Coming of Age in Arabia is Tom Henighan's vivid account of his experiences in South Arabia, where he served as an American vice consul from 1957 to 1959. As a young American in a colonial society that was moving very rapidly from stability to chaos, Henighan witnessed the beginnings of the Arab insurgency that was to end more than one hundred years of British rule, and to turn South Arabia into a Marxist republic and a haven for Carlos the Terrorist, the Baader-Meinhof gang, and other predecessors of Osama bin Laden (whose family originated in the Hadhramaut region in the Old British Eastern Protectorate). Heninghan's account powerfully conveys his awakening to the realities of colonialism and his growing sense of the suspicion and hatred with which much of the Arab world regards the West. This enthralling narrative, full of romance and adventure, and laced with ironical observation, will not only entertain, but will sharpen the reader's sense of how far Western policy has to go before it can "come of age in Arabia."