Of German origin, Norden made his money as a cotton broker in South Carolina.
He died in London after falling and fracturing his skull in Leicester Square, aged 62.
[1] His book "White and Black in East Africa" was a great success,[1] however it was criticised in African Affairs as "of a surface nature... marred by many inaccuracies, exaggerations and statements which are both sweeping and incorrect.
"[2] His book "Byways of the Tropic Seas: Wanderings Among the Solomons and in the Malay Archipelago" was criticised in Nature as superficial and inaccurate.
[3] For his book "Africa's Last Empire", he met Ras Tafari (Haile Selassi).