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Dubai: The Story of the World's Fastest City by Jim Krane (view source)
Revision as of 15:36, 27 August 2020
, 15:36, 27 August 2020no edit summary
Both come across as benevolent rulers, but it's far from being a hagiography of either - after spending the first two thirds of the book talking about the rise of the city, Krane devotes the last hundred pages to talking about its problems and the challenges it faces in the future. These include the foreign workers trapped in debt, the sex industry, and the massive environmental problems caused by a lack of planning when the massive buildings were built. He also talks about the international politics involved, detailing Dubai's uneasy position as a key ally of the United States which also has strong ties with Iran.
Krane's writing style, as I mentioned earlier, is both informative and entertaining, and he sets the book out by splitting it into subsections within each chapter. The longest of these subsections is about ten pages, with many weighing in at around two, and that means it's technically possible to pick it up and read one in five minutes or so – I say technically, as I can count on one hand the number of times I actually managed to do that. Far more often, I picked it up ''intending'' to do so, only to end up getting drawn in and an hour or so slipping away without me realising it! A special mention goes to the photographs in the middle of the book. Although there's only an 8 -page insert, two in particular, the first showing the Dubai – Abu Dhabi Highway with barely any buildings on it in 1990, the second showing the same view in 2009 as the road is surrounded by skyscrapers, do an amazing job of illustrating the pace of the city's growth.
Definite recommendation here for anyone with an interest in the Middle East in general or Dubai in particular – or indeed anyone who enjoys reading entertaining non-fiction.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Further reading suggestion: For another fascinating account of a major city – or at least part of it – [[Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire: A Confidential Report by Iain Sinclair]] comes highly recommended. Back in Asia, I also really enjoyed Lawrence Osborne's [[Bangkok Days by Lawrence Osborne|Bangkok Days]]. For more on Dubai, have a look at [[Flashes of Thought: Lessons in life and leadership from the man behind Dubai by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum]].
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