Marrakesh is the drum that beats an African rhythm into the complex soul of Morocco.

There has never been a more fashionable nor a more instantly exotic destination than Marrakesh. It is a dream landscape; in the background the steel blue of the High Atlas mountains with their snowy tops, then a hint of the desert, then vast, weathered, red- earth ramparts, tall tapering palms, orchards of oranges and silvery olives. In the evening, life concentrates on that disordered square of marvels the Djemma el Fna - where storytellers, fortune- tellers, cooks, musicians, acrobats and dancers weave their nightly magic - and the packed, festive alleys of the mercantile souk.

This book explores the city's mystique through the researches, speculations and scholarship of forty writers who have succumbed to the enchantment of the city. The editor has used his own forty-year obsession with the country to quarry out old accounts and intriguing incidents as well as to commission essays from contemporary writers and residents. This gives the reader privileged access to the web of stories that enrich this great, beguiling city.

With a preface by Tahir Shah and six original woodcuts by Mungo McCosh