Category Archives: Book Extracts

Books on North Africa 5: Across the Great Deserts

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Jack Wagner

The following is an excerpt from a book called “Across the Great Deserts” written by P. T. Etherton (Colonel Percy Thomas Etherton).  It comes from Part One of the book that covers the Saharan Desert (the other parts cover the Kalahari … Continue reading →

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Zombie Attack in North Africa

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Jack Wagner

For a quick little Halloween post I’ve selected a story from Max Brook’s “Recorded Attacks” graphic collection of historical zombie attacks.  It’s about the zombie siege of Fort Louis Phillipe in North Africa, 1893.  I’ve always thought that the Foreign … Continue reading →

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Legion of Strangers by Charles Mercer

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Jack Wagner

Legion of Strangers was published in 1964 and the version I have is a paperback by Pyramid Books.  The book is a history of the French Foreign Legion from it’s creation until the early 1960’s when the book was written.  … Continue reading →

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Short Story: Donoghu’s Hour

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Jack Wagner

This story was found in the middle of a book called “Stories Without Women (and a Few with Women)” written by Donn Byrne and published in 1915.  The book is a collection of short stories written about men doing manly … Continue reading →

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Books on North Africa 4: In Barbary; Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and the Sahara

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Jack Wagner

Written by E. Alexander Powell.  This book is found in digital format at the Hathi Trust Digital Library.  Hathi Trust a user unfriendly site that does not allow you to download the entire book unless you go through some god-awful … Continue reading →

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Memoirs of the Foreign Legion by Maurice Magnus

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Jack Wagner

This book is a first hand account of an idealistic littérateur who decides to do his part for France in the Great War and joins the French Foreign Legion.  The memoir has a very lengthy forward written (after M.M.’s death) … Continue reading →

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Le Cafard

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Jack Wagner

I found a wonderful description for the “desert madness” or “Le Cafard”  that sometimes overcomes Legionnaires stationed in desolate outposts.  Cafard in French means cockroach, but “J’ai le cafard” means “I have the blues”.  Erwin Rosen’s account of his day’s … Continue reading →

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