Burton: Snow Upon the Desert

Award-winning British historian ( Jacobite Army in England ) McLynn surpasses himself with this thoroughly engrossing life of the Victorian explorer. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) emerges as a man riddled with inconsistencies. He was a linguist fluent in 20 languages, yet his books were written in shamefully bad English, even if they were acknowledged as masterpieces. Despite his abhorrence of authority, he accepted a post with the British consul in India in 1842, opening the door to his anthropological studies. Burton achieved fame 10 years later, when he infiltrated a pilgrimage to Mecca at the risk of his life. That feat typifies the explorer's practices in immersing himself in the cultures of India, Arabia, Africa--and the Mormons in the U.S. McLynn also discusses Burton's fixation on sexual practices, particularly esoteric varieties of homosexuality in ``forbidden'' societies. And for all his involvement with the world's peoples, he was, according to McLynn, a bigot and a misogynist, despising even his devoted wife, Isabel. In this meticulously detailed biography, Burton is revealed as a Nietzschean poet, author and celebrated translator (e.g., The Arabian Nights ), a man of unequaled accomplishments, spoiled but a genuine genius. Illustrations. (July)