Acknowledgements H .R.P. Dickson’s book, The Arab of the Desert, provided an excellent resource with its detailed descriptions of life in Kuwait from the early twentieth century. Dur- ing his career in Kuwait as British political agent, Dickson im- mersed himself in Bedouin life. His description of the lambs and ewes as they were brought into the fold at night was biblical in character. Wilfred Thesiger’s Arabian Sands, perhaps more than any oth- er travel book, captured the feel of the land and its people. I tried to translate that feel into the modern context.