At a time when the abduction and kidnapping of westerners in Islamic countries is, sadly, an everyday occurrence, this book has an extremely topical interest. It is the memoirs of an Austrian Catholic missionary - Father Joseph Ohrwalder - who was abducted by followers of the Mahdi, the Muslim leader who led an Islamic revolt against British rule in the Sudan. Ohrwalder's ordeal lasted for ten years, but he managed to escape his captors after a decade in their hands, and, after a desperate ride across the desert, got clean away. He wrote an account in German of his often tragic experiences at...