Americans have a skewed view of the Middle East. It's very far away and the cultures throughout the countries that make up this part of the world are very different from our own. Add to that the fact that, for many of the last 30 years, the United States has been in conflict of some sort with a Middle Eastern country, and it seems understandable that many of us really have no idea what to think about the Middle East. Unfortunately, it isn't just familiarity that breeds contempt; ignorance often plays a role. Fortunately, there are people working to inform us truthfully about these locations that are too often soiled in the media by their location, religion, or proximity to other nations. Jim Krane is one of these people, and in his book //City of Gold//, he demystifies one of the Middle East's most famous cities and anomalies: Dubai.

In //City of Gold//, Krane traces Dubai's growth from a small village in harsh desert conditions to one of the richest, most metropolitan cities in the world. //City of Gold// provides information about the tribal history of Dubai as well as the last 50 years of the country's history--a period which has brought immense change and made Dubai the vibrant, complex and exciting city that it is today.

Reviewed by Ashley McCall

There is no shortage of journalism about Dubai, nor is there a lack of desire to know more about the emirate. The demand for information on Dubai--from those outside the emirate as well as those who call it their "residence"--is, especially these days, almost unlimited. However, most pieces tend to stumble into one or a couple of pitfalls: they are usually surface level analyses, picking and choosing from a series of stereotypes in order to support some already-articulated generalization; and they are usually far from impartial--either writers want to tell the tale of Dubai's success, or theorize about and/or encourage its potential downfall. It is rare to find a piece about Dubai that is not along one of these extremes. In addition, perhaps most frustrating for interested readers, despite Dubai's being a relatively young city, authors often any avoid any discussion of its history--any mention of a larger perspective on Dubai's origins, its lifeline, its intended future. Instead, most articles try to position Dubai as the main character in a story about the current era--the financial excess, the daring innovations, etc.--rather than telling the tale of Dubai itself. In City of Gold, Mr. Krane not only avoids all of the mentioned tendencies, but his writing seems to be in direct response to these failings.

For one, City of Gold is by no means a stale history of Dubai's development; rather, it is a vibrant telling of the emirates beginnings with the aim of putting into context the current Dubai. Mr Krane has the ability to parcel out the relevant from irrelevant and to assemble the pieces of the puzzle in a way that, even for those who know a bit already, is new and interesting. In building a coherent history, Mr. Krane sheds more light than almost any other author on the true conditions under which the current Dubai is being operated: Sheikh Mohammed's aspirations seem outrageous until Sheikh Rashid's "crazy" but ultimately successful ideas are taken into account; Dubai's current reliance on Abu Dhabi seems scandalous and a bit embarrassing until the legendary Sheikh Zayed's true political savvy is revealed; many of Sheikh Mohammed's decisions suddenly make more sense when one considers that Cordoba--and not L.A., or Las Vegas--is his model, and business (not government) his method. Moreover, for the first time, we get a sense of the many worlds that in fact make up Dubai--we do not just hear from the finance men (although there is a very useful testimony from the head of Morgan Stanley in the region), but we learn about the jewelry trade, the real issue with traffic, the otherwise unknown anecdotes about The Palm, the controversial relationship with Israel, the nuts and bolts of the seemingly clear-cut "citizenship" debate, the rapid births of Internet and Media City. Of course, these worlds would not be complete without commentary from the key characters, and Mr. Krane seems to have spoken to most--he even gains access to a party thrown by the Sheikh himself. Finally, in all his investigation, Mr. Krane walks a fine line between remaining impartial and asking the tough questions that both sides have: has Dubai been given an unfair rap? Is the city actually sustainable? What, exactly, will its future hold? These questions are not brushed aside (as would be easy to do with one of the least predictable cities in the world) but are rather addressed head on--with thought-provoking and even satisfying responses provided.

While Dubai is usually a flash in the headlines, City of Gold reveals it as a city with a very rich story to tell--even if it is still unfolding.

