"Desert Imaginations inquires into the history of an idea about deserts—Saharanism—and its various manifestations over nearly two centuries, with roots stretching back to Roman times. What is Saharanism? The author defines it as a set of tropes 'that created a universalized image of deserts as empty, uninhabited, sandy, and unowned lands; such notions have reduced a rich universe and its biome to a set of clichés and superficial images.' Saharanism thus constitutes a 'universalizing, trans-desert ideology... that fosters or even incentivizes the treatment of deserts as spaces available for and suited to all manner of exploitative, inhumane, and ecocidal endeavors... Things that are inconceivable in 'ordinary' places are not only incentivized but also considered inherent to deserts.'"