Inside Qatar

'A wonderful and sometimes devastating book ... sophisticated, nuanced, fair-minded and yet very hard hitting' SIMON KUPER'This will transport you to Qatar and teach you with humanity and empathy some of the dark truths about globalisation' BEN JUDAH'John McManus is a remarkable, compelling writer' RORY STEWART'Wise, well informed, fair-minded and honest' PETER OBORNEAN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF LIFE IN THE FIFA 2022 WORLD CUP'S HOST NATIONJust 75 years ago, the Gulf nation of Qatar was a backwater, reliant on pearl diving. Today it is a gas-laden parvenu with seemingly limitless wealth and ambition. Skyscrapers, museums and futuristic football stadiums rise out of the desert and Ferraris race through the streets. But in the shadows, migrant workers toil in the heat for risible amounts.Inside Qatar reveals how real people live in this surreal place, a land of both great opportunity and great iniquity. Ahead of Qatar's time in the limelight as host of the 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup, anthropologist John McManus lifts a lid on the hidden worlds of its gilded elite, its spin doctors and thrill seekers, its manual labourers and domestic workers.The sum of their tales is not some exotic cabinet of curiosities. Instead, Inside Qatar opens a window onto the global problems - of unfettered capitalism, growing inequality and climate change - that concern us all.

A stunning exposé ... A social anthropologist by trade, McManus's focus is not on the secretive intrigues of Qatar's ruling family, but on the lives of ordinary people - in particular the estimated 2.3 million guest workers who outnumber the locals by nearly ten to one ... McManus is an engaging writer, who can bring even anonymous interviewees to life., A committed and conscientious account ... McManus is an empathetic and sharp-eyed guide., A genuine attempt to grapple with the mysteries of a very curious place ... McManus explores the country's controversial labour practices soberly and without sensationalism, and tries to understand the complexities., Entertaining, in-depth and compassionate., Written with compassion and balance, Inside Qatar offers a nuanced, revealing portrait of a profoundly unequal country ... it is a penetrating glimpse into a country of "camps and compounds" which, for a few weeks later this year, will be the focus of the world's eyes.

John McManus is a social anthropologist and writer who has spent most of the past decade in Turkey and the Middle East. He is the author of Welcome to Hell? In Search of the Real Turkish Football. He lives in Ankara, Turkey.