“Rogerson focuses on ancient figures with complicated Berber and refugee identities. . . . He takes these complex questions on in conversational style. . . . He tells us their stories with great care and animation, filling in gaps with intelligent speculation.”

Times Literary Supplement

"This is a worthy tribute to places and the stories of that ancient past. The reader will be carried off in their imagination and most likely feel the desire to visit many of the sites. If it inspires a love of the past, of travel and indeed of picnics, then it will have done its job."

Literary Review

"This book is an example of a dazzling erudition worn lightly."

Astene Bulletin

"North Africa is home to some of the most impressive ruins of classical antiquity, and British author Barnaby Rogerson has been visiting (and picnicking at) those sites for the better part of 40 years. . . . His understanding of these ruins’ geographies informs the illuminating biographical sketches of the prominent North Africans at the core of a book that spans some 1,200 years to the mid-fifth century CE: Queen Dido, King Juba II, Emperor Septimius Severus, St. Augustine, Hannibal and the Berber cavalry commander Massena, who played a key role in Hannibal’s ultimate defeat. Former war photographer Don McCullin’s haunting black-and-white photographs highlight the sites"

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