Desert Ramblings

Short, humorous essays on travel in Egypt, the Middle East and Elsewhere in the 1970s by a roving foreign news correspondent.

Former United Press International reporter Michael S. Barrett spent several years in the Middle East and Europe as a foreign correspondent and editor during the mid-1970s. While reporting daily on affairs of state, political trends and a myriad of socioeconomic events and activities, he also produced a weekly “column” for friends and family that went far beyond his job as a wire-service reporter. The result was a private collection of 184 Ramblings, of which this volume includes 63. Most of them take place within or outside of wartorn Cairo, Egypt, hence the name Desert Ramblings. What was it like to cover the Shuttle Diplomacy of Henry Kissinger, deal with the political craziness of Muammar Qaddafi’s Libya, travel without a visa to report on the murder and funeral of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, or watch as an 18th Dynasty Egyptian tomb was uncovered? Meet the fellahin, the common folk, and stop by a Cairene barbershop for a quick trim. Visit the fabled Cecil Hotel in Alexandria, or far-out Mersa Matruh near the border with Libya, not to mention prewar Lebanon, perplexing Jerusalem or warm and friendly Amman, Jordan. Here and there you’ll learn more about ’70s Paris, Brussels, London, New York and even Seattle, Wash., the author’s hometown. Barrett’s dry, tongue-in-cheek humor is everywhere in these vignettes, which can be read in any order, and at 650-700 words, each tale takes only a few minutes to read. Experience glimpses into a world few writers ever write about. Enjoy the journey.