An insight into expatriate life during colonial days in Egypt, Palestine and elsewhere. This historical survey is brought alive by the memories and anecdotes from Britons and others who have lived in the middle East. In addition, the author draws from his own memories of being brought up in the colonial atmosphere of the British communities in the Middle East in the mid-century decades. In assessing the impact of the British presence in the region over the past century, Gerald Butt has provided a powerful and original portrait of expatriate life. Gerald Butt was born to British parents in Iran in 1949 and grew up in the Arab world of the fifties and sixties. He later became a journalist and foreign correspondent, and is now Middle East correspondent for the BBC. He has produced three books on the Middle East: The Arab World, Behind the Star - Inside Israel Today and A Rock and a Hard Place: the Origins of Arab-Western Conflict in the Middle East.