Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab States Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Arab States [2 volumes] - Hardcover

Sebastian Maisel; John A. Shoup

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313344426 ISBN 13: 9780313344428

Publisher: Greenwood, 2009

Synopsis

This extremely timely and helpful ready reference will familiarize all students and readers with the Gulf region and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Dubai, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, and Qatar. These states are bound by the desert culture, the Gulf, new oil economy, and Islam, to name some commonalities. Most Americans know something about the region, such as oases, dates, camels, oil, Bedouin tribes, and the legends of Lawrence of Arabia to Osama bin Laden. Islamic concepts and practices are still unfamiliar. On one extreme, Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam, has been largely closed off to Western tourists. On the other extreme, Dubai courts tourist dollars as it constructs modern architectural showcases. This is the first A-Z encyclopedia to focus on the Gulf, illuminating the land, people, religion, culture and traditions, institutions, economy, and much more for general readers. The more than 200 essay entries have a current focus with historical context as necessary. The breadth of coverage means that this resource will be of use for a wide range of researchers and browsers. Besides individual entries on each state, major cities and regions are also profiled. The natural environment and human adaptation to it receives significant space. Islamic customs and rules and various interpretations are clearly explained. Essays on topics such as key public figures, institutions, major events, politics, and state structures-some based on sources often not available in English-make this two-volume set the first-choice resource for accurate information. Suggestions for further reading accompany most entries; a chronology, selected bibliography, and photos also complement the text.

About this title

Review:

"...individual entries in this book are very good...Any undergraduate studying the politics, history or geography of the modern world will find useful information here. . . . In view of the immense importance of the Arab states in the current political economy of the world, all public reference libraries and all academic libraries dealing with geographical or political topics ought to be carefully considering everything they can get on the region, and can certainly be recommended to include this encyclopedia in their deliberations." - Reference Reviews "Cross-references are numerous, and a thorough index makes locating information easy. An extensive bibliography provides citations and further reading. This solid collection of entries, coedited by two academics, one from the U.S. and the other from Morocco, is highly recommended for academic and large public libraries." - Booklist

Synopsis:

This title provides broad coverage of the people and practices of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab region. This extremely timely and helpful reference set will familiarize all readers with the Gulf region and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Dubai, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, and Qatar. These states are bound by the desert culture, the Gulf, new oil economy, and Islam, to name some commonalities. Most people are familiar with some aspects of the region, such as oases, dates, camels, oil, Bedouin tribes, and the tales of Lawrence of Arabia. Islamic concepts and practices are still unfamiliar. On one extreme, Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam, has been largely closed off to Western tourists. On the other extreme, Dubai courts tourist dollars as it constructs modern architectural showcases.This is the first A-Z encyclopedia to focus on the Gulf, illuminating the land, people, religion, culture and traditions, institutions, economy, and much more for general readers. The more than 200 essay entries have a current focus with historical context as necessary. The breadth of coverage means that this resource will be of use for a wide range of researchers and browsers.

Besides individual entries on each state, major cities and regions are also profiled. The natural environment and human adaptation to it receives significant space. Islamic customs and rules and various interpretations are clearly explained. Essays on key public figures, institutions, major events, politics, and state structures and more also make this the first-choice resource for accurate information. Further reading accompanies most entries. The contributors have mined sources often not available in English. A chronology, selected bibliography, and photos complement the text.

About this edition

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0313344426
• ISBN 13: 9780313344428
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 600