Ross E. Dunn

This was a good follow up to [b:The Travels of Ibn Battuta: in the Near East, Asia and Africa, 1325-1354|86574|The Travels of Ibn Battuta in the Near East, Asia and Africa, 1325-1354|Ibn Battuta|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328864561l/86574._SY75_.jpg|505529]. I felt I needed a follow up that offered some context where the previous book did not.

As others have observed, some of the talk around the Mongols was a bit...weird. The way they are described as being uncivilised and uncultured seems to speak to some sort of bias on behalf of the author.

There is more detail about ibn Battuta's habit of repeatedly marrying or otherwise acquiring women and then abandoning, divorcing or losing them. However my biggest questions around this remain unanswered - was this acceptable in Battuta's time or was he unusually callous in his treatment of women?

I remain impressed at the extent of the Islamic world at the time, but the further I got in the book, the more I disliked his subject. He's a sanctimonious prat. At one point he gets cross because he's trying to relieve himself on the bank of a river and his "immodest" companion keeps standing in his way. Turns out the guy was trying to protect him from crocodiles.… (mehr)

Mr. Dunn has written a good book about the travels of the 14th Cent. traveller. The short historical sketches of the places IB visited are very helpful to the non-specialist. The maps, alas, are not plentiful and could have been a good deal more informative. He does raise the point that some areas seem to have been very sketchily described in comparison to some of the other places visited. I offer that the actual transcriber only worked on editing the " Rihla" for a two year period,and then died. The transcriber states that IB had a vast amount of verbal reminiscences at his disposal. So, a transcriber in failing health may have "Scalped" materials rather than re-checked what the old man said. Or, the two never really got to that part of IB's career in great detail, and other later transcribers may have had to fill in the missing bits.
Fancifully, since IB records having had used opium as a part of a Malaria cure, perhaps the missing parts of his memories may have been shrouded in a drug induced haze anyway....just sayin.....
But, quibbles about what IB saw in person, and what he borrowed or made up, there is still a good many periods where IB is our only guide to what happened in parts of "Dar-al-Islam" in the 1300's.
So, a good book about another good book's author.… (mehr)