Cities of Salt

Abdul Rahman Munif · 1933–2004 · Saudi Arabia / Jordan

Originally Mudun al-Milh (Arabic) · translated by Peter Theroux

Why it matters

American oil prospectors destroy a desert oasis while a Gulf state sells out its own people to build the new order. The Arabian Peninsula's essential novel of oil-age transformation, banned across much of the Gulf.

At a glance

Sprawling collective narration with no single protagonist tracks a whole society's upheaval.