I first started traveling to Dubai in the early 1990's as a Special Agent for the Department of the Treasury. Many of the trails of transnational crime that I followed eventually led me to Dubai. From a criminal investigative standpoint, Dubai was and is a "target rich" environment; i.e. money laundering, transshipment of munitions and high technology, narcotics, trade fraud, smuggling, terrorism finance, etc. Over the years, I became enthralled at the tremendous growth of the city state and captivated by the international collection of peoples drawn to Dubai. Jim Krane not only tells a fascinating story, but he gave me incredible insights into the why and how of the futuristic city that just a short time ago was a backwater pearling village. The "City of Gold" is fast paced, well written, and I highly recommend it.

John Cassara, Author

Hide and Seek: Intelligence, Law Enforcement, and the Stalled War on Terrorist Finance

This book describes how a nearly barren piece of land became a prosperous city. Dubai sounds like what you'd expect if Bill Gates had taken over a small desert tribe and turned it into a real estate development company.

Part of its success is due to having the right amount of oil given its population size. Most non-industrialized countries that find enough oil to affect their economy are corrupted by dependence on it and by political fighting over who profits from it. Dubai found enough to finance a good deal of growth, but quickly saw that oil revenues would decline before long. Also, it had few enough people that the ruling family could afford to buy off any potential opposition.

But Dubai's development started before it had much hope for oil money, and is partly due to the ambitions of a few people who ruled it. There must be a fair amount of luck involved - it seems to be an accident that Dubai is ruled by competent businessmen who are uninterested in politics (one ordered his reluctant brother to become the ruler). British rule over the region early on also helped ensure political stability.

The book's description of Dubai's legal system is confusing. How did a tribe with no tradition of private property make investors feel safe? I've read elsewhere that importing a British judge and British common law to the financial district is part of the explanation. The rest of Dubai seems to manage with virtually no legal system. I'm still puzzled about how Dubai provides enough predictability to attract large investments.

He describes Dubai's lack of democracy as "an embarrassment". But most of the book suggests that Dubai has been doing better than a democracy could. It makes much faster decisions than a democracy, and it forces bureaucrats to compete for performance scores that would be too easily gamed if voters were in charge.

Dubai's ambitious expansion has made it resemble a financial bubble for much of the past 55 years, but most of its gambles have succeeded. This makes me wonder how to distinguish similar expansions from bubbles in the future (or in China, the present).

I'm halfway though Mr. Krane's work and I just had to post a quick review. My prior knowledge of Dubai is only from vague headlines and outrageous photographs of world famous athletes smacking balls from the top of a hotel helipad. Jim Krane has the ability of bringing to life the people and places of this golden city in way that is completely engaging. I can't say enough about his writing style. He takes on some very complex themes and subject matter yet presents them in such a way that isn't dull but is as exciting as the city itself.

This book provides a fascinating behind the curtain look at the City of Oz. Krane captures the unihibited ambitions of the leading royalty. The architecture, built at an unheard of pace, is a mismash of Le Corbusian sameness and a Disney-esque pastiche. The model of centralized governing by a ruling family seems reborn in a capitalist world, only to be thrown into crisis by the international banking collapse.

Krane's Dubai is so Arab on the one hand and American on the other. Could there be a Dubai if America never exhisted?

Get this guy on Charlie Rose. He is a true master!

In "City of Gold," Jim Krane delivers a well-balanced, highly readable account of Dubai's lightning transformation from an impoverished speck of a Persian Gulf port town to the Middle East's ultra-modern, over-leveraged, financial hub.

Giving credit where credit is due, Krane writes admiringly of how, through a series of high-risk financial gambles, Dubai's ruling sheiks' used modest assets -- a small port and relatively meager oil reserves -- to construct one of the world's wealthiest city-states, and the Middle East's most religiously and socially tolerant society.

However, he also casts a cold eye on Dubai's severe mistreatment of foreign laborers, inability to confront human trafficking, disregard for the environment and shaky financial underpinnings.

But beyond the pros and cons, "City of Gold" is a fascinating detailed history of this little understood region, an examination of the pivotal role it plays today between the West and the Islamic world, and a forecast of what the future holds for Dubai and why it matters.

