Cities of Salt

This book starts out in Wadi al-Uyoun, an ancient desert oasis that, unbeknownst to the inhabitants, is about to be destroyed to develop an oil well. The first indication the inhabitants have that something is about to change is when a group of Americans show up and ask a lot of questions about the land. The outlandish behavior of the Americans stirs up controversy and alarm almost from the beginning, but since the inhabitants have no idea of the scale of what is to come, they are unable to resist effectively and are displaced from their homes and their land.

The largest part of the book takes place in Harran, an isolated seaside town that is also taken over by Americans to serve as a port for receiving machinery and materials for building the infrastructure needed to transport oil from the interior to the coast. Arabs displaced from Wadi al-Uyoun and other places have been recruited to work on building the pipeline and the other oil industry infrastructure. Americans live in a compound (built by Arab workers) separate from the Arab population of the town and maintain a paternalistic and exploitative relationship with all the Arabs they have contact with. Arab elites such as the royal family and emirs support the Americans because of the benefits to themselves. Their support is bought with cars, and other technological gadgets, like radios and telephones. In the midst of all this, ordinary people are experiencing the breakdown of their traditional culture.

I would describe this book as epic, because it spans locations and generations of people. Most of the people who you see in the beginning of the book are no longer present at the end, but the story has a continuous flow. Individual characters are vibrant, but they come and go as the movement of the story goes on. It is highly readable.