cheney michael sheldon (2 Ergebnisse)

FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (21 x 14 cm). pp.320. Publisher's original lilac cloth, spine lettered in gilt, 17 full-page black & white photographic plates including frontispiece. "In Big Oilman from Arabia Michael Sheldon Cheney gives a unique personal account of life in the oil camps of the Persian Gulf, around whose shores lie three quarters of the world's known oil reserves. During seven years spent with oil and construction firms in Saudi Arabia, the author witnessed the rise of a new world in the desert--and its often disconcerting effects on the bedouin populace. His book gives not only an entertaining picture of a strange world lit by flaming gas-flares, where calendars never agree, Sunday falls on Friday and writing, oil wells and even sailing-boats work backward, but an analysis of the changes and violent pressures brought to the Muslim holy land by oil and sudden exposure to the modern world. The author describes Arabia's naked immensity, and the life of the nomads who exist in its wastes; its lost civilisations and dying oases; its ancient deep-sea fleets and the glamorous but deadly pearl-diving trade; its conquest by Ibn Saud, 'Lion of the Desert', and the problems inherited by his son; and its new, break-neck drive for progress. He tells, too, of the first American oil-seekers and their early disappointments; of the eventual discovery of the richest oil-fields yet found; of the building of the world's biggest pipe- ine; of oil explorers who roam the Empty Quarter in air-conditioned caravans, and Arab bricklayers who have become millionaires. He draws a picture of the growth, within one decade, of complete modern communities and industrial plants on that barren shore, and of the trials and pleasures of the oilmen and their families who live in them; of the unforeseen complications met by a Western enterprise in a feudal desert monarchy, and the principle of 'enlightened self-interest' that guides Aramco's operations. Mr. Cheney saw the rise and the first revolt of a new Arab industrial class. He saw, from the Saudi side, the border disputes between Saudi Arabia and the British protectorates, the Egyptian attempt to take over Arabia, and the accelerating Soviet drive for the Middle East. His book gives a first-hand account of the problems faced by Western diplomats and private firms in the Arab world, and he makes his own estimate of the West's chances in that vital area" (from the dust-jacket).

FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (21 x 14 cm). pp.320. Publisher's original lilac cloth, spine lettered in gilt, in the unclipped pictorial dust-jacket designed by Robert Wellings, map endpapers showing the oil fields of the Arabian Peninsula. 17 full-page black & white photographic plates including frontispiece. Old ownership inscription dated 19 58 to flyleaf. Some light wrinkling to dust-jacket, cloth lightly faded in places, generally a very good copy, decidedly scarce in the dust-jacket. "In Big Oilman from Arabia Michael Sheldon Cheney gives a unique personal account of life in the oil camps of the Persian Gulf, around whose shores lie three quarters of the world's known oil reserves. During seven years spent with oil and construction firms in Saudi Arabia, the author witnessed the rise of a new world in the desert--and its often disconcerting effects on the bedouin populace. His book gives not only an entertaining picture of a strange world lit by flaming gas-flares, where calendars never agree, Sunday falls on Friday and writing, oil wells and even sailing-boats work backward, but an analysis of the changes and violent pressures brought to the Muslim holy land by oil and sudden exposure to the modern world. The author describes Arabia's naked immensity, and the life of the nomads who exist in its wastes; its lost civilisations and dying oases; its ancient deep-sea fleets and the glamorous but deadly pearl-diving trade; its conquest by Ibn Saud, 'Lion of the Desert', and the problems inherited by his son; and its new, break-neck drive for progress. He tells, too, of the first American oil-seekers and their early disappointments; of the eventual discovery of the richest oil-fields yet found; of the building of the world's biggest pipe- ine; of oil explorers who roam the Empty Quarter in air-conditioned caravans, and Arab bricklayers who have become millionaires. He draws a picture of the growth, within one decade, of complete modern communities and industrial plants on that barren shore, and of the trials and pleasures of the oilmen and their families who live in them; of the unforeseen complications met by a Western enterprise in a feudal desert monarchy, and the principle of 'enlightened self-interest' that guides Aramco's operations. Mr. Cheney saw the rise and the first revolt of a new Arab industrial class. He saw, from the Saudi side, the border disputes between Saudi Arabia and the British protectorates, the Egyptian attempt to take over Arabia, and the accelerating Soviet drive for the Middle East. His book gives a first-hand account of the problems faced by Western diplomats and private firms in the Arab world, and he makes his own estimate of the West's chances in that vital area" (from the dust-jacket).