Read Skeletons On The Zahara Online
Authors: Dean King
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My thanks to everyone at Little, Brown who made the writing of this book possible, especially to Michael Pietsch and Geoff Shandler, whose guidance and insightful readings helped in so many ways.
As always, my wife, Jessica, provided invaluable support. She and friend Charles Slack helped shape the narrative even before it reached Little, Brown. Their editorial comments, inspiration, and many other contributions to this book cannot be measured, nor can my gratitude to them. Likewise, my agent, Jody Rein, provided support and advice, upon which I depend.
John Harland, M.D., author of Seamanship in the Age of Sail, lent his invaluable understanding of all matters maritime. Historian emeritus Donald J. Ratcliffe, of the University of Durham, England, generously shared his singular knowledge of the publishing of Captain Riley's memoir and his wisdom on other topics. Mohamed el Mansour, professor of history at Université Mohammed V, in Rabat, Morocco, and Piotr Kostrzewski, director of Cross Cultural Adventures, answered my exhaustive questions about Moroccan and Saharan culture, language, and history with unceasing good cheer. Gus Robbins, a descendant of Archibald Robbins's brother, kindly shared his time and allowed me to see some of the family heirlooms.
My gratitude goes to National Geographic Adventure editor Jim Meigs and the editors of that magazine for supporting my research in Africa and for serializing the book in the pages of their magazine. Jim Meigs and my friend Logan Ward both read the manuscript and offered up useful suggestions for fine-tuning. (The Ward family also kindly took in the King family in the aftermath of Hurricane Isabel, allowing work on the book to continue smoothly while all was dark in Richmond.)