History in the Arab Skies

Good book that was easy to read. Also appreciated the illustrations for the different chapters. The book gives a good insight into the history of aviation in the Middle East. Would recommend it as a reading for those interested in flying.

This is a well-written, worthwhile book with an unusual perspective: the role of aviation in the recent history of the Middle East. Mr. Butt is not an academic, and the work is clearly a labor of love, based on his expatriate youth and long professional career in the region. The author has collected many forgotten aviation yarns, such as the doomed Husseini defense of Jeddah bolstered by expatriate ex-imperial Russian pilots....However, the author does have a profound and original insight, hiding in plain sight but largely overlooked by Middle East scholars: that modern Middle Eastern societies have become dependent on aviation to a greater extent than almost anywhere else in the world, and aviation has had a profound impact on the evolution and development of these societies.

I saw the book by chance in a bookshop in Amman and thought that the other books available on this subject -rare as they are- were more into war and politics. This book was indeed different with the author having actually lived in the Middle East and experienced the Arab culture. The information is very well researched. Truly a very interesting, enjoyable and enlightening book full of information and interesting facts that I probably wouldn't have gotten from anywhere else.