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"After Eisenhower and before Vietnam was a lovely time to be young and American and on the loose in an optimistic world,
and Kennedy records her adventure lovingly. And honestly too - the five young women were an unlikely grouping and got sick
of each other. . . The depth of understanding that grows in her is with the desert, with her place in the human race, and
with herself. . . now written down in this book full of wisdom and heart."
World View
"Their story is truly amazing as, thanks to both naiveté and determination, they accomplish what few men even dare to
try. . . . Kennedy transports us back to a time when America was still innocent and five young women could rely on the kindness
of strangers in making their way."
Booklist, American Library Association
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"One of the most exciting books I've read. I savored it like KON TIKI because both seem so wonderfully improbable as
undertakings. Read it!"
Carolyn Heilbrun
Author, Writing a Woman's Life
". . .she and her compatriots learn, in her account, to make do with sand-caked eyes, indiferent provisions, and
the contantly howling winter winds, the 'harmattan' of her title. . .
Kennedy does . . . offer an I-am-a-camera account of the condition of Algeria's backlands after the newly ended war of
independence from France, which should be of interest to students of that forgotten, bloody struggle. . .
Still, she is more often right on the mark, as with her apologia for the trip: 'I believe we succeeded partly because
the desert was there, the season was right and we allowed it to happen. And partly because we overcame our apprehensions,
our instinctive resistance to the unknown, with a greater faith in the genuine humanity of the people among whom we passed.'"
The Washington Post
Book World
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"... affecting travel and spiritual adventure. ... Writing with a sense of immediacy, Kennedy ... evokes the magic and
awesomeness of the alternatingly hot and frigid desert lashed by the Harmattan wind and sand. ...The unpredictable, rugged,
oftendanterous conditions ... served both to forge and strain bonds amon the temperamentally diverse travelers. ..."
Publishers Weekly
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HARMATTAN tells of the Geraldine Kennedy and her adventurous friends found on their epic journey across the Sahara. It makes
me proud of the special spirit and talents of women volunteers and reminds me why the Peace Cors was the best job I ever had.
Three Cheers!"
Loret Miller Ruppe
Former Director of the Peace Corps
Former Ambassador to Norway
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