Keepers of the golden shore : a history of the United Arab Emirates / Michael Quentin Morton.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 226-232) and index.

Desert, sea and mountain : southeast Arabia in prehistory -- Emergence : Greater Oman, the Arabian Gulf and the Bani Yas, AD 630-1909 -- A maritime kind : the Qawasim, the British and the Trucial Coast, 1718-1906 -- Jewels of the sea : the rise and fall of the pearling industry, 1508-1949 -- Something in the air : Dubai and the northern sheikhdoms, 1901-39 -- The hungry years : the Trucial Coast in the Second World War, 1939-45 -- Sweet crude : Abu Dhabi and the discovery of oil, 1909-71 -- Blueprint for a nation : the Trucial states, 1945-68 -- Divided we stand : unification and beyond, 1964-80 -- Only one tribe : the United Arab Emirates, 1980-present day.

"The region now known as the UAE likely began as a trading post between Mesopotamia and Oman, and since that time has been the stage of important economic and cultural exchanges. It has seen the rise and fall of a thriving pearl industry, piracy, invasions and wars, and the arrival of the oil age that would make it one of the richest countries on earth. Since the early 1970s, when seven sheikhs agreed to enter into a union, it has been a sovereign nation, carrying on the resourceful spirit#x14;with resplendent fervor#x14;that the brutally inhospitable landscape has long demanded of the people. Ultimately, Morton shows that the country is not only rich in oil and money but in an extraordinarily deep history and culture." -- publisher.