At last, in 1811, they were ready: 60 ships, hundreds of guns, thousands of sailors in new orange turbans, ready for the Sultan's "holy mission"—and Muhammad Ali's private plans.

"If Christianity's focus centered on a personality, Islam's was on a book ... In Christianity the word of God becomes Christ; in Islam it becomes the Koran."

In Anjar pigeons circle above the graceful ruins of a caliph's summer palace as though their wings still waited to bear his royal words.

When the shaikhdoms of the former Pirate Coast started dealing in old masters, most stamp collectors will agree, the bounty was too beautiful to bury.

Into the oasis they thundered—trucks, bulldozers, cranes—shattering the drowsy rhythms of village life to save the ancient gardens ... and double the farmers' land.

"As my daughter guided me through the turnstile and down some steps into the gardens I'd visited so many times, I remembered the stories the old major had told me about the founding of this splendid zoo."