By Section - By Author - By Subject
Introduction - Desert Oracle - Desert-ED

OneWorld Magazine would like you to experience the diversity and cultural richness of the world's deserts, if only virtually. Over the next 4 weeks we will bring you a selection of articles, paintings, sculptures, poems and photographs of men and women who have been challenged by the uniqueness of a desert, defeated by its dimensions, rewarded by its remoteness. Our delivery is by no means comprehensive -- for every grain of sand there is a desert word, a desert painting, a desert thought.

It is not uncommon for people to associate deserts with areas not fit for living - some even define the desert as a wasteland, unfit for all organisms. Yet no desert is infinite bare dunes: Africa's Namib, perhaps the sandiest desert in the world, is only about 30 percent dunes. In the Sonoran Desert, sand covers only about two percent of the area. To the people that live in the desert - a desert means a way of living. To most others, who are not a geographers, a desert is "No Man's Land", because they fail to understand how people can live in the hard conditions that are so typical to desert areas.

One could safely say that deserts have both troubled and influenced entire cultures and individuals alike. A significant portion of the total land area of the globe is covered with deserts whose climate has for many centuries acted as a deterrent for its inhabitants to establish anything other than a nomadic existence. A target for exploration and conquest, the arid areas in our worlds have stood taller than the tallest mountain range in the eyes of its explorers and have presented indifferent, inscrutable barriers to many civilizations. Three of our most widespread religions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism experienced their beginnings in or at on the very borders of arid and sometimes very inhospitable environments. Both military and exploratory parties have attempted to cross and conquer the great deserts- some have gone in search for treasures, some for glory, while others have engaged in the introspective and forever fascinating search for oneself.

The objective of this special is to share with you our desert selections and also to awaken your desire to explore the many shapes and sights of our world's arid lands by visiting a desert yourself. Our writer contributors include:

Tony Hillerman, Philip K.Hitti, Terry Tempest Williams, Edward Abbey, David Hurst Thomas, Pat Little Dog, John Nichols, Geoffrey Moorhouse, Peter Mansfield, Michael Asher, Sir Richard Burton, Frank Dobie, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and more...

The artwork which illustrates the stories has been contributed by independent artists, potters and photographers of relevant to obscure popularity who have happily agreed to be part of this special.