Download A Diamond in the Desert: Behind the Scenes in Abu Dhabi, the World's Richest City AudioBook Free

Jo Tatchell first found its way to the town of Abu Dhabi as a child in 1974, when the discovery of essential oil was quickly turning a little fishing town into an evergrowing international community. More than 30 years later, change has reached breakneck speed: Abu Dhabi, the administrative centre of the United Arab Emirates, is becoming a dizzying metropolis of 10-lane highways and overlapping dialects, and its riches and focus on social development have thrust it in to the international spotlight. In A Diamond in the Desert, Tatchell profits to Abu Dhabi and goes on the hunt for the storyline behind the headlines retracing old steps, planting new ones, and searching for hints to mysteries which may have never still left her. She sees more than she bargained for a view into a city that, before it matches a patiently holding out world, must first better get to know itself. Abu Dhabi has a story to cover up, and life there carries countless contradictions. The town is a tolerant melting-pot of civilizations and faiths, but less than 7,000 of its 800,000 local residents are considered eligible to vote by the ruling class and the nation's president holds overall veto electricity over his advisory boards and councils. The Emirates boast one of the world's highest GDP per capita, but the poor syndication of prosperity in its towns is staggering. Abu Dhabi's royal family, worthy of an estimated $500 billion, lives off of the perspiration of the city's migrant workers, who subject themselves to risk and poverty under barely-observed labor laws and regulations. But now, the town is making an international splash with a showy investment in travel and leisure, arts, and culture, perhaps signaling a big change to a more open, tolerant point out. A new film studio room is sprouting up in Abu Dhabi, and the entire year 2013 provides a fresh branch of the Louvre and a Guggenheim museum designed by Frank Gehry. But can Abu Dhabi truly commit to a new period of liberty after so a long time of control?

Category: Travel

Details

Publisher	Audible Studios
Language	English
ISBN
DATE	2015-11
Author	Jo Tatchell

Download