Inside Qatar: Hidden Stories from One of the Richest Nations on Earth

by John McManus

Overview

'A wonderful and sometimes devastating book ... sophisticated, nuanced, fair-minded and yet very hard hitting' SIMON KUPER

'This will transport you to Qatar and teach you with humanity and empathy some of the dark truths about globalisation' BEN JUDAH

'John McManus is a remarkable, compelling writer' RORY STEWART

'Wise, well informed, fair-minded and honest' PETER OBORNE

AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF LIFE IN THE FIFA 2022 WORLD CUP'S HOST NATION

Just 75 years ago, the Gulf nation of Qatar was a backwater, reliant on pearl diving. Today it is a gas-laden parvenu with seemingly limitless wealth and ambition. Skyscrapers, museums and futuristic football stadiums rise out of the desert and Ferraris race through the streets. But in the shadows, migrant workers toil in the heat for risible amounts.

Inside Qatar reveals how real people live in this surreal place, a land of both great opportunity and great iniquity. Ahead of Qatar's time in the limelight as host of the 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup, anthropologist John McManus lifts a lid on the hidden worlds of its gilded elite, its spin doctors and thrill seekers, its manual labourers and domestic workers.

The sum of their tales is not some exotic cabinet of curiosities. Instead, Inside Qatar opens a window onto the global problems - of unfettered capitalism, growing inequality and climate change - that concern us all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785788215
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing
Publication date:	07/07/2022
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.08(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.14(d)

About the Author

John McManus is a social anthropologist and writer who has spent most of the past decade in Turkey and the Middle East. He is the author of Welcome to Hell? In Search of the Real Turkish Football. He lives in Ankara, Turkey.

Table of Contents

A note on particulars ix

Maps xi

1 'Excuse me, kind sir. I am very ill' 1

2 'Now, everybody they like falcon' 13

3 'I know I am the driver. I can't take my family here' 38

4 'In media yes, very very good but in the reality nothing. Zero' 54

5 'There are so many people looking for job in this country' 86

6 'I've got an S-Class Mercedes picking me up in the morning and taking me to work' 106

7 'It's like Leicester winning the Premier League with homegrown players' 131

8 'Here we are all expats. So we are all on a journey, on a pilgrimage' 156

9 'King of the bat' 173

10 'I'm not "your maid". I am Maggie!' 199

11 'It's just really sad if this is what news is' 220

12 'I was all alone. I had to do what I was told' 246

13 'The lungs of Doha' 261

14 'It's getting hotter and hotter every year' 281

15 'I've met lots of happier people than us in Qatar' 307

Epilogue 331

Notes 343

Acknowledgements 375

Index 377