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Nashville Non-Fiction

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Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival

Skeletons on the Zahara chronicles the true story 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 perilous heart of the Sahara.

The western Sahara is a baking hot and desolate place, home only to nomads and their camels, and to locusts, snails and thorny scrub -- and its barren and ever-changing coastline has baffled sailors for centuries. In August 1815, the US brig Commerce was dashed against Cape Bojador and lost, although through bravery and quick thinking the ship's captain, James Riley, managed to lead all of his crew to safety. What followed was an extraordinary and desperate battle for survival in the face of human hostility, starvation, dehydration, death and despair.

Captured, robbed and enslaved, the sailors were dragged and driven through the desert by their new owners, who neither spoke their language nor cared for their plight. Reduced to drinking urine, flayed by the sun, crippled by walking miles across burning stones and sand and losing over half of their body weights, the sailors struggled to hold onto both their humanity and their sanity. To reach safety, they would have to overcome not only the desert but also the greed and anger of those who would keep them in captivity.

From the cold waters of the Atlantic to the searing Saharan sands, from the heart of the desert to the heart of man, Skeletons on the Zahara is a spectacular odyssey through the extremes and a gripping account of courage, brotherhood, and survival.

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Published Apr 12, 2005

384 pages

Average rating: 7.33

9 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Codeliusthe2nd
Sep 04, 2024
8/10 stars
“Skeletons on the Zahara” truly is a story that feels like it’s too outlandish to be real. But, author Dean King does a wonderful job at making this story grounded in reality, offering up one wildly interesting tale of survival within the Saharan desert. It honestly took me a couple of times to get into this book, having to restart it a couple of times, since the beginning of the book, for some reason, wasn’t sticking. But, once I got through the prologue and into the meat of the book, I was absolutely hooked. I ended up reading well over half of this in 2 days, simply because I couldn’t stop myself from wondering what was going to happen next. This is told in vivid detail, which made for a very unique reading experience, especially as I’m currently seeing temperatures soar above 110 degrees. It may have taken me a bit of time to get through this, but I’m so glad that I powered through, since it truly was a very, very intriguing story to read.

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