My Life and Travels

To be clear from the beginning, this book is an anthology - a collection of excerpts from Thesiger's published works. It was assembled and published after his death, so if the reader has any expectation around new insights, the only way that would be the case is if they have not read the primary works.
I have read all but two of Thesiger's more hard to obtain books (which didn't get quoted in this book), but for me, there was still plenty to be gained by reading this.

This book was edited (and I assume compiled) by Alexander Maitland, who has written a door stop of a biography on Thesiger - which will be the next book on Thesiger I read (2024 or 2025). After that I will likely commence a reread of Thesiger's books, one a year or something.

Thesiger previously wrote a biography, or partial biography - The Life of My Choice, but it was slightly bogged down in a history of Abyssinia and Sudan, which dominated over his life. What sets this book apart is that it has been assembled in chronological order. The excerpts taken are not short, some run to tens of pages, and while they are taken from books published at different times, they are placed in the order they took place. This provides an overall context sometimes lost in the primary works.

Maitland obviously made the decision not to add anything. The excerpts start and finish without introduction or specific context. Until read, the reader is not aware which book the excerpt is taken from, and often where it is set. This is a minor flaw other readers have picked up on, but it seems purposeful to remove the editor from the narrative, and for me it wasn't more than a minor confusion. Skipping forward to find out which book is easy enough, and it is usually apparent within a page where the narrative is set.

One of the excellent features of the book is a ‘biographical summary and list of primary travels' provided at the front of the book. This really brings home how extensively Thesiger travelled in his lifetime, while casual readers might only know him for his time in Arabia, Iraq and perhaps Kenya. The accompanying map however was less helpful - a map of Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent across a pair of pages with small text of the cities visited, really could have been done better.

There were some omissions from the book, perhaps because Thesiger hasn't written about them - I have no recollection of reading about his time in Morocco (1937), or the voyage by ketch to parts of Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore (1977).

Anyway, for me a thoroughly enjoyable revisit to Thesiger's travels. Easy to read, and much to be envied. Thesiger was a unique individual, the like of which we won't see again. As for the places he travelled, the changes in one generation have been so vast that they too are changed forever, which makes the recording of the way of life of these people all the more valuable.

Recommended only after the primary works though.

5 stars