Shifting Sands

A Human History of the Sahara

By: Judith Scheele

Narrated by: Lucy Paterson

An expansive history of the Sahara from prehistory to the present that shows how Saharans have, over time, built complex and cosmopolitan lives despite scarcity, conquest, and the relentless challenges of the desert environment

What comes to mind when we think about the Sahara? Rippling sand dunes, sun-blasted expanses, camel drivers and their caravans perhaps. Or famine, climate change, civil war, desperate migrants stuck in a hostile environment. The Sahara stretches across 3.2 million square miles, hosting several million inhabitants and a corresponding variety of languages, cultures, and livelihoods. But beyond ready-made images of exoticism and squalor, we know surprisingly little about its history and the people who call it home.

Shifting Sands is about that other Sahara, not the empty wasteland of the romantic imagination but the vast and highly differentiated space in which Saharan peoples and, increasingly, new arrivals from other parts of Africa live, work, and move. It takes us from the ancient Roman Empire through the bloody colonial era to the geopolitics of the present, questioning easy clichés and exposing fascinating truths along the way. From the geology of the region to the religions, languages, and cultural and political forces that shape and fracture it, this landmark book tells the compelling story of a place that sits at the heart of our world, and whose future holds implications for us all.

©2025 Judith Scheele (P)2025 Basic Books

Critic reviews

“A captivating and indispensable work. Scheele clears the dust from our eyes to reveal the intricacies of a region few of us know nearly as well as we might believe.”—Maxim Samson, author of Invisible Lines

“A gritty, deeply engaged history of the heroic fusion of peoples whose homeland is the Sahara. This is a fascinating and intimate perspective of the region from the ground up, complete with plastic sandals, smugglers, migrants, and border boom towns, upheld by the Sahara’s enduring love affair with both camel and truck.”—Barnaby Rogerson, author of The Heirs of Muhammad

“From the first page, Judith Scheele brings to life this vast, remote and important part of the world. Her story is about the real world, focused on the heavily inhabited periphery of the Sahara and the myriad routes across it. Long viewed as impossibly alien and exotic, Scheele’s Sahara is embedded in the Mediterranean and in Sub-Saharan Africa and speaks to a vital, vibrant, cosmopolitan and troubled region. Read and learn.”—Joe Studwell, author of How Asia Works