Hard to believe up through the 1960 Dubai had little electricity and no plumbing. This book traces the story of Dubai from the days of desert bedouin to the pearl diving boom to the amazingly quick transformation to modernity and beyond, masterminded by Sheikh Rashid and Sheikh Mohammed. I especially enjoyed the stories of how the ideas for the Palm Jumeirah and the Burj Al Arab came about. The book also includes discussion of the darker side of Dubai including the labor camps and sex trade. More broadly, the geopolitical importance of Dubai with regards to foreign policy is discussed. The author has an impressive wealth of knowledge and is a great writer. The books keeps you interested and does a good job of laying out the big picture while entertaining with anecdotes. Overall a great work exploring the triumphs and costs associated with the rise of a fascinating place.

This overview of Dubai is more provocative and much lighter in tone than Christopher Davidson's "Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success" (which I also recommend). In Krane's book, roughly a third is about the early history of Dubai, a third is a paean to the wisdom and vision of its ruling sheiks in turning a patch of desert into a world-class city, and a third is about the scandals that exist behind the facades. This is a good book to read backward: Start with the shocking exposes of scandal at the end of the book, and if your interest holds up, go back to the beginning to read about Dubai's history.

Dubai is an extraordinary phenomenon by any measure: An impoverished fishing village, without significant oil, has been developed into a forest of high-rises and grandiose mansions, in which citizens comprise less than 5% of the population. An absolute monarch bestows largesse on his citizens, while the typical resident is a non-citizen who worries about having his visa renewed. Behind the scenes, the manual labor is done by enormous numbers of Indian workers who are virtual prisoners in labor camps. These laborers are not permitted to leave the country, are paid less than what they were promised, and suffer from kidney disease because they're not even given sufficient water to drink. On the backs of such workers this grandiose city has been built, with such excesses as the world's tallest skyscraper, the world's most expensive hotel, indoor ski slopes, and other projects that make the city a cross between Disneyland and Las Vegas. In fifty years, will Dubai be a ghost town of abandoned skyscrapers or one of the world's major cities? In the 21st century, how long can an absolute monarchy survive?

This book does seem disjointed at times -- is the same author who heaps praise on the ruling sheik the same author who highlights the abuses in treating laborers and sex-trade slaves? But at least the reader hears both sides of the story.

Perhaps the book's most jarring inconsistency is what relationship, if any, exists between Dubai and Al-Qaida. Krane says there are reliable rumors that (unnamed) UAE emirs pay protection money to Al-Qaida, and that certain UAE emirs participated in a 1999 hunting trip with Osama bin-Laden. Yet when the Dubai government proposed to take over operations of US ports in 2006, the author eviscerates those Americans who opposed the deal due to terrorism fears. Krane labels this opposition a "lynching" that "made no sense on rational grounds." It's hard to believe the same author wrote both passages. No one is suggesting that the emir would condone terrorism, but it's not irrational to ponder the possibility of radicals infiltrating the ports agency. While it's nice to have both sides of the argument aired, the author's wide oscillations of opinion from chapter to chapter impart a split-personality tone to an otherwise excellent book.

I read more for academics than for pleasure, but when I flipped this book open at the library, it caught my eye for its compelling story and readability. Starting with small desert towns by the sea, Krane builds the city's story to the frenzied boomtown that we know as Dubai, and then to the very precipice of its financial collapse.

As other reviewers have mentioned, Krane does a great job of telling people's stories. He moves from the city's rise to the height of its skyscrapers, shopping, and expat lounges, and back down to its traffic jams, environmental and human rights issues, followed by an epilogue on its crashing economy. The book is a pleasure to read, and if sometimes biased, still has more balance and nuance than most of the articles you'll read. I haven't read other books on Dubai to compare this with, but I can say I found it to be a satisfying read.

