City of Gold : Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism
by Jim Krane

Dubai is one of the seven United Arab Emirates and certainly doesn't follow by any its rules. It started from nothing, in the 1960s, and became a haven for investors all due to the visions of very savvy sheikhs from one family.
Krane packs the book with great details of history and current events and there's incredible color photos of some amazing architecture.
City of Gold came to a crashing halt for me when the author introduced his political views concerning pollution. I only had another forty pages to go, but, unfortunately, politics got in the way and so, this book went right back to the library.