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 and has money to burn. In this timely revealing and evocative portrait of a global player Jo Tatchell traces the emirates dramatic development and the sometimes ruinous effect of extreme wealth on its people and their desert culture. And as its rulers fund another giant leap forward she probes behind the official facade to examine whether this secretive and controlled society can realise its breathtaking plans to transform relations between East and West.