This is the story of the Sahara as you've never seen it before

'Engrossing, enlightening, original ... brilliant' The Times 'Captivating and indispensable' Max Samson 'A fascinating and intimate perspective of the region from the ground-up' Barnaby Rogerson This is the story of the Sahara as you've never seen it before Blue-veiled nomads, camels crossing infinite dunes, oases shimmering on the horizon: ready-made images of the Sahara are easy to conjure. But they can never truly capture a region that crosses eleven countries and is home to millions. This sweeping account upends old fantasies, revealing the far more interesting reality of the Earth's largest hot desert. Drawing on decades of research, and years spent living in the region, anthropologist Judith Scheele takes us from Libya to Mali, Algeria to Chad, from the ancient Roman Empire to contemporary regional battles and fraught international diplomacy, questioning every easy cliché and exposing fascinating truths along the way. From the geology of the region, to the life it shelters, to the religions, languages and cultural and political forces that shape and fracture it, this is a landmark work that tells the compelling story of a place that sits at the heart of our world, and whose future holds implications for us all.

"A fascinating travelogue and history of the world's largest hot desert ... Fresh, original and energising" - The Times

"A gritty, deeply engaged, history of the fusion of peoples whose homeland is the Sahara. This is a fascinating and intimate perspective of the region from the ground-up: complete with plastic sandals, smugglers, migrants, border boom towns upheld by the Sahara's enduring love affair with both camel and truck" - In Search of Ancient North Africa

"Praise for Smugglers and Saints of the Sahara: 'An irresistible read ... something particular and intensely human'" - The Journal of North African Studies

"An academic page-turner ... brilliantly written and thrilling to read" - Africa