Tangier - Iain Finlayson

No city in the world has quite the exotic allure of Tangier. From the seventeenth century, it has been a city on the edge, beyond the normal disciplines of government, a city of refuge and excitements where sex is cheap, drugs are plentiful, where the outcasts of the world can at last breathe freely. Cecil Beaton, William Burroughs, Joe Orton, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Barbara Hutton, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Jane and Paul Bowles are just some of the famous residents and habitues of this legendary city. It is this 'last resort of the living dead, alive but not madly kicking' which Iain Finlayson explores in his witty and often savage book. 'A dream congealed in stone. sky supersonic, orgone blue, warm wind. Such beauty, but more than that it's like that the dream is breaking through.' WILLIAM BURROUGHS 'Finlayson's crisp narrative which bubbles into metaphorical rhapsody. Charming. and as elegant a history of the city as you could find anywhere.' MAREK KOHN, 'Independent' 'Not a suitable gift for that apocryphal maiden aunt. Finlayson writes so elegantly and scathingly about Tangier and its infidel Nazarenes. one suspects his name has already been struck off a good few Tangier guest-lists' PHILIP HOARE, 'Sunday Times' 'Finlayson is a brilliant juggler of moods and vignettes' JONATHAN KEATES, 'Observer'.