A review of this book must go beyond merely introducing the subject matter and the author to the readership, but must also include a description of the author’s contributions to historical knowledge and to the foundations laid by him for the understanding of the states of the Arab Maghreb. The review included here is sub-divided into a number of themes, which address the content of the memoirs recorded by Antonio de Saldanha, a Portuguese seafarer who was held captive during the reign of Morocco’s Ahmad al-Mansur (1578-1603). Beyond being a chronicle of the court life of the fabled Moroccan Sultan, de Saldanha’s work also addresses such questions as the competition between the Great Powers of his day—including especially Turkey, Spain and England—with regards to Morocco. The review goes on to focus on the principles that informed the author’s drafting of the work and his narrative style, emphasizing his own Portuguese patriotic sentiments and identification with Christendom. Further, the review of this book takes in the nature of the source materials used by de Saldanha, including his reliance on oral narratives; his reliance on his own memory; and written materials. The memoirs reviewed here certainly provide an addition to the historical canon, and in particular with regards to contemporaneous Morocco and the European communities living within it. The book is particularly valuable because of its ability to surpass the self-censorship of Arab sources dating from the same period, allowing present-day historians to raise questions about the obstacles to the historical progress of states in the Arab Maghreb.