OASIS KINGDOM

An English import by a well versed writer and traveller paints a colorful and accurate picture of Africa's newest independent republic- Libya. With an international heritage and long experience as a British radio and magazine commentator, Miss Epton is at home when she goes to North Africa, first to describe the daily life of its people and then to examine their political history. Chapters on life in and around Tripoli- getting acquainted with a poor family in the old city, visiting the desert to the west, commenting on strange customs and their conflict with western ideas, wondering, as she visits a girls' seminary, if the Libyan women of tomorrow will be content with their secluded lot- all are written with a sophistication and momentum that makes this sort of social study live. The political analysis- Part II of the book- is an intelligent record of Libyan history during the past centuries. Notably, there were the various contacts with Ottoman and European outsiders, Tripoli's era as a pirate country, the Italian occupation and a present day marked by the tensions between an anti-British Egypt, a France fearful of the repercussions Libyan Independence may have on the East, and the calmer Senussi-Bedouin native rule that is the hope of the country.