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A camelback ride traversing the Sahara Desert provided an unusual but extraordinary start to Justin Marozzi’s (History 1990) career as a historian.

The 1,500-mile expedition, undertaken in 1998, was inspired by a team of 19th-century English explorers who had made a similar journey along the old slave routes running south through the Libyan Sahara – a story that had captivated Justin during his first visit to Tripoli in the late 1980s. After completing this adventure, Justin wrote up an account of his travels combined with a history of Saharan exploration to produce his debut book, South from Barbary.

This combination of travel journalism and history exemplifies the approach Justin has taken to studying and writing about the past ever since. He follows in the footsteps of the so-called Father of History, the ancient Greek writer Herodotus, who is one of Justin’s heroes (and the subject of one of his books).

“Herodotus was very much a travel writer who was inventing history as he went along,” says Justin. “There were no archives, no sources other than him getting out and about and talking to people. And he writes about witches, the source of the Nile, strange sexual practices, tribes smoking hashish, religion, culture, the natural world – anything and everything. It’s comprehensive history, and it’s an extraordinary achievement.”

Justin has had ample opportunity to explore the Middle East and surrounding regions directly and up close in his career as a journalist-cum-historian and a communications expert and advisor to senior political leaders, largely in conflict and post-conflict environments. He inherited a fascination for the Middle East from his father, who grew up in multiple locations around the Levant.

His recent new release, , traces the history of the slave trade across the Middle East and North Africa between the seventh and the 20th centuries.

“I’ve tried to excavate, find and foreground the voices of the enslaved, which is sometimes quite difficult because the records are incredibly fragmentary and the voices are very elusive,” says Justin.

“But these are men and women who can still be heard across the centuries. Whether it’s a ninth-century concubine in Baghdad or a 1950s pearl worker in the United Arab Emirates, hearing their voices is a powerful thing. It’s a very rich history and a compelling story.”

Yet slavery is sadly not relegated entirely to the past, and Justin also shares the extraordinary and harrowing stories of survivors of modern-day slavery he met in Mali and Mauritania.

He says: “I started in Mali speaking to a man who had two wives and 12 children when he escaped. He was a beaten man, about 50 and illiterate because he had never been educated by his owner, so he couldn’t do any office work and was too old for physical labour. So although he was free, he was speaking as though his life was finished. He was in tears throughout, a broken man; it was the most difficult interview I’ve ever done.

“Then there was a woman in Mauritania who was raped and beaten regularly as a child and only escaped in 2008. She realised that before she was freed, she didn’t exist as a human being. But she was a very positive character and has dedicated the rest of her life to fighting slavery. She was full of hope and promise for the future, and I’ve decided to end the book on that note.”