East is West

Journalist, traveler, and writer Freya Stark wrote this book "as an armchair journey for the average reader" after discovering that contemporary knowledge of the Arab world in Europe and the United States was out of date. She gives an introductory history and political analysis of the region in the introduction, especially with respect to World War II, foreign presence in the region, and the region's future place in the world. This book, based on the author's travels, focuses particularly upon the Arabian Peninsula (specifically Aden in Yemen, where she was stationed by the British government as a diplomat), Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. Stark does not attempt to keep the narrative falsely impersonal; her status as a foreign woman traveling by herself was wildly uncommon, and the way her informants responded to her reflects that fact.