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Title: Arabian Sands
Review: I just completed this book. It was recommended as a way to understand the culture I was going to enter. I recently took an assignment in Doha, Qatar.I didn't know what to expect from the book, but I found it enlightening. The Arab culture has been turned upside down by the new found wealth that oil has brought.Thesinger was concerned about the affect of oil on the culture he fell in love with. I would say his fears have come true. The wealth has changed a simple culture of survival to one of entitlement.It is a good read and insight into the closed culture of the Muslim mind now forced to accept the Westerner that brings the technology and business acumen that helps them acheive the benefit this new found wealth provides. Unfortunately, it has created an arrogance in a culture formely proud of its ways.I believe the Arab still sees the Christian as an infidel and only accepts their presence as a necessity.
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