Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Though I was aware of Burton before reading this text, I had no idea how much I would enjoy his writing. His language is eloquent, with an almost stereotypically dry British wit, especially as he describes his companions. At times, Burton seems to lose himself in the aesthetic response to Africa's environment, allowing his writing to swell to almost purple prose in his descriptions.
I also enjoyed reading this text through the lens of Edward Said's notions of Orientalism. Burton certainly falls prey to the Eurocentrism typical of his era, and at times his descriptions of the rationale of his Arab / Somali companions is borderline offensive. However, what I found most interesting in this text is Burton's own critique of Europeans. In First Footsteps, one could argue that Said's Orientalism isn't driven by culture but class. Burton is just as disgusted by the English working class as he is by Somali nomads.
The Kindle version contains no illustrations; I would highly recommend referring to a map while reading First Footsteps. Also, the footnotes are not linked, but I didn't find that particularly bothersome.
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This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
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