North African Notebook

Maugham served in World War II from 1939 to 1945, first with the 8th Army in North Africa and later with the Middle East Intelligence Centre. This book is an informal and engaging account of Maugham's six month journey through the Arab lands of North Africa in French and Spanish Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. The purpose of the trip was to observe what was happening in the Arab lands where troops of different European nations were stationed. Despite their varying conditions and levels of development, Maugham believed it was important to examine these countries together because of their common factors - Arab population and growing sense of Arab unity. Maugham's skills as a writer and social observer render this an interesting travelogue as well as an insightful assessment of the political and social state of affairs.;