Yemen is arguably the most fascinating and least known country in the Arab world. Long regarded by classical geographers as a fabulous land where flying serpents guarded sacred incense groves, our current ideas of this country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula have been hijacked -- by images of the desert, by oil, by the Gulf War. But, as Tim Mackintosh-Smith reminds us with this brilliant book, there is another Arabia. Mackintosh-Smith writes with an intimacy and depth of knowledge gained through thirteen years among the Yemenis. Crossing mountain, desert, ocean and three millennia of history, he portrays a land where men chew leaves and camels live on fish; where men wear pinstriped lounge-suit jackets on top, skirts below, and wicked curved daggers in the middle; a city that seems to have been baked, not built, of iced gingerbread. In this book, Yemen is part of Arabia, but it is like no place else on Earth.

Hard by heaven -- People far off -- Down to the gate of the She-Camel -- Gorgeous and disorderly -- Emerald, amber, carnelian -- Dugong City -- Visiting the underworld -- True ancient naturals -- Venus and Mars.