Mecas Memoirs, 1944-2009 (v. 2) (Envoys to the Arab World) - Hardcover

An aura of intrigue has long surrounded the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies (MECAS). This 'school for spies' was founded in 1944 and originally based for a few years in Jerusalem before relocating to the village of Shemlan, deep in the Lebanese hills. The Centre rapidly became a key training ground for young diplomats in the Arab world. Their memories undimmed by time, graduates of 'Shemlan', as the Centre became know, tell of their often eventful time there, and the challenges, trials and joys of their subsequent lives as diplomats As such, Envoys of the Arab World reads like collected fragments of a score of diaries; each shedding light on the key events of the wider Middle East at the time. The original Arabists of Shemlan was published to wide acclaim in 2006, and this second volume, sharing its predecessor's mix of humour, insight and anecdote, is no less compelling.

Sir James Craig GCMG graduated in Oriental langauges (Arabic and Persian) at Oxford and became Lecturer in Arabic at Durham University. In 1955 he was seconded to the Foreign Office as Principal Instructor at the Middle East Center for Arab Studies (MECAS) in Shemlan. He joined the Foreign Office substantively in 1956, serving as HM Political Agent in the Trucial States, First Secretary, Beruit, Counsellor and Head of Chancery, Jeddah and Head of Near East and North Africa Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London.