Oman

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Oman is a country no visitor forgets. It has played its part in ancient civilisations, and it plays its part in today's. It sent copper to Mesopotamia, and incense to Rome. From ages past it lay along the sea trade routes between East and West. It was the site of rich and fabled entrepots. It built great castles and fine houses. A century ago it fell into decline.Today, under Sultan Qaboos, since 1970 the latest in an ancient line of rulers, it flourishes anew - probably as never before in such prosperity, peace and promise.Out of Oman's long heritage has grown a people of sophistication, grace and confidence. They and their country, rich in its dramatic mountains and coasts, its terraced fields and pasturelands, and sweeping deserts, cast a certain spell.Economically, socially, culturally and strategically - for it commands the Straits of Hormuz - Oman stands strong and forward-looking, an ancient nation in the flowering of its renaissance.In this famous book, re-shaped and wholly revised to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Sultan Qaboos's rule, Sir Donald Hawley sets the present in the context of the past. Formerly Britain's first Ambassador to Oman, the author has become the leading international authority on the country he has studied long, and learned to admire so deeply.