Barnaby Rogerson is a travel writer and historian, specialising in subjects relating to North Africa and the lands of the old Ottoman Empire. Conceived on a yacht, born in Scotland and raised on Malta, Barnaby has worked in a succession of jobs including two stints in publishing, as well as for the Afghanistan Support Committee, as a tutor on a Greek island, a barman, and in the restoration of grottoes and the construction of garden temples. Since then he has written a number of guidebooks for the prestigious Cadogan Guides series, covering Morocco, Cyprus and Tunisia, and A Traveller's History of North Africa.  His book The Prophet Muhammad: a Biography (2003) attracted considerable attention for its factual and eloquent appraisal of the prophet’s life: the Guardian wrote: "Rogerson recounts the tale with the love and artistry of a master story-teller...This is an important book."; and the Independent commented that “Rogerson tells an enthralling story with tact, eloquence and enthusiasm, purveying the sense of awe required by his subject”.

This book was followed by The Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad: the Roots of the Sunni-Shia Schism (2006), a sensitive exploration of the history behind pressing current affairs. Critically acclaimed for its “absorbing narrative that captures the epic quality of an era to which Muslims of all persuasions look for inspiration” by the Sunday Times, the Guardian commented on how the book “vividly illustrates how the debates, the decisions and the sometimes bloody conflicts that resulted from trying to discern God’s will in the absence of God’s Prophet ultimately gave birth to the varied and wonderful traditions of the Muslim faith”.  An updated edition of Barnaby's A Traveller's History of North Africa ("Remarkable..No one interested in the Maghreb can afford to be without this book" – John Julius Norwich) is recently published.  His next project is The Last Crusaders, a history of the Spanish Habsburg-Ottoman conflict across the Mediterranean in the 15th and 16th centuries, centred on Barbarossa, the scourge of Christendom, and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (Little, Brown, 2009).

Barnaby also runs the travel books publisher Eland Publishing with his wife, Rose Baring, and their website is www.travelbooks.co.uk .

Recent books:

A Traveller’s History of North Africa: Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria (Duckworth: 2008)
The Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad (Little, Brown: 2006)
The Prophet Muhammad: a Biography (Little, Brown: 2003)