The city of Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, is everything the Arab world isn't: a freewheeling capitalist oasis where the market rules and history is swept aside. Until recently, Dubai was the fastest-growing city in the world, with a roaring economy that outpaced China's while luring more tourists than all of India.

In this revised and updated edition, award-winning journalist Jim Krane charts the history of Dubai from its earliest days, paints an intimate portrait of the family who has ruled it since the nineteenth century, and looks at the effect of the global economic downturn on a place that many tout as a blueprint for a more stable Middle East