'Ideal before-you-go-reading' Daily Telegraph 'Remarkable - Barnaby Rogerson has succeeded in isolating all the different strands of North African history and weaving them into a clear and comprehensible narrative. No one interested in the Maghreb can afford to be without this book' John Julius Norwich

Barnaby Rogerson is the author of The Prophet Muhammad and The Heirs of the Prophet, about the first four Caliphs of Islam. He has also written a number of guidebooks and A History of North Africa, now in this updated third edition. His most recent book is The Last Crusaders, about the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the last crusader kings of Christendom. He is currently writing a book on nine heroic figures from the Maghreb. Barnaby Rogerson's travel articles, book reviews and essays have been published in Vanity Fair, Conde Nast Traveller, Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph, the TLS and elsewhere. With his partner Rose Baring he runs Eland Publishing, specialising in classics of travel literature.