City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism
Product ID: 79882440
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Award-winning journalist Jim Krane charts the history of Dubai from its earliest days, considers the influence of the family who has ruled it since the nineteenth century, and looks at the effect of the global economic downturn on a place that many tout as a blueprint for a more stable Middle EastThe city of Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, is everything the Arab world isn't: a freewheeling capitalist oasis where the market rules and history is swept aside. Until the credit crunch knocked it flat, Dubai was the fastest-growing city in the world, with a roaring economy that outpaced China's while luring more tourists than all of India. It's one of the world's safest places, a stone's throw from its most dangerous. In City of Gold, Jim Krane, who reported for the AP from Dubai, brings us a boots-on-the-ground look at this fascinating place by walking its streets, talking to its business titans, its prostitutes, and the hard-bitten men who built its fanciful skyline. He delves into the city's history, paints an intimate portrait of the ruling Maktoum family, and ponders where the city is headed. Dubai literally came out of nowhere. It was a poor and dusty village in the 1960s. Now it's been transformed into the quintessential metropolis of the future through the vision of clever sheikhs, Western capitalists, and a river of investor money that poured in from around the globe. What has emerged is a tolerant and cosmopolitan city awash in architectural landmarks, luxury resorts, and Disnified kitsch. It's at once home to America's most prestigious companies and universities and a magnet for the Middle East's intelligentsia. Dubai's dream of capitalism has also created a deeply stratified city that is one of the world's worst polluters. Wild growth has clogged its streets and left its citizens a tiny minority in a sea of foreigners. Jim Krane considers all of this and casts a critical eye on the toll that the global economic downturn has taken.While many think Dubai's glory days have passed, insiders like Jim Krane who got to know the city and its creators firsthand realize there's much more to come in the City of Gold, a place that, in just a few years, has made itself known to nearly every person on earth. Review: Five Stars - super book about Dubai Review: Should be given out upon landing at DXB - When traveling to a new country for work for an extended period of time, I try to read a book or two that provides some historical and cultural context to the place. It's nice to get some grounding on the place I'm visiting, and I've found this contributes both to my enjoyment of the locale and also my understanding of the people I'm working and interacting with. For the first-timer to Dubai, I don't think you could do much better than this book. The author is clearly fascinated by his subject matter, and brings passion and deep expertise to his writing. Mr. Krane presents Dubai through the eyes of a reporter, providing first-hand interviews from the men and women behind the scenes in Dubai, and presenting several facets of the key aspects of the city. Rather than a puff piece or agenda-driven slash job, the author presents the positives and negatives of Dubai's breakneck development and allows the reader to form their own conclusions at the benefit of his research and commentary. While it's missing the details of Dubai's economic crash, it certainly gives one the grounding to make more sense of Dubai's chances for the future. Aside from a jab or two at former US President GW Bush, which seems a bit hackneyed and trite in 2012, the book was well-researched and unbiased, and managed the difficult task of remaining entertaining rather than reading like a graduate thesis. I was unable to set the book down, and found my evening walks through Dubai complemented by each chapter I read. The only flaw I found was several photographs are mentioned in the acknowledgments, but none appear in the Kindle edition of the book, although they would not have been missed unless one read the end notes. For the casual observer, it's tempting to dismiss Dubai as the "Las Vegas of the Middle East," but Mr. Krane provides a deeper, more nuanced view of this fascinating place. Beneath the shiny buildings there are subtle undercurrents, and I found each chapter of this book provided a welcome exposure to yet another facet of the City of Gold.
| Best Sellers Rank | #605,663 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #350 in Economic Conditions (Books) #502 in Middle Eastern History (Books) #1,039 in International Relations & Globalization |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 208 Reviews |
L**A
Five Stars
super book about Dubai
P**Y
Should be given out upon landing at DXB
When traveling to a new country for work for an extended period of time, I try to read a book or two that provides some historical and cultural context to the place. It's nice to get some grounding on the place I'm visiting, and I've found this contributes both to my enjoyment of the locale and also my understanding of the people I'm working and interacting with. For the first-timer to Dubai, I don't think you could do much better than this book. The author is clearly fascinated by his subject matter, and brings passion and deep expertise to his writing. Mr. Krane presents Dubai through the eyes of a reporter, providing first-hand interviews from the men and women behind the scenes in Dubai, and presenting several facets of the key aspects of the city. Rather than a puff piece or agenda-driven slash job, the author presents the positives and negatives of Dubai's breakneck development and allows the reader to form their own conclusions at the benefit of his research and commentary. While it's missing the details of Dubai's economic crash, it certainly gives one the grounding to make more sense of Dubai's chances for the future. Aside from a jab or two at former US President GW Bush, which seems a bit hackneyed and trite in 2012, the book was well-researched and unbiased, and managed the difficult task of remaining entertaining rather than reading like a graduate thesis. I was unable to set the book down, and found my evening walks through Dubai complemented by each chapter I read. The only flaw I found was several photographs are mentioned in the acknowledgments, but none appear in the Kindle edition of the book, although they would not have been missed unless one read the end notes. For the casual observer, it's tempting to dismiss Dubai as the "Las Vegas of the Middle East," but Mr. Krane provides a deeper, more nuanced view of this fascinating place. Beneath the shiny buildings there are subtle undercurrents, and I found each chapter of this book provided a welcome exposure to yet another facet of the City of Gold.
A**R
compelling
a great survey of dubai's history up until the financial crisis gave me a solid appreciation of what it's rulers have achieved - extraordinary visionaries who also got things done dubai is under-rated
D**F
typical humorous Economist style - highly recommendable
Jim Krane writes in typical humorous Economist style, i. e. understandably. He illuminates backgrounds, makes readers comfortable with seemingly difficult engineering topics like pumping up concrete to make possible the world's largest building. Moreover, he generates an easily interpreted graphic image of things by constantly using comparisons; e. g. Dubai is the size of x-many football fields. He expounds challenging "navigation [being] akin to Sudoku" and citizenship being "guarded like a vault of nuclear fuel rods." What I'm missing is a critique that it's not politically correct to put biz above human rights. Well, knowing what happened in some North African states and neighboring Bahrain at the beginning of 2011, history will tell. One may excuse Mr. Krane that he wrote the epilogue of this book last year and he simply describes the Dubai monarchy in eloquent terms without vindicating it. Moreover, you learn about topics like environment, demographic imbalance, economy or prostitution. Furthermore, Mr. Krane elucidates problems arising from the quick change of Dubai being a dominated by machos of nomads as recently as 50 years ago into being a dominated by machos in the 21st century. Mr. Krane quotes plenty of references for those who'd like to dig deeper. Last but not least, while reading this brilliant page turner you learn something about the history of this autocratic city state. In conclusion: I can highly recommend this well written book to all interested in current affairs.
A**C
A breezy overview of Dubai, good but showing its age
This high level overview of Dubai, as told by (I think) a journalist who has spent a number of years there is a light, enjoyable introduction to the emirate. It points to important criticisms, but pulls its punches. It's a love letter. There are what appear to be typos and repetitions of sentence structure that give the book a self-published feel. The book is showing its age, too, as it makes a big deal out of the 2008-9 real estate crash in Dubai, and the Epilogue only touches on issues through 2010. It's good up to that point, but I suspect there has been a great deal of further change in the intervening years. I got out of it what I was looking for and really appreciated the author's work. 4/5, with handicapping for the sort of book it is.
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