ACKNOWLEDGMENTSxiowe a giant debt of gratitude to Wally Wilson, a supremely kind and
generous Houstonian with whom I’ve swapped many a tale of Middle
Eastern intrigue. Also at Rice, I am indebted to Elsie Hung for diligent
research support, particularly with data gathered to illustrate this man-
uscript; Marwa Shalaby, who provided statistical assistance with one
of my chapters; Mohammad Tabaar, who provided comments and
insights on my Iran material; and my colleagues Nathan Citino and
Yasser Faquih, who provided input or source material. Pedro Rodriguez
of the IMF helped me convert his demand equation for use with my
price- elasticity calculations in chapter 5, as did Rice’s Mark Agerton and