الملخص الإنجليزي
Before 1970 Oman, a country larger than Britain with a
population of just over one million, had only eight
kilometres of paved road and fewer than 100 doctors.
The sultan ruled a feudal society unchanged for
centuries until he was elbowed aside by his son, the
present Sultan Qaboos bin Said. When the new sultan
came to power he faced not only the task of guiding
Oman into the twentieth century but also the problem
ofa war in Dhofar-the southern region that includes a monsoon-washed, green, coastal plain and the Empty
Quarter, described by William Thesiger in Arabian Sands.
