An unusual book on Dubai

Save the usual liberal newspapers and magazines, practically every book on Dubai is long and unstinting with praise for the Emirate. Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success is perhaps the only exception among them.

This book has been extensively reviewed and quoted including the now also well quoted identical articles in the NYT and IHT on possibly Dubai spiralling down.

I do not have the time to read the book. It is available here at Kinokuniya for 174 dhs (read pricey). Nevertheless I am curious and so I occupy myself for a couple of hours to learn what others have said about it. Well, I was not disappointed as I got some long standing questions of this place answered. E.g., why no terrorist attack on this place yet? Will Abu Dhabi come to Dubai aid in this financial crisis?

I shall not attempt to say anything about the terrorist threat but when neighbouring Sharjah (part of the UAE too) had a banking crisis in 1989, neither Abu Dhabi nor Dubai lent a helping hand. The Saudis were the ones who rescued them.

Here are a couple of book review links I thought interesting for those who like me are interested but not enough to make time for the book.

Dubai: the Gulf between development and freedom and Deconstructing Dubai