Based on real-life stories from an international school in Kuwait, which chart the survival of teachers from the thrown-in-at-the-deep-end start to the I-can't-believe-we-made-it finish. Outlandish comedy abounds as the teachers laugh and lose it, through a mine field of barriers to logic, and challenges to plain common sense.The book illuminates the startling excesses of the oil-money rich as they balance a past of poverty with an extreme pot of gold from the end of the rainbow. It shows Kuwait as a microcosm reflecting the more global issues surrounding waste, ecology, using more than we need, and consumerism gone mad. The stories reveal the pros and cons of teaching on the international circuit and how the teachers adapt to an alien land of dust, sexual and racial inequality and an oppressive political regime, both inside and outside school. Resilience, fortitude and a hefty dose of humour gets the teachers through to the end with a cheer and a wave.

First Published in 1982, Iraq: The Contemporary State presents insights into the political, social, and economic developments in Iraq. The author argues that Iraq, is a country which the outside world will need increasingly to understand for the stability of the wider Gulf region. Unlike most Arab oil-producing states, moreover, Iraq has substantial agricultural and hydrocarbon resources. This book covers themes like class determination and state formation in Iraq; developments in the Kurdish Issue; emancipation of Iraqi women; eradication of illiteracy; economic relations between Iraq and other Arab Gulf states; Iraqi oil policy between 1961-1976; and western, Soviet and Egyptian influences on Iraq’s development planning. This book is an essential read for scholars and researchers of international relations, West Asian studies, Middle East studies, and international politics.