The Emirate of Kuwait hardly resembles the city-State it was at the start of the 20th century. The discovery of oil in 1938 rapidly transformed the tiny tribal

This is a critical history of the reign of Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah, widely regarded as the founder of modern Kuwait. The author discusses the Sheikh's seizure o

Amidst political upheaval and the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the State of Kuwait emerged as an independent country under British protection in 1899, with Sh

Mubarak Al-Sabah took control of his tiny state in 1896, just as the Ottoman Empire seemed on the point of swallowing it up. He then played for time by manipula

By employing the innovative lenses of ‘thing theory’ and material culture studies, this collection brings together essays focused on the role played by Arab