Wilfred Thesiger: The Life of the Great Explorer Hardcover - 2011

Media reviews

"Biographies of famous travelers-and Mr. Maitland's Wilfred Thesiger is an especially good example of the genre-are always an excuse to ponder first principles . . . Mr. Maitland has interesting things to say about all the books, noting the way, for example, in which the autobiography,The Life of My Choice (1987), embellishes without ever quite betraying its original material." -- The Wall Street Journal

"For Maitland, Thesinger's friend and literary collaborator for 40 years, this biography is clearly a labor of love. But it is also balanced, and doesn't avoid Thesinger's quirks or limitations . . . A superb tribute to an admirable but enigmatic man." --Booklist

"It's the inner journey that resonates most in this sweeping biography of a late exemplar of the British yen for exotic self-exile . . . Maitland (Speke and the Discovery of the Source of the Nile), Thesiger's longtime friend and editor, serves up a vivid account of his adventures and a perceptive portrait of a complex man--ebullient hunter, repressed homosexual, man's man, and spiritual seeker who hoped that desert sand would scour clean his soul . . . The scenery is magnificent, and Thesiger makes for a charismatic travel companion." --Publishers Weekly

"This authorized biography, published in the UK in 2006, will stand as the definitive work on Wilfred Thesiger . . . Maitland's biography shows Thesiger as a (sometimes unacknowledged) giant in the field of exploration. An essential purchase for exploration collections." --Library Journal

"For those nostalgic about for the glory days of the British empire, this biography should have a certain appeal." -- Kirkus

"Masterly."--Ben Macintyre, The Times

"This book is a worthy testament to an exceptional life . . . someone who evoked complete worlds of brutal majesty."--The Independent on Sunday

"Maitland has done justice to an extraordinary subject."--The Scotsman
<.br>"Maitland's respect for his friend shines through all 544 pages ofWilfred Thesiger: The Life of the Great Explorer . . . In this biography, Maitland paints a portrait of Thesiger detailed in a way that only the work of a close friend could be . . . Maitland puts his work in order, preserving Thesiger's calm fascination with his travels while filling in the accounts with excerpts from letters, photographs, reports and interviews. The result is a striking and thorough biography of one of Britain's last great explorers." --Shelf Awareness