<div>In <i>The Conquest of the Sahara</i>, Douglas Porch tells the story of France's struggle to explore and dominate the great African desert at the turn of the century. Focusing on the conquest of the Ahaggar Tuareg, a Berber people living in a mountain area in central Sahara, he goes on to describe the bizarre exploits of the desert's explorers and conquerors and the incompetence of the French military establishment. Porch summons up a world of oases, desert forts and caf&eacute;s where customers paid the dancer by licking a one-franc piece and sticking it on her forehead.<br><br><i>The Conquest of the Sahara</i> reveals the dark side of France's "civilizing mission" into this vast terrain, and at the same time, weaves a rich tale of extravagant hopes, genius and foolhardiness. <br></div>