Customer Reviews

Mogreb-El-Acksa: A Journey in Morocco (Marlboro Travel)

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Cunninghame Graham is a superb observer and writer. In Mogreb-el-Acksa, published in 1898, Graham describes his attempt to cross the Atlas Mountains and reach the forbidden city of Tarudant. However, he was detained in the mountains for four months by the Kaid of Kintafi, and ultimately turned back to Marakesh. The places he visits and the people he meets come alive, and a current of humor bubbles throughout the narrative. His observations on western vs. eastern cultures, in many instances unfavorable to both but usually funny and profound, apparently made the book unpopular when it was published. I recommended the book to two friends, one a world traveller, the other a Moroccan. Both loved it.

Cunninghame Graham is a superb observer and writer. In Mogreb-el-Acksa, published in 1898, Graham describes his attempt to cross the Atlas Mountains and reach the forbidden city of Tarudant. However, he was detained in the mountains for four months by the Kaid of Kintafi, and ultimately turned back to Marakesh. The places he visits and the people he meets come alive, and a current of humor bubbles throughout the narrative. His observations on western vs. eastern cultures, in many instances unfavorable to both but usually funny and profound, apparently made the book unpopular when it was published. I recommended the book to two friends, one a world traveller, the other a Moroccan. Both loved it.

I read this book in 1967 when I was living in Morocco. I was thus familiar with the land and the people. As a Scottish-American, I respect "Don Roberto" (as the Argentinians called him) as the founder of modern Scottish nationalism. However, I was somewhat put off by the flippant tone that he used in this book. Nevertheless, it is valuable as a sketch of Morocco in the good old days before the French came in 1912. One should compare this to Gavin Maxwell's "The Lords of the Atlas" or Walter B. Harris' "Tafilelt" for alternative views of the same region during the same period.

-sheds a lot of light on Morocco and on the perspective of the British guy who wrote it at the end of the 19th century. In some ways Morocco at that time was perhaps a bit like Afghanistan today...? --Worth thinking about...