It is as vast as the United States and so arid that most bacteria cannot survive there. Its loneliness is so extreme it is said that migratory birds will land beside travelers, just for the company. William Langewiesche came to the Sahara to see it as its inhabitants do, riding its public transport, braving its natural and human dangers, depending on its sparse sustenance and suspect hospitality. From his journey, which took him across the desert's hyper arid core from Algiers to Dakar, he has crafted a contemporary classic of travel writing.

In a narrative studded with gem like discourses on subjects that range from the physics of sand dunes to the history of the Tuareg nomads, Langewiesche introduces us to the Sahara's merchants, smugglers, fixers, and expatriates. Eloquent and precise, Sahara Unveiled blends history and reportage, anthropology and anecdote, into an unforgettable portrait of the world's most romanticized yet most forbidding desert.

William Langewiesche's life has been deeply intertwined with the idea and act of flying. Fifty years ago his father, a test pilot, wrote Stick and Rudder. Inside The Sky is a collection of seven engaging essays on the phenomenon of human flight, from Otto Lilienthal's early experiences to the interesting and dramatic but rather unimportant effects of turbulence, to the high-tension boredom of air-traffic control. In each chapter, Langewiesche easily maintains his aura of reverence and awe at the mere fact of flight; although most people will have flown at least once in their lives, and many will have ceased to be amazed long ago, Langewiesche's zeal at merely seeing so far from so high might just shame them. Of course, Inside The Sky serves as an incisive commentary on the human experience of and attitude toward flight. What sets the book above a mere exploration of a mechanical phenomenon is the simple human joy it expresses; it's at once a celebration of human flight and a condemnation of jaded humanity.
William Langewiesche, a former national correspondent for The Atlantic and a professional pilot, has written about subjects including aviation, national security, and North Africa. https://www.theatlantic.com/author/william-langewiesche/

This book contains a series of compelling stories, woven together in travel. You will find vivid mental pictures of the people and the landscape. ( )

Langewiesch is an American author who writes for the Atlantic Monthly magazine. This is travel literature about his solo trip through Algeria, Niger and and Mali in the 1990s by way of public transportation, crossing the Sahara. As with all great travel/adventure books it is more than just exciting stories, it offers insights into life, how we live it, the choices we make. All the while providing unforgettable stories about life in the desert on a personal level from the people who live there. ( )