The Sultan of the Mountains

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. Rosita Forbes's The Sultan of the Mountains turns the Moroccan leader Raisuli into a figure of legend: warrior, mystic, hostage-taker, strategist, and ruler of the high hills. Born to sacred lineage and shaped by imprisonment, he emerges as a man who can turn captivity, negotiation, and rebellion into power, using both violence and diplomacy to outmaneuver rivals, Europeans, and even the Sultan himself. Forbes follows his rise through famine, Spanish pressure, tribal betrayal, and uneasy alliances, showing a statesman as much as a bandit chief, guided by faith, calculation, and the mysterious force of his baraka. Against this political drama, Forbes's own journey from Tetuan into Spanish Morocco adds suspense and atmosphere. Mountains, police posts, fortresses, and the hidden city of Xauen reveal a country of ancient customs, colonial tension, and enduring independence. Tea, hospitality, and learned conversation mask curses, suspicion, and danger, while meetings between Spanish officials and Raisuli's envoys expose the fragile balance of honor, prisoners, and power. Rich in tribal intrigue and wartime uncertainty, the book captures a harsh landscape and the enduring myth of a man who survives by wit, prestige, and will.