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Mackintosh-Smith T., The travels of IBN Battutah — 2003

Ibn Battutah—ethnographer, bigrapher, anecdotal historian and occasional botanist—was just 21 when he set out in 1325 from his native Tangier on a pilgramage to Mecca. He did not return to Morocco for another 29 years, traveling instead through more than 40 countries on the modern map, covering 75,000 miles and getting as far north as the Volga, as far east as China, and as far south as Tanzania. He wrote of his travels, and comes across as a superb ethnographer, biographer, anecdotal historian, and occasional botanist and gastronome. With this edition by Mackintosh-Smith, Battuta's Travels takes its place alongside other indestructible masterpieces of the travel-writing genre.

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Mackintosh-Smith T., Travels with a tangerine. A journey in the footnotes of Ibn Battutah — 2001

What a fabulous book! Mackintosh-Smith starts with the book of travels dictated by Ibn Battutah, a 14th century from Tangiers who traveled far beyond the boders of the world of Islam of the day. This book traces him through northern Africa, Arabia, Syria, Anatolia, the Crimea and Constantinople. (Apparently he also traveled in central Asia, India, and China.) Mackintosh-Smith—s approach is to travel to a place looking for survivals related to Ibn Battutah—s experiences. He prowls through the local sites recording his conversations with the people he meets in his quest. I believe this was true to the flavor of Ibn Battutah—s book, but it also allows Mackintosh-Smith to put the past into juxtaposition with the present, with interesting results. He never fails to find survivals from Battutah—s time. The effect is something like rummaging through a very dark attic crowded with bric-a-brac with a very bright but narrow-beamed flashlight. Mackintosh-Smith seems to be extremely knowledgeable about medieval Islamic literature and history, and uses it to explain and entertain. At the same time he is a highly entertaining author. More than a few times I found myself laughing out loud. (Remember how they were —keeping the Sunni side up— in— was it the mosque in Damascus?) Mackintosh-Smith himself becomes a central object of speculation. He says relatively little about himself except to elucidate some Battutah-related point or experience, but you have to wonder about someone who chooses to live 17 years in Sana—a, is obsessed with Islamic culture, but chooses to remain a stolid Anglican in spite of regular friendly, well-meaning Islamic persuasion. This tension informs his discussion of the culture where so many religions and sects coexist, sometimes uneasily. People refer to him several times through the book as an Orientalist, and he calls himself an Arabist at one point. I look forward to Edward Said—s book for further considerations. (

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