The Man Whom Women Loved

[Colin Rush]

The full title is The Man Whom Women Loved: The Life of Bror Blixen. This is a book written by Ulf Aschan, the godson of Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, in 1986. Bror (literally "brother") Blixen was a Swedish baron that moved to Africa with his wife Karen in the very early 1900s to start a coffee plantation. Blixen (aka "Blix") was the archetype of The Great White Hunter, and spent the greater part of four decades living in, exploring, and hunting in Africa. He was a lover of women, and they loved him as well. He conducted guided hunts with well-to-do clients including royalty, merchants, and authors, including Ernest Hemingway. Said one of Blix's friends to a client: "Watch your wife!". Everybody loved Blix, be it his current girlfriends, old lovers, friend's wives, natives, servants, or anyone else.

Blix was known for one particular accomplishment of note: he lead the first overland expedition of the Sahara Desert using a standard four-wheel automobile. He travelled from Kano, Nigeria to Algiers, Algeria, a distance of 2800 miles, in 15 days, in blinding heat, without any road. The vehicle he used to set this record was a 1928 International Harvester delivery truck with curtain sides. He purchased this truck from an IHC vice president that had transported it to Africa, and outfitted it for the trip with two sets of tires, 120 gallons of gasoline, 6 gallons of oil, a box of tools, two small suitcases and bedding, a native boy to help out, and his English friend Charles Markham.

Some of you may be more familiar with him via Ernest Hemingway, who wrote some of his novels based upon Bror Blixen. Or, you may know him from the Meryl Streep movie "Out of Africa", which was based on a book written by one of his love interests Isak Dinesen.

The book is 240-pages long, with many black & white photographs. It was published in 1987 by Saint Martins Press. The hardbound edition ISBN-10 is 0312000642, the ISBN-13 is 978-0312000646, and the Library of Congress number is 87-16508. The softbound edition ISBN-10 is 0312022492, and the ISBN-13 is 978-0312022495. Chapter Six is about his Trans-Sahara expedition.