Wilfred Thesiger Dies

Sir Wilfred Thesiger, Renowned Explorer and Writer, Dies at 93

"The heir to great 19th-century venturers like Livingstone, Stanley, Speke and Burton, Sir Wilfred was a restless, insatiable traveler throughout his life; he eventually won medals named for Livingstone, Burton and Lawrence of Arabia. He was also a man of private wealth, a misogynist and a romantic who hated the modern world and found nobility in the primitive life."

Ever since I read Arabian Sands, Thesiger has been an author I would have loved to meet. His influence continues to reverberate among travel writers. His writings form a backdrop to the journey of Jeffrey Tayler recounted in Glory in a Camel's Eye. Although Tayler seems more resigned to the encroachments of the modern age on nomadic life, he experiences nostalgia for the simplicity of Thesiger's life with his Bedouin companions.