Born around 1827, Selim Aga was eight years old when he was abducted from the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, sold into slavery, and auctioned to the highest bidder 2,000 miles away in Egypt. He was killed in a war in Liberia in 1875, yet in between, Selim lectured fashionable audiences in London and was published in Britain's Geographical Magazine. In this book illustrated with color and black and white photos and period art, James McCarthy pieces together the life of this remarkable man using Selim's own narrative and those of such Victorian contemporaries as explorer Richard Burton.

"The forgotten exploits of an African slave who rose to become an admired figure in Victorian exploration and whose adventures have all the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster."—The Voice