by Edith Wharton, 1920

This book is an account of Edith Wharton’s journey in Morocco in 1917. I decided to read this book because I would be in Morocco myself as I was reading it. It turned out that while I was traveling from Rabat to Meknes and then to Fes, I was reading about Wharton’s travels along the same route in 1917. Wharton’s observations, of course, were of things much more primitive than what I was experiencing (especially the roads), but it was interesting to feel what she was seeing in the same area 106 years ago.

Wharton’s writing in this book is complex and sometimes hard to follow. The first part of the book is straightforward as she moves from one place to another, but later chapters skip around. The last chapter is a summary history of Morocco. Unfortunately, Morocco’s history is a hodgepodge of sultans and dynasties, and it is hard to make sense of it all.

Even though it was tough reading, I did get a sense of what the country seemed like in 1917, and it was interesting to compare it to what I was seeing in 2023.