Out in the Blue: Letters from Arabia 1937-1940

Out in the Blue: Letters from Arabia 1937-1940

Out in the Blue is Tom Barger's story of his first three years exploring the deserts of early Saudi Arabia for an embryonic oil company that had yet to discover oil. In his travels he visited ancient places that have now all but disappeared and met Bedouin living a pre-Biblical nomadic life that was soon to irrevocably change in the face of modernization. Told through the letters he wrote home to Kathleen, his young bride of only two weeks before he left her for the Kingdom, Out in the Blue is the story of Saudi Arabia before there was oil.

"Despite extensive coverage of the Gulf War, few Americans know how the United States came to depend on the Middle East for oil. In Out in the Blue, Thomas Barger provides a fascinating glimpse of that history. ... It is an exciting narrative of desert exploration and romance set against the emerging threat of a world war."
Brenda Daly, North Dakota Quarterly, Winter 2002

"This book offers rare insight into the work of a handful of men in a harsh hidden corner of our world. Thomas Barger may have been a geologist, but he wrote like a poet to a wife he missed and loved."
Mona Megalli, Amazon, 2000

"This wonderfully poignant, warm and informative story about the early years of geological exploration within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a fascinating and enjoyable read about an important time in my country's history."
Shaikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Former Minister of Petroleum
for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, January 2001

"And here lies the best virtue of this book: there are no stereotypical Americans, no stereotypical Saudis, only real people thrust into unfamiliar circumstances and new kinds of social relations, each struggling according to his own ability to build an industry which would, in only a few short years, utterly transform the country and its way of life."
Kevin Rosser, The Journal of Energy Literature, Summer 2002

"I am an American Educated Saudi businessman living in Jeddah, Saudi Arbaia but I have been doing business with Aramco for the past 20 years or so. I know the Eastern part of Saudi Arabia as well as Riyadh, where my family and I lived for 17 years before moving back to our home town, Jeddah.
Saudi Arabia, seen in the eyes of a young geologist armed with little background information, became a fertile ground to develop his exploratory instincts prodded by his young wife through lovely romantic letters. He fell in love with the country and the country fell in love with him. This affair, I believe, fuelled his love for his wife and hers for him.

It is a book I am recommending for my children to read to "re-discover" their country instead of relying on uninformative and largely incorrect description by satellite media moguls."
Amr Khashoggi, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Length: 90,000 words, approximately 360 pages, 74 photographs, 4 maps, Glossary and Bibliography
Country USA
Manufacturer Selwa Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2011-11-01

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Selwa Press
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2011-11-01

Out in the Blue: Letters from Arabia 1937-1940

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