"To travel is not to think, but to see things in succession, with one's life sensed in the measure of space. The monotony of landscapes slowly unrolli"To travel is not to think, but to see things in succession, with one's life sensed in the measure of space. The monotony of landscapes slowly unrolling soothes our cares and infuses us with light and quiet... A calm and vital state of mind rules, which once belonged to all human races and is still preserved among us in the blood of the nomads." . From IN THE SHADOW OF ISLAM by Isabelle Eberhardt, translated from the French (Swiss) by Sharon Bangert | 1904 original notes, 1906 published in French, 1994 English edition Peter Owens Publishers . Eberhardt's writing, travelogue and philosophical observations, the people, and the landscapes of French colonial North Africa, is deeply rooted to her own biography. A Swiss-Russian convert to Islam, she moved to Morocco with her mother as a teen. Immersing herself in the North African culture, she was fluent in Arabic and dialects, dressed as a man, and adopted the name Si Mahmoud Saadi. Her appearance gave her access to many conversations, even in to the mosques with the male travelers and friends. Apparently many people knew her identity, but did not bar her access.
Her writing has a mystical quality, relating to her own Sufi belief structure. Vignette style, she observes life on the road, the souks, mosques, conversations while smoking kif with her companions. One interesting chapter ("The Rebel") describes a funeral of a woman who completed suicide. She briefly discusses suicide in the Islamic context and funerary rites.
In 1904, a flash flood swept through Aïn Séfra, Algeria, a settlement near the Moroccan border. While the floods took Eberhardt's life - at age 27 - her notebooks were recovered, edited, and published under this (albeit unfortunate) name. The French title uses 'l'ombre' which isn't as ominous as "shadow".
Eberhardt is hailed as a free spirit, a female adventurer, and a proto-hippie, and a skilled writer and observer....more
The fundamental dilemma in the [American] West is that we are living with nineteenth century laws and values, twentieth century infrastructure, and twThe fundamental dilemma in the [American] West is that we are living with nineteenth century laws and values, twentieth century infrastructure, and twenty-first century water needs.
Davis tries to do a lot of things in the slim volume - a history, a geology, a travelogue, an anthropology, and a political statement. While I enjoyed and learned from each of these facets, the narrative did not flow well... which is ironic considering the riverine subject matter.
Relying on narratives and descriptions from Powell, Stegner, and Abbey, Davis expounds more with his own observations on a raft trip down river. If you are unfamilar with Davis' work, this isn't the best place to start. He's a great writer and storyteller, but you don't get that full effect here.
Let us please, for once in our lives, leave something alone and see if we can't find some human value in that.
This book immediately caught my eye Let us please, for once in our lives, leave something alone and see if we can't find some human value in that.
This book immediately caught my eye because my own red rocks stories are still so clear in my memory - our Utah road trip in May 2016, right through this region. This geography has been a newsmaker on the national scale for a few months, since President Obama signed the executive order in December 2016 to make Bears Ears National Monument a reality, and even more recently (including this week: Creation of Bears Ears National Monument was a response to years of grave robbing), the Department of Interior's investigation and review of this and 20+ other monuments under the current administration. Also up for review: the boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante, the region (directly west of Bears Ears) that President Clinton ordered as a National Monument in 1996. It is possible that both of these designated areas (and many others) will be significantly shrunk, or possibly eliminated, in the coming days.
Red Rock Stories is a call to this action - gathering disparate voices to speak up for this high desert, for this Colorado Plateau, for these slot canyons and slickrocks, for these ancestral lands....more
A fascinating and sobering look at the Colorado River's flow, starting in Colorado, and ending at the former (now non-existant) delta in Mexico. Owen A fascinating and sobering look at the Colorado River's flow, starting in Colorado, and ending at the former (now non-existant) delta in Mexico. Owen travels through time and space, spending less ink on the geology of the river's formation over millions of years, and much more on the engineering and the legal battles that has dramatically changed the region within the last 100 years.
The book is structured as a report, and there is very little literary interjection, aside from a few descriptions of the people and places that David Owen himself travels on the river and tributaries. I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the construction of the dams, the input and output of pumping stations and reservoirs, and the madness and short-sightedness of water rights and access in the upper basin (Colorado, Utah) and the lower basin (Arizona, Nevada, California, and Mexico). On establishing the Bureau of Reclamation:
There was a quasi-theological element in the notion of REclaiming land, of taking it back, as though the western deserts were in a fallen state and could be returned to their rightful place in Creation through determined intervention.
I am always interested in learning more on landscape politics and philosophy, and Owen's brief history on conservation thought was of particular interest.
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