|
|
Article: The Life and Extraordinary Travels of Wilfred Thesiger
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 28, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
THE LIFE OF MY CHOICE
By Wilfred Thesiger
Norton. 459 pp. $25
AT THE AGE of 77 Wilfred Thesiger can look back upon a life quite
beyond what most of us can imagine. Born in the summer of 1910 in
Addis Ababa, "the first British child born in Abyssinia," he was the
son of the minister at the British Legation to that country, and from
almost the moment of his birth he entered into a love affair with
northeastern Africa that has, if anything, intensified over the
years. Though educated at Eton and Oxford, he forsook the tame
comforts of white civilization for a life of adventure and discovery
among Africans and Arabs, finding "close friendship with individuals
. . . most easily among races ...