Gandy Christopher (2 results)

Condition: Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

First edition, first impression, illustrated with two of the author's photographs, of this evaluation of recent Yemeni affairs by Christopher Gandy, Britain's minister in Taiz in 1962-3. Representing the Committee on Middle Eastern Trade, Gandy travelled to the YAR in 1970; here, he describes the consequences of the civil war and the socio-economic challenges and opportunities faced by the new republican government. Gandy (1917-2009) emerges as a staunch critic of the idea that the civil war was a popular revolution, arguing instead that Yemenis were "increasingly the victims of a power struggle waged on their soil between Egypt and Saudi Arabia" (p. 299). Concerning the prospect of the unification of the YAR with the DRY, Gandy is not hopeful: "I cannot personally ever see the two coming together. There is certainly no reason why the YAR should be in any hurry to do so. Now that Aden has ceased to be an international entrepot and port of passage, the southern territory has no economic assets except BP's big refinery, and its politics have given the rest of the world, rightly or wrongly, an impression of extreme quarrelsomeness and violence which would not make them easy partners for any government in the North" (p. 301). His four decades of diplomatic service included postings in Tehran, Cairo, Lisbon, and Kuwait. In his later years, Gandy was a leading collector of Islamic art; his collection was eventually gifted to the University of Oxford, and highlights were exhibited at the Ashmolean in 2014. Large octavo, pp. 295-304 within the journal. With half-tone plate. Original red card wrappers, spine and front cover lettered in black. A fine copy with just a slight lean to spine.