The Zanzibar Chest: A Memoir of Love and War

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The book recounts his travels and experiences during the Ethiopian famine, the Hutu-Tutsi genocide in Rwanda and the conflict in Somalia. Hartley and his friend actually coined the term "Warlords" to describe the militia tribal leaders. Along with the outfit, the future wife was expected to provide for its storage. And just as the objects brought in should be as beautiful as possible, so should their repositories. This was true, in particular of the muqaddama, the bridal trunk…. The term appears in almost every complete trousseau list, usually at the end…. Muqaddama means put first, leading, probably because the donkey carrying it headed the procession that transported the outfit from the bride’s domicile to that of her future husband. The muqaddama was inlaid with … tortoiseshell and ivory, as was the kursi, stool, or folding chair, on which it stood. Additional ornamentations are noted, also a cover of kaymukht, leather with a granular surface, shagreen [traditionally horse or wild ass, more recently shark or ray], which probably was a protection for the textile. Sometimes a mirror was included, a practical accessory since the trunk contained the wife’s wardrobe. Finally, there was a mandil muqaddama, a piece of cloth, no doubt embroidered, serving as a decorative cover for the bridal trunk.

Along with one or more large chests, the young bride would often bring a smaller box for her jewelry and makeup. Some of the earliest surviving examples of these are also some of the finest known: for example, the ivory one from Madinat al-Zahra near Córdoba in al-Andalus, a modest-sized box that belonged to the daughter of Abd al-Rahman iii and is dated to shortly after 961 ce, is beautifully and richly carved. Around the edge of the cover, the Arabic inscription translates: “In the Name of God, this is what was made for the Noble Daughter, daughter of ‘Abd al-Rahman, may God’s mercy and goodwill be upon him.” A splendiferous pastiche of Africa wisdom, youthful exuberance, nostalgia, love, adventure and despair set in a world of constant and seldom-positive change. . . . Cynicism wrestles with idealism throughout the book. . . . Hartley’s stories, told here, are an act of bravery. They should be read.”—Roy Durfee, The Santa Fe New MexicanMesmerizing. . . . A Sweeping, poetic homage to Africa, a continent made vivid by Hartley’s capable, stunning prose.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review) Ma Hartley esagera, non ha ritmo, è caotico, a ogni cosa dedica al massimo un rigo e mezzo, affastella nomi date luoghi eventi fatti, esagera col succo e col colore, l'esotico, il pittoresco. Once I realized this, the book (especially the chapters recounting his own first-hand experiences) became AWESOME. Almost all but the most impoverished women would bring with them the basics needed to set up house. Giving money to enable girls to marry has been a charitable act in much of the Muslim as well as the Christian worlds, and, indeed, the custom of Santa Claus and Christmas gift-giving is thought to have originated with St. Nicholas of Myra (modern Demre in Turkey), who secretly provided money to dowry-less girls. The book details the author's quest to travel to Yemen and learn as much as possible and see the location that make up his fathers friend's journal, and to learn how and why he died.

Riveting. . . . This haunting book is both enlightening and heartbreaking. Like Hartley, you will be forever changed by this time in Africa.”—Susan Larson, The New Orleans Times-Picayune Insurance:The Auctioneers will insure lots at the lower end of their pre-sale estimate or initial agreed reserve, whichever is the greater value, if the items have not been sold. Hannam’s Auctioneers Ltd will not be responsible for loss or damage to the exterior features of Paintings (frames or glass), Prints or Watercolours, or for loss or damage to any property caused by temperature change, handing errors or humidity changes. Genizah expert S.D. Goitein, author in 1983 of the multi-volume A Mediterranean Society, had this to say about dower chests in that region: At all times, Hartley writes with a raw honesty about not just the horrors he witnesses, but his feelings and reactions to those events. Often, he has Schindleresque moments of 'I could have done more to help'. Other times, he shares his dad's feelings that the British should never have gone into Africa in the first place, yet having colonised, should never have then left. This constant honesty and self-reflection is refreshing.The British considered Zanzibar an essentially Arab country and maintained the prevailing power structure. The office of sultan was retained (although stripped of most of its power), and Arabs, almost to the exclusion of other groups, were given opportunities for higher education and were recruited for bureaucratic posts. The chief government official during the period 1890 to 1913 was the British consul general, and from 1913 to 1963 it was the British resident. From 1926 the resident was advised by a legislative assembly. Ironically, Hartley's best writing on Somalia describes an atrocity he didn't see. In 1992, US troops landed in Mogadishu to quell the chaos, and Hartley, thinking the story over, bailed out. But the Americans' brutal policies united Somalis against them. After helicopter gunships demolished a Mogadishu house, killing dozens of women and children, a vengeful mob killed four journalists, including three Reuters men. Hartley returned to Somalia to investigate and wrote a precise and moving account of the killings. Hartley’s strength as a writer is his reporter’s eye for brutal detail and his ability to fashion blunt anecdotes from the unfinished business of recent history.”—Ken Foster, The San Francisco Chronicle Un carissimo amico del padre ha lasciato un diario del suo lungo soggiorno ad Aden e Hartley parte per ricostruirne le vicende, cercarne la memoria. Una bella storia che intreccia e collega tutte le altre.

Aidan's work is of a brilliance of writing that few can claim. His book almost comes across as a psychoanalytic journey, with lucidity and dreamlike states mixed in with an attempt at finding a common thread from the past to the present to understand his own manhood, and what this means in the context of his genealogy.This was a fantastic book, though I must admit parts of it are very tough to get through- more on that later. It is also really multiple stories combined into one book. d) Any claim under any Statute must be received in writing by the Auctioneers within ten days of the day of the sale. Hartley was born just as the paradise whites had forged in east Africa was falling from grace. After selling their ranch in Tanzania, his family moved to Kenya, and his father went into the aid industry. From then on, the young Aidan saw him only intermittently. While his mother took her children to England, his father remained with his nomads, took an Ethiopian mistress and showed little interest in his children's schooling. Our women certainly led hard lives. At Mabel’s wedding, her seventeen-year-old sister Ethel was one of the bridesmaids. Ethel caught the eye of the best man, another army officer named Beames. Beames was a friend of Rudyard Kipling, who based The Story of the Gadsbys, his 1899 Indian “tale without a plot,” on their courtship. They married and immigrated to Canada, where they became pioneers. Beames turned to drink, abandoning Ethel to raise three children in a remote log cabin. One of her sons grew up to become a sculptor and moved to the United States, where one of his commissions was a monument to the American Indian wars that stands in Washington. My grandfather Colonel Reginald Sanders proposed to my grandmother Eileen after meeting her on home leave at a piano recital before returning to duty in India. By the time her ship arrived in Bombay she had forgotten what he looked like. They met up somehow and married within hours. He took her into the hills to his new married-officer’s quarters, carried her across the threshold, and proudly asked her what she thought of it. She burst into tears. Hartley è un inglese nato in Kenia, cresciuto in Africa, un mzungu che ha studiato in Inghilterra, giovane reporter per l’agenzia Reuters.