{"product_id":"9781780602240","title":"Muscat and Oman","description":"Author: Ian Skeet\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 9781780602240\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Eland Books\u003cbr\u003eYear first published: 01 May 2025\u003cbr\u003ePages: 248\u003cbr\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Sultanate of Muscat and Oman was a hermit state until 1970, preserving in every detail the poverty, personality and picturesque reality of a medieval kingdom.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor forty years, Sultan Said bin Taimur personally controlled everything that happened, deliberately cutting the nation off from the headlong development of the rest of the world. Fortunately for Oman this would change, and fortunately for us, we have a first-hand witness to this complex society before that watershed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIan Skeet travelled across its vast sand deserts and arid highlands in 19668, preparing the wary inhabitants for the coming of oil, visiting its isolated walled cities, fortified oasis communities and independent-minded Bedouin tribes. The sultan's motives may have been pure  to preserve his people from the sin of usury and the slavery of foreign debt  but Ian Skeet's portrait is a devastating study of the dead hand of autocracy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith a new biographical afterword from Ian's son, Mark Skeet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A marvellous work  so learned, so full of insight and yet often so funny.'  Jan Morris\u003cbr\u003e'a totally fabulous portrait of a land on the brink, drawn with intelligenceand sardonic good humour.'  Sara Wheeler\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ships in 10 to 15 days","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46852900192414,"sku":"ADS-9781780602240","price":34.78,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0400\/9043\/5742\/files\/9781780602240.jpg?v=1779064525","url":"https:\/\/classicbargains.com.au\/products\/9781780602240","provider":"Classic Bargains Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}