Mirage: Power, Politics, And the Hidden History of Arabian Oil

Amherst, New York, U.S.A.: Prometheus Books, 2005. First edition. 8vo. Hard cover binding, 560 pp. In this history of the discovery, development, and exploitation of Middle Eastern oil, a former Arab Gulf reporter for Time and Fortune tells a largely unknown story rich in drama, conflict, and comic interludes, revealing how even as late as the end of World War I experts insisted "there is no oil in Arabia." Indeed, the fabulously rich oilfields of Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia remained untapped for years after they were discovered by a New Zealander named Frank Holmes, a figure still downplayed in the West, but who has been honored by Arabs in the Gulf since the 1920s as Abu al-Naft "the Father of Oil." Aileen Keating explodes many myths here, including the notion that oil companies and geological experts knew there was oil in Arabia but kept it quiet to keep competitors away. New in new dustjacket. . First Edition. Hard Cover. New/New. 8vo.