Mar. 26th, 2022

The Blurb On The Back:

Skiing, sand and shopping in the world’s weirdest city.


When Joe Bennett was at school he hadn’t heard of Dubai. If you’d asked him where it was he would have guessed Africa. Or perhaps India, or Asia, or even Europe. And he wouldn’t have been far wrong, because Dubai isn’t far from anywhere.

Once nothing more than a hot little port on the Arabian Gulf, Dubai transformed seemingly overnight into a hub of global trade and global finance. And it made this transformation peaceably; bringing Muslim and Christian worlds together without succumbing to the wars and terrorism that blight the region. Dubai seemed like a model for the way ahead.

But when the economic crisis put the wind up global capitalism, Dubai came to be seen as the emblem of a rotten world. Dubai was brash. Dubai was cruel. Dubai was exploitative. Dubai was a speculative bubble. Dubai, in short, was plain bloody horrible.

Leaving the comfort of his armchair, Joe Bennett embarks on a quest to discover just what (and where) Dubai really is. Can it go on? Has it sold itself to the corporate dollar? Is it anything more than a mall in the desert? Will the sands return?

Absurdly funny, wise and witty, Hello Dubai is another wonderful journey from the author of A Land Of Two Halves, Mustn’t Grumble and Where Underpants Come From.


ExpandThe Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Joe Bennett is a newspaper columnist and travel writer. Here he visits Dubai to discover what draws people to seek their fortune, how Dubai and the UAE have developed and their potential future. It’s strong on the country’s history and unflinching about its government and the racism of some western ex pats but despite his efforts, he doesn’t get close to the underclass of workers who sustain it and is quite patronising in his assumptions.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy of this book.

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