{"product_id":"sun-sand-and-single-an-american-woman-in-saudi-arabia-1960-62-9780998627908","title":"Sun, Sand and Single: An American Woman in Saudi Arabia, 1960-62","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Aramco flight from New York bounced to a halt on the Dhahran airstrip. Nancy Gray joined the press of bleary-eyed passengers struggling down the ramp toward the arrivals hall. Gasping for breath in the 122-degree heat and blinded by the glare of the sun on the desert sands, she wondered why she'd accepted employment in Saudi Arabia in the first place.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe chance to explore the \"storied\" Middle East and the promise of a fat paychecck to finance her ambitious travel agenda had won her over. Her contract guaranteed her salary, but her rosy vision of a Middle East decorated with well-mannered camels, Moorish palaces, and swaying palm trees required a reset even before she cleared Immigration and Customs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile, beneath a paper-thin layer of surface calm, Saudi Arabia and it neighbors were navigating through turning points in their own history. Traditional versus modern lifestyles, religious\/ethnic tensions, unresolved refugee problems, the role of foreign business interests in the Middle East, and post-colonial issues in the region were becoming as divisive then as they are now.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntent on absorbing as much as she could about current issues in the region and their historical roots, and armed only with a smattering of mostly self-taught Arabic, Nancy Gray took advantage of every spare moment for travel, while keeping up with her Aramco job, teaching piano, and operating a catering business. Follow her as she visits sites of historical interest, learns the unique features of oil-camp-expat life, teaches Arab women to operate treadle sewing machines, makes Arab friends, interviews and learns from refugees, bargains in the\u003cem\u003e suqs\u003c\/em\u003e, and even figures out how to make flambe dishes in bone-dry Saudi Arabia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Around the World Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/06\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780998627908\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 330\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.07lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.74d","brand":"Nancy a. Gray","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36647193804956,"sku":"9780998627908","price":13.59,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_0b12ba2b-645d-4f0b-ae41-de67ecf2f769.jpg?v=1603866376","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/sun-sand-and-single-an-american-woman-in-saudi-arabia-1960-62-9780998627908","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}