I contributed as a source in a small way to Jim Krane's book on Dubai. I am considered one of the world's true experts on Dubai, having lived, worked and had children born there since 1979. However, as I read Kranes book, I was overwhelmed by the number of things - important historical facts and perspectives - that I had not known. As can be discerned from my opening statement, I have read many books and articles and written many reports about Dubai. None, truly none, are as complete, and fair as City of Gold. Krane is complimentary where such is earned, and critical when warranted (such as his valid concerns about environmental neglect). He gives a really detailed flavor of the different phases Dubai has gone through and good explanations why they occured. And I totally agree with him that while Dubai will continue to struggle in the next several years to dig out from under the landslide that was the property collapse and its many consequences, it WILL rise again like the Phoneix it is, and that is because of the facts - none of the big neighboring countries offers a liberal social environment or a business friendly regime (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq...) and with the continuing key role of oil funds globally, Dubai is so well established as a service center for the globe between London and Singapore it cannot be easily supplanted.
That Dubai has tasted a deep dose of humble pie and reality has grounded these high flying entrepreneurs is all to the good, as Dubai was getting out of control and turning into a caricature called Disney World on steroids. But even for experts such as myself(and people do pay good money for my advice) Kranes book was both informative and entertaining. And fair, accurate and balanced. 5 stars. Must reading.
Charles Kestenbaum
(former US Commercial Counselor at US Consulate Dubai and founder, American Business Council of Dubai)

For someone that knows the headlines about Dubai but is looking for a deeper examination of the economic and social phenomenon, this is the book for you. This is a well-written, deeply-researched entertaining book that reads like a well-crafted novel. I am a financial professional (a global fund manager) and was looking for a single book to introduce me to Dubai, a city I know I will have to stay on top of in the years ahead, being a vital point on the map, very suddenly. Jim Krane offers a credible history of the experiment that suceeded against all odds, a story of success in a troublesome neighborhood, and yet he examines the dark side of Dubai, as well.

I read 2-3 books a month and this is the first review I've ever written. Good work, Mr. Krane.

Went to Dubai last week and found it most useful to get a better understanding of the situation on the ground! It's well written and easy to read. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get a deeper understanding of what is underneath the shiny surface of Dubai! Thanks for that Jim!

Being on a three year assignment in Dubai (from U.S.) I find "Dubai City of Gold" a fascinating read. The author, without ever being too longwinded or boring, provides interesting details about Dubai's past and present. It definitely gives me a new and better understanding of life in the UAE and why we face a number challenges that don't always make sense to Western expatriates.

I'm dazzled by this factual, historical work of non-fiction that reads like a novel with, at times, a somewhat riveting first-person narrative. Krane enticed me after the first few pages - and unexpectedly so - as I sat down ready for some dry non-fiction. "City of Gold" multi-dimensionally recreates Dubai on paper; from the positive and hopeful to the negative sides of its insatiable quest for meteoric success via capitalism. As Krane relates a rare, inside view into Dubai's government, he doesn't hesitate to take an unbiased, multi-angled stance as he relates his findings. Kudos for telling it like it is, and in a thorough, readable fashion. While it'd make an excellent text book, I'd actually recommend it to many more folks than I'd otherwise do for a book on a Middle Eastern city-state! It's just... cool!

His awards and accolades thus far are spot-on and well-deserved; they validate my own experience. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has even a remote interest in Dubai - and for those who just want a great read about something new and different than this world has seen before. Can't wait for his next book!

Over the past 30 years, Dubai has changed faster than perhaps any other place in the world. It has been a wild ride, and this book captures both the core substance and the freewheeling flamboyance that have accompanied Dubai's rise to recognition on the world stage. "City of Gold" is both well-researched and heavily documented, but Krane writes with a flowing, conversational style that works well with the subject. Yes, it is a "journalistic account," but what's wrong with that? Krane gives direct voice not only to the bigshot power brokers, but also to the armies of expatriate office workers, construction workers, taxi drivers, prostitutes, etc. that are part of this very colorful demographic mosaic.

As other reviewers have pointed out, Krane rightly highlights Dubai's dark side. Indeed, local UAE bookstores are not selling it because there is sensitivity to what he writes. He doesn't pull punches--either about human rights and labor abuses, prostitution, or Dubai's difficult balancing act between the US and Iran, or about the short-sighted Arab-bashing in the US Congress that characterized the Dubai World ports deal. Krane calls 'em like he sees 'em. "City of Gold" is an enjoyable and eye-opening read.

This is a fascinating book, extremely well-written and combining a real flair for detail with a journalist's knack of telling a good story. The result is a highly informative account of Dubai's stunning rise which does not shy away from detailing the negative dimensions in its development strategy.

