Yemen (Pallas Guide Series)

Rating:
Summary: Picture book with backbone
Review: Peter Wald, a journalist with a long personal relation to the Near East in general as well as to the Yemen(s), gives an interesting introduction for those who never happened to stay in Yemen or those who did not get into closer contact with the country and its people. The book focuses on culture (including the famous architecture) and art but starts with a relatively detailed account of the history from the beginnings (800 BC) of the Kingdom of Saba until present, including information on reunification and the last civil war. His pages on Western explorers of Southern Arabia do not content with the well-known ones but also mention Joseph Halévy, Hermann Burchardt, f.i., and give a plastic account of the adventures of Wendell Philipps who went into real trouble when trying to excavate an ancient site in Ma'rib. The choices of the tours, however, are very selective, and the added parts on travel information and on the language stay way behind the quality of the lonely planet of Pertti Hamalainen (now in its 4th ed.). This holds true for the maps, too, but it certainly was a good idea to incorporate two of them - a topical and a historical (of Carsten Niebuhr) one - into the cover pages. The glossary seems a little short, while the recommendations for further reading are quite exhaustive for non-specialists. Written in a non-academic style, and with a photo on almost every page, Peter Wald's guide of Yemen makes up for a very pleasent - while still informative - reading.