In a career that began in the early 1970s, Patrick Marnham has written about the political and cultural life of nations on almost every continent, though his reputation as a travel writer rests mainly on a trio of books about the heartlands of the developing world—Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Like other British writers who have turned their literary energies to the world beyond Europe, Marnham describes his journeys in romantic terms while ruefully acknowledging the element of fantasy involved in most travel writing. His works do not ignore the political and economic problems surrounding exotic locations, nor do they shy away from a frank critical recognition of European imperialism's contribution to those difficulties. Marnham's writing often addresses complex cultural histories and tackles substantial questions about belief, skepticism, communal responsibility, and individual freedom. His best works move beyond the vivid immediacy of journalism and attain the more...