{"product_id":"east-winds-west-winds-mahdi-issa-al-saqr-9789774162961","title":"East Winds, West Winds","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA novel of life in the British-run oilfields of Iraq in the middle of the twentieth century\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOriginally published in Cairo in 1998, this carefully crafted novel represents a welcome addition to a body of literature that has so far received less than the attention it merits by comparison with that of Egypt and the Levant. Set among the oil wells of the Basra region of southern Iraq, where the writer spent much of his working life, the novel draws on the author's own experiences to paint a picture at once subtle and vivid of relations between the British and their local employees in the 1950s.\u003cbr\u003eMuch of the action is seen through the eyes of the young, bookish narrator, who is clearly modeled on the author himself. It soon becomes clear that a world of difference separates the lives of Abu Jabbar, Hussein, Istifan, and the rest from that of their European bosses with their company dances and other strange social customs. Although the novel has a strongly nationalistic flavor, it is also suffused with a lingering sense of nostalgia for a gentler age, which will inevitably prompt reflections on the more recent British and US involvement in that unhappy country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Mahdi Issa Al-Saqr\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 977416296X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9789774162961\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e American University in Cairo Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/15\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 466\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.20w x 1.50d","brand":"Mahdi Issa Al-Saqr","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":49000707490047,"sku":"9789774162961","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/east-winds-west-winds-mahdi-issa-al-saqr-9789774162961","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}