Krane is a longtime Middle East correspondent for the AP who was also able to see the inner workings of Dubai's governmental and commercial operations--a feat no other Westerner has pulled off.

Far from an academic book written from a distance, Krane's book is full of the kind of detail and characters that make a book and its message come alive. It also manages to break news on Dubai's relations with the U.S., Iran and Israel. In particular, it shows how the CIA has been recruiting spies from the ranks of Iranians showing up in Dubai at the U.S. embassy looking to escape life in Iran.

Contrary to the review above, Krane pulls no punches and is tough on Dubia's leaders regarding issues like slavery and human trafficking, labor abuse, their environmental depredations, and the lush subsidized lifestyle that is contributing to the city's problems--particularly the shortages of water and power. He also criticize the leadership for completely missing opportunities to mute the effects of the financial crisis, and their sinking real estate market.

The book is considered so negative, in fact, that it's not selling in Dubai or the UAE--stores there are refusing to carry it.

Krane's work also challenges Americans, in particular progressives, to reconsider how the Dubai Ports World debacle reflects poorly on America for its anti-Arab hysteria, rather than the more conventional view that it was too dangerous to allow Dubai to oversee management of a number of our ports. He lays blame squarely on Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer. That's some very unconventional thinking, and nothing like what you would see in an AP report.

Read this book. You will learn a great deal. If interested, you can also read my review of the book on HuffingtonPost: [...]

I loved this book! Although I found it entertaining and highly readable, I was able to sink my teeth into the substantial critique of Dubai's government and the many problems the city-state faces (eg., has extensive immigrant labor simply replaced slavery, not outlawed until 1963?). I appreciated Krane's balanced and fair perspective made possible both by his experience as a consultant in the (Ruler's) Executive Office, and by his extensive interviews with local people, both immigrants and Emiratis: educators, prostitutes, a former slave, Iranians, construction workers, a (female)former government official turned environmentalist, and others.
Even though I've been in Dubai several times I had little real understanding of what I was seeing until I read Krane's book. Dubai is not a democracy but is a city tolerant of many religions and cultures living side by side, a model far beyond the middle east. Much can also be learned from this book about the Dubai Ports issue, the delicate balance Dubai maintain with both Iran and the USA, and the little known relationship with Israelis via diamonds. I look forward to watching Dubai emerge from the current slump and hope that our government will be wise enough to link any nuclear power assistance to Dubai's improving human rights.

This is what Jim Krane says about one of Dubai Inc's key planners, Chairman of Dubai Holdings and State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Mohammed Gergawi: "Women in Dubai - locals and expatriates - fawn over his George Clooney looks. Like Sheikh Mohammed, he has a reputation for giving wads of cash to strangers. I worked briefly as a consultant at the (Ruler's) Executive Offce, downstairs from Gergawi. One day he strode into my office with his arm extended and boomed 'I am Mohammed Gergawi", and gave me a hearty handshake. We had an easygoing chat. When my son Jay was born in 2007, Gergawi sent a towering bouquet of flowers to the hospital room of my wife, Chloe, that took two men to erect. When I returned to work, his secretary handed me bags of baby clothes."
The paragraph is on page 127 of the book, and may explain its many pulled punches. As a result of the global financial crisis and the bursting of Dubai's debt bubble, Krane's book was also outdated by the time it was published. The hastily written epilogue barely examines Dubai's post-crisis future, apart from repeating the same old chestnut that its status as a hub will always make it relevant.
Much better to turn to Christopher Davidson's excellent Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success Jon Alterman says that there is no better book on Dubai than Krane's but he obviously hasn't read Davidson, who appears to have gone the same route as Krane with his follow-up book on Abu Dhabi - an inevitable compromise? Even Krane records in his acknowledgement that Davidson paved the way for his book and kindly answered his incessant emails.
So if you want to read what feels like an extended AP wire story on Dubai's rise, fall and projected rise, this may be for you. If you want something deeper and more balanced in its assessment, go elsewhere.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a page-turner, reads like a great novel, but is filled with cool facts about the growth of Dubai.