Encounter(s) with the Desert (Itinerary of a European Muslim through Colonial North Africa), by Knud Holmboe, Editions Ribât

Sebta , Morocco, 1930. At the wheel of his damaged Chevrolet, a young Danish journalist who had recently converted to Islam set off on a road trip through North Africa which was to take him to the Holy Places. An unprecedented adventure in the style of an initiatory journey through the most breathtaking and bewitching landscapes, from which he will not emerge unscathed...

From the Atlas to the Nile, from Fez to Alexandria via the Algerian Sahara or the wild coasts of Libya, this accomplished Arabic speaker and polyglot does not hesitate to think outside the box to fraternize with the most diverse Muslim communities - scholars and city notables, mountain resistance fighters, mystics or desert nomads and even troglodytes. Carried by his deep humanity, his faith in the body, his open-mindedness and his taste for risk, these experiences and encounters will lead him to be the privileged witness of the colonial night which then falls on this part of the world. – between despair of the populations, leaden screed and cruel campaigns of repression.

For the first time translated into French, this classic of travel literature is therefore also, and perhaps above all, a rare historical document and a vibrant indictment against colonialism – and more particularly against the aberrant and criminal fascist utopia.