Mogreb-el-Acksa

What rare spark motivates a man to do the impossible again and again? What manner of man destroys the boundaries of the word unobtainable and replaces it with the words why not ? Meet Robert Cunninghame Graham, the author of this book and a living legend of the late 19th century. Disillusioned with politics, the famous horseman sought solace in the saddle. His mission? To journey across Morocco in 1897 by riding through the Atlas mountains and reaching the city of Taroudant. Of course there was one small problem. The Sultan had forbidden outsiders, especially Christians, from going there. Don Roberto flouted the danger, saddled his Barb horse and galloped straight into the teeth of one of the greatest desert stories ever told. Disguised in local clothes and calling himself Sheikh Mohammad El Fasi, the Scottish author posing as a Turkish doctor was only hours away from the elusive city when he was captured and kidnapped. This book, an instant best-seller, brought praises from Joseph Conrad, H. G. Wells and Bernard Shaw, who all agreed it was a rare book written by a man so kaleidoscopic in character that he defied belief.