida del Roma, los grandes pueblos ambulantes de los arabes y los mongoles, los mogoles y el desarrollo de la Ruta de la Seda, los nomadas han sido un contrapeso perpetuo a los imperios creados por el poder de las ciudades humanas. Al explorar la biologia evolutiva y la inquietud que nos caracteriza como humanos, la amplia historia de Anthony Sattin recorre el poder del nomadismo desde antes de la Biblia hasta su declive en la actualidad. Conectandonos con la mitologia y los registros de la antiguedad, Nomadas explica por que nos marchamos de casa y por que nos gusta volver. Esta es la historia contada a traves de los que viven fuera de lo establecido, es la historia desde los margenes de la civilizacion.

Durante milenios el ser humano ha vivido una existencia nómada, con las montañas y los mares como única frontera.Hay una conexión que ha sido muchas veces ignorada por la historia: la relación transformadora, y a menudo sangrienta, entre sociedades sedentarias e itinerantes a lo largo de los siglos. Desde la revolucion neolitica hasta el siglo XXI, pasando por el auge y la caida de Roma, los grandes pueblos ambulantes de los arabes y los mongoles, los mogoles y el desarrollo de la Ruta de la Seda, los nomadas han sido un contrapeso perpetuo a los imperios creados por el poder de las ciudades humanas.Al explorar la biologia evolutiva y la inquietud que nos caracteriza como humanos, la amplia historia de Anthony Sattin recorre el poder del nomadismo desde antes de la Biblia hasta su declive en la actualidad. Conectandonos con la mitologia y los registros de la antiguedad, Nomadas explica por que nos marchamos de casa y por que nos gusta volver. Esta es la historia contada a traves de los que viven fuera de lo establecido, es la historia desde los margenes de la civilizacion.