If you can find a copy of this book, I highly recommend it. Covers the authors time as a correspondant in Nicaragua.

Reads like a cloak-and-dagger book. Hard to put down.

Christopher Dickey has written an impressive book on the lives of the non-Arab expatriates living throughout the Middle East. Mr. Dickey provides a very lucid account of the experiences of several westerners living (or passing through) different countries of the middle east, in the process shedding light both on the indigenous cultures as well as the one they create for themselves once there.

The only reservation I have about the book (and it does not take away from its overall merits) is that Mr. Dickey's singular window into the lives of non-Arab expats is not matched by any similar insights into the lives of Arab expatriates. This glosses over the rainbow of cultures which exist in most of the Gulf countries, and often impede many westerners from being able to appreciate the diversity that awaits them.

Overall, an easy, engrossing read... with wonderful anecdotes and a singular view into a group of people which most people are not even aware exist.

This is a series of essays, some previously published in magazines like Vanity Fair, by Newsweek journalist Dickey.

The author gracefully paints both romance and reality; certainly the west's long-running orientalist fantasies still exist in the heart of anyone who has wanted to visit that part of the world. Dickey simply acknowledges these and strives to give insightful reports of the volatile politics and diverse societies (mostly those of foreigners) in the vast region covered. There is a guileless sense of truth on these pages that stays with the reader.

There are very good chapters about Arabs themselves: a censured writer in Cairo, e.g., Dickey's record of stunned Iranians voicing their dismay in reaction to a particularly heinous American military blunder.

Dickey offers occasional history lessons (the chapter on Oman's leadership), humor (the witty chapter about British expats in Dubai), and poignant human interest (many chapters touch upon the innocent lives scarred or ended by various military acts).

I picked this up thinking I was getting a light book about western expats, but that is a very small part of Dickey's focus. He writes of Filipino tanker crews facing mortal danger with a smile and a shrug, a Russian businessmen in a bad suit and the UN's splendidly stylish Turkish PR man, a self-important French Canadian aid worker. Dickey's contacts are many and vivid.

The book is resolutely but subtly anti-war. It will be impossible for a reader to generalize about Arabs after reading Dickey's book.

A great book to give to anyone going to an Arab country, either as expat or visitor.

Greetings to all.

Mr. Dickey's book is equally insightful and even more useful now in 1998 than when first published about the cultural atmospherics and (diversified) adjustments of expatriates in major countries of the Middle East.

Based on his travels in the region, Mr. Dickey developed many discerning insights from his meeting and interviewing a widely-representative range of expatriates (singletons and families).

I had read his book before I served at American embassies in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council during and after the last Gulf War. His book's treatment of the resident expatriates (the shakiest and flakiest had left Saudi Arabia and adjacent countries) was very helpful and accurate.

A bonus of this book is the inclusion of the views and opinions of Arab employers and other contacts who discuss - with remarkable poignancy - the expatriates and how the various societies perceive and adjust (as they can) to one another.

Highly recommended as an easy-to-read book for sensitizing oneself on many of the cultural, emotional and practical matters of the region.

Good preparation about what to know, who is where and doing what, where to look, and how to think about living and thriving there (and also why some expats do not thrive or survive).

Excellent companion to Gordon Robison's paperback entitled "Arab Gulf States" (2d Edition, 1996), published by Lonely Planet Press and also available at Amazon.com.

I picked up the book recently and didn't realise what it was really about. I couldn't put it down - I've told as many people as I can about the book, but I really think that there should be more done to get the book out with the current state of the world.

It was eerie reading the book in November 2001. How could Dickey have hit such a perfect note a few years ago? I hope he is proud of his work. It would have been a compelling read at any time - but it is certainly a must now.

I read this book this past week, after failing to track it down upon its release. It is a marvelous, gripping story that held me in the character's viewpoint the entire way. But it is not just a thriller; it requires you to think about the actions, and inactions, you make every day as an American. By not voicing your opinion to your government representatives, you allow them to speak for you without their knowledge of your beliefs and desires. Therefore, for instance, the war on terrorism (and personal privacy) currently ongoing is made in your name, whether or not you agree with it. And so this book tells the history of the main character named Kurt; how he views the world as a teenager, all the way up through his Army Ranger years, and how he (representing many frustrated Americans who feel their voice is unheard) becomes disillusioned with the government of his country and its policies. The tale ends in a manner designed to make you want to create positive change in a capitalistic world, where economies have become more important than the people who are supposed to benefit from them. The events of September 11 (and the fact that Kurt was not based on Timothy McVeigh) only serve to make this book more interesting; how can someone (granted, he is a journalist, thus--at least in this instance!--an inquiring mind) imagine these possibilities, and why couldn't our government's agencies recognize them as such. This book will make you think. I really liked it and recommend it highly.

Here is entry into a world which would have been
unbelievable prior to the events of 9/11/01.
Whether home-grown or international, the terrorism
Christopher Dickey writes about comes first-hand from
his experience in the midst of their frightening
reality, and it comes through every word.

The style and imagery of Dickey is so compelling,
it makes "Innocent Blood" a page-turner I could
not put down until I finished it. Which
brings me to say that the LAST 3 pages of this

thriller could be considered the outline of a
bible on the mind of the post-millenium terrorist.

I highly recommend this story which has an immediacy
the writer could not have known about when he wrote it!

This is a wonderful book, painful and redemptive at the same time, plus interesting as hell. If you thought of James Dickey only as the author of Deliverance, we are made aware here of what a remarkable poet he was and how pathetically ill-equipped he was for fame, marriage or fatherhood. It's far more than just another story of wretched excess, though. Christopher Dickey writes extremely well and honestly about his father and his feelings for him, and at the end you kind of like the old man, which sure seemed impossible for much of the book. But how many of us, if we had his brilliance or prestige that he gained from it, would have been any better at resisting all the trappings that come along? I'm still thinking about this book long after I finished and the end, where James Dickey is quoted at length on what it means to be a poet, is spellbinding and inspirational, worth the price of the book and the time it took to get to the end.

Anyone with a father can relate to this book. No one needs to live the horrors of alcoholism to identify with the unrelenting need to be loved by our parents, especially our fathers. Regardless of age,race,or financial status, we continuously seek the approval of our parents. And Christopher Dickey paints an honest portrayal of what it's like to trust,love,hate and endure our parents. His experiences stir our hearts as we identify with the pain a parent can inflict on us. As his story unfolds, we see a part of ourselves in him as he learns to put things into perspective and let go of the pain. Refreshingly honest,and poetically constructed, Christopher Dickey has a magical way with words that makes us better for having shared his, and our, life experiences. A timeless story,excellently written, and guaranteed not to be forgotton!

We've had many books from authors who grew up as the children of difficult, self-obsessed geniuses, but Christopher Dickey's memoir of his father, James Dickey, ranks at the very top. "Summer of Deliverance" has the ring of bitter truth, and Christopher Dickey is just as hard on himself as he is on his father; this isn't "Daddy Dearest," thank God. The chapters on the making of the film version of "Deliverance"--an abortive collaboration between father and son which ended when the father died--are both hair-raising and delicious. (I'm surprised Burt Reynolds hasn't sued!) "Summer of Deliverance" had the effect on me of making me want to go back and reread all of James Dickey's poems and novels immediately, as well as to check out Christopher Dickey's other books. I suspect most readers will have exactly the same reaction.