Bygone Heat: Travels of an Idealist in the Middle East

"How couldst thou take such journeys into fanatic Arabia?" So C.W.R. Long begins his memoir with a quotation from Doughty and answers it affirmatively and with enduring enthusiasm and affection. He tells his story of over thirty years life and work in Muslim lands, including times as a diplomat. He begins at Cambridge and his career follows the turns and twists of history through Libya, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, the Sudan, Turkey, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan and--above all--Iraq, a country he continues to regard with the utmost affection, understanding and concern. The result is a memoir of grace and sensitivity in which his colleagues and local people of all levels come vividly to life and he embeds his story in the history, polities, geography, culture and social structure of the countries where he served.