Barely forty years ago, Abu Dhabi was a fishing village on the Arabian Gulf. Now the capital of the United Arab Emirates, its citizens are each worth $17 million, it holds major stakes in Western economies, & has money to burn. In this timely, revealing & evocative portrait of a global player, Jo Tatchell traces the emirate`s dramatic development & the sometimes ruinous effect of extreme wealth on its people & their desert culture. & as its rulers fund another giant leap forward, she probes behind the official facade to examine whether this secretive & controlled society can realise its breathtaking plans to transform relations between East & West.