{"product_id":"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\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Around The World Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47035089682672,"sku":"9780998627908","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780998627908_p0.jpg?v=1763948492","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780998627908","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}