Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: A BiographyA New York Times best-seller when it was first published, Rice's biography is the gripping story of a fierce, magnetic, and brilliant man whose real-life accomplishments are the stuff of legend. Rice retraces Burton's steps as the first European adventurer to search for the source of the Nile; to enter, disguised, the forbidden cities of Mecca and Medina; and to travel through remote stretches of India, the Near East, and Africa. From his spying exploits to his startling literary accomplishments (the discovery and translation of the Kama Sutra and his seventeen-volume translation of Arabian Nights), Burton was an engrossing, larger-than-life Victorian figure, and Rice's splendid biography lays open a portrayal as dramatic, complicated, and compelling as the man himself. |
Contents
Introduction I | 1 |
The Gypsy Child | 9 |
Dark and Sooty England Sunny France | 17 |
Copyright | |
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Aden Africa Agha Khan Amir Ananga Ranga appeared Arab arrived Baker Baroda Bedawin began Berbera Bombay boys Brahmins British Burton found Burton wrote Cairo called camels Camões Captain caravan Catholic Christian coast Colonel consul Damascus death desert dressed East enemies England English European expedition exploration eyes friends Georgiana Stisted girls Gypsy Harar Hindu Imām India Indus Isabel Arundell Isabel Burton Islam Isma'īlīs Kāma Kama Sutra Karachi Kasidah knew lake land language later living London manuscript married Mecca Mirza mother Muhammad Muslim mystical Napier native never Nile officers Oriental Outram passed Persian pilgrimage pilgrims practice prayer Qur'an religious returned Richard rites secret seemed servants shaykh Sindhi slave Somali Somaliland Speke Stisted strange Sufi Sufism taqiya thought told took town translation traveling tribes Trieste trip wandering wife woman women Wright write wrote Burton young Zanzibar