Morocco

I am an American who has lived in Marrakesh, Morocco for the past 13 years. I buy every new Moroccan guide book, written in English, that I see (just out of curiosity, to see what's new, or updated). This book immediately grabbed my attention, when I saw it for sale in Marrakesh. It has the BEST pictures of any guidebook that exists on Morocco, and it has LOTS of pictures. It also has the BEST history section I have seen in any of the Moroccan guide books. Most of the guide books' history sections absolutely put you to sleep, and make the history so complicated it is really hard to follow. After 13 years, I was SO pleased to read the history section, and have it make Moroccan history COME ALIVE (I am also a history teacher by profession), and read CLEARLY, in a non-confusing manner. The rest of the book is packed with interesting, and useful, information about Moroccan culture, customs, society, and places. The major weakness of this guide book, and the reason for which I am rating it only four stars, is that I don't think it gives ENOUGH information for a traveler to rely on as the ONLY book for his trip. There is not enough information about each major town in terms of how to find hotels, or restaurants of various prices. Also, there is far too little information on the Western Sahara, if you are planning to visit there (not that I know of a guide book yet that IS sufficient in this regard). If you buy this guide book, you will definitely find some information in here which is not in other guidebooks, and it is a worthwhile purchase just for the pictures, alone. I agree with the other reviewer that it should be supplemented with the Lonely Planet (my first choice), or the Rough Guide (my second choice).

This book was more useful as an introduction to the country and the culture than as a practical travel guide. The pictures were beautiful and made the place come alive, but I would probably pack a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet to take with me.