This biography of Kuwait's twelfth al-Sabah ruler is also a history of the country from the early years of the 20th century until the death of Emir Sabah al-Salim in 1977. Jarman's book, enhanced by the inclusion of both al-Sabah family and official photographs, is based on extensive research in British and American documents and includes material acquired through conversations with al-Sabah family members. In his acknowledgments, Jarman expresses gratitude to Emir Sabah's daughter, Shaikhah Hussah Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah. In the book's Foreword, the Kuwaiti diplomat Abdullah Bishara writes: “[w]e have tried in this book to present Shaikh Sabah's political legacy in every domain he involved himself in” (p. xix). Hence, at the very outset the reader is on notice that Jarman's work is likely to be a hymn of praise to Emir Sabah (p. 224). Indeed, it is, but at the same time Jarman provides the reader with an interesting picture of the history of Kuwait and its development from a poor desert shaykhdom, to an oil-rich independent state.