The Sharjah Sheikhs boxset includes three commanding and sultry Sheikhs. Book One: The Sheikh’s Forced Bride Sheikh Khalid Al-Qasimi’s playboy ways have finally caught up with him. After creating a scandal during a diplomatic visit to America, Khalid is given a choice by his father—marry or face banishment. Rather than lose his family, Khalid bows to his father’s wishes but an outspoken American interrupts Khalid’s would-be wedding. Now Khalid has a new plan that might please his father, secure his inheritance and leave Khalid still able to go on with his life …he’ll take the beautiful American as his bride—and then his father will hate her so much he’ll beg Khalid not to get married after all. Journalist Casey Connolly has never been afraid to share her opinions. While researching an article on arranged marriages, she lands in trouble when she crashes a royal wedding to get a quote from the attending American guests.. The sexy groom offers to set her free if she’ll step into the role of his fiancée—just for a short time. Seeing a chance to get the scoop she needs, Casey agrees. Book Two:The Sheikh’s Accidental Heir Sheikh Ahmed Al-Qasimi is used to playing by his own rules, but when his father decides that his lifestyle of excess is becoming a threat to his future, he has to work fast to clean up his image, or face the consequences. Ahmed is resigned to an arranged marriage to a woman with whom he feels no romantic spark, until another ghost from his past comes back to haunt him: his American ex-lover. Melanie is working to prove her catering business is a world class operation, so when she is offered the opportunity to provide the food at Ahmed’s wedding, she can’t say no—even though they once shared a night of passion. When a stranger offers her $100,000 to stall the wedding, it’s hard to refuse, especially when the connection between them is reigniting with a vengeance. Book Three: The Sheikh’s Secret Son Sheikh Zaid is always in control. As the son of the Sultan of Sharjah and the middle of three brothers, he’s spent his whole life being groomed for leadership. When a diplomatic tour from the U.S. comes to Sharjah, he makes it his business to ensure that he makes a good impression, but the surprising return of an old flame shocks him to the core. Rebecca Reid is a foreign aid representative with no time for ostentatious displays. She wants to see the gritty realities of Sharjah, not the polished façade. But when she finds the diplomatic tour she’s joined is being led by the same man she had a wild affair with five years ago, it complicates matters.

Muhammad bin Salman Al-Saud and Muhammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the respective princely strongmen of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have torn up the old rules. They have spurred game-changing economic master plans, presided over vast anti-corruption crackdowns, tackled entrenched religious forces, and overseen the mass arrest of critics. In parallel, they also appear to have replaced the old 'sheikhly' consensus systems of their predecessors with something more autocratic, more personalistic, and perhaps even analytically distinct. These are the two wealthiest and most populous Gulf monarchies, and increasingly important global powers--Saudi Arabia is a G20 member, and the UAE will be the host of the World Expo in 2021-2022. Such sweeping changes to their statecraft and authority structures could well end up having a direct impact, for better or worse, on policies, economies and individual lives all around the world. Christopher M. Davidson tests the hypothesis that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are now effectively contemporary or even 'advanced' sultanates, and situates these influential states within an international model of autocratic authoritarianism. Drawing on a range of primary sources, including new interviews and surveys, From Sheikhs to Sultanism puts forward an original, empirically grounded interpretation of the rise of both MBS and MBZ.

A unique memoir by the current emir of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates

Sheikh Zaid is always in control. As the son of the Sultan of Sharjah and the middle of three brothers, he’s spent his whole life being groomed for leadership. When a diplomatic tour from the U.S. comes to Sharjah, he makes it his business to ensure that he makes a good impression, but the surprising return of an old flame shocks him to the core. Rebecca Reid is a foreign aid representative with no time for ostentatious displays. She wants to see the gritty realities of Sharjah, not the polished façade. But when she finds the diplomatic tour she’s joined is being led by the same man she had a wild affair with five years ago, it complicates matters. Now, Zaid and Rebecca will have to join forces to save the poverty-stricken residents of Sharjah from a corrupt adviser who is diverting relief funds. It’s time to unearth the flaws no one wants to acknowledge for the sake of the future and their four-year-old son.

Building Sharjah reveals how modern architecture unfurled across the United Arab Emirates’ third-largest city. An oil discovery in 1972 positioned Sharjah as one of the world’s final cities shaped by transformative fortune. In the footsteps of Kuwait, Riyadh, and Dubai, Sharjah faced a metamorphosis: either one that repeated the past’s mistakes or one that reimagined how wealth can build a city. Sharjah’s potential enticed an international cast of experts to create a bold, new city. As their projects begin to vanish, this book preserves them through unseen photographs and recovered documents. New writing chronicles how local and arriving residents arranged the designed, concrete environment into a home. Beyond just a local artifact, this book examines the confident promises made by global practices of urbanization.

Noted Gulf expert Christopher Davidson contends that the collapse of these kings, emirs, and sultans is going to happen, and was always going to.

Sheikh Khalid Al-Qasimi’s playboy ways have finally caught up with him. After creating a scandal during a diplomatic visit to America, Khalid is given a choice by his father—marry or face banishment. Rather than lose his family, Khalid bows to his father’s wishes but an outspoken American interrupts Khalid’s would-be wedding. Now Khalid has a new plan that might please his father, secure his inheritance and leave Khalid still able to go on with his life …he’ll take the beautiful American as his bride—and then his father will hate her so much he’ll beg Khalid not to get married after all. Journalist Casey Connolly has never been afraid to share her opinions. While researching an article on arranged marriages, she lands in trouble when she crashes a royal wedding to get a quote from the attending American guests.. The sexy groom offers to set her free if she’ll step into the role of his fiancée—just for a short time. Seeing a chance to get the scoop she needs, Casey agrees. Soon there’s no denying the chemistry they share. But Casey’s boss is pushing her to complete her piece and head back to the States, while Khalid’s father is still pushing for a hasty wedding. Will this pseudo-romance become the real thing or buckle under all the pressure being put on these two?

December 2, 1971 ushered the United Arab Emirates into existence and marked the end of one hundred fifty years of British protection of the Arab states of the Gulf. Today, the UAE projects an image of modernity and prosperity; but before its formation, the emirates endured poverty and political upheaval while the rulers and people navigated the transition from autonomous city-states to modern nation states under informal British rule. This book shows how the Trucial States came to form a sovereign federation, paying particular attention to the role of nationalism and anti-imperialism. Kristi Barnwell demonstrates that the ruling sheikhs of the Gulf Arab rulers in the Gulf strove to create their new state with close ties to Great Britain, which provided technical, military and administrative assistance to the emirates, while also publicly embracing the popular ideologies of anti-imperialism and Arab socialism that were still dominating the political discourse in the Arab world. In the process, she situates the Emirates' modern history in the broader narratives of the history of the Middle East. The research draws on primary source materials from British and American government archives, speeches, and government publications from the Arab Emirates, as well as memoirs and secondary sources.