num_pages: 352
description: In The Conquest of the Sahara , Douglas Porch tells the story of France's struggle to explore and dominate the great African desert at the turn of the century.Focusing on the conquest of the Ahaggar Tuareg, a Berber people living in a mountain area in central Sahara, he goes on to describe the bizarre exploits of the desert's explorers and conquerors and the incompetence of the French military establishment. Porch summons up a world of oases, desert forts and cafés where customers paid the dancer by licking a one-franc piece and sticking it on her forehead.The Conquest of the Sahara reveals the dark side of France's "civilizing mission" into this vast terrain, and at the same time, weaves a rich tale of extravagant hopes, genius and foolhardiness.
language: English
title: The Conquest of the Sahara: A History
titlecomplete: The Conquest of the Sahara: A History
genres: Algeria, Africa, Northern Africa, Morocco, War, Nonfiction, History, Military History, France
ratings_count: 102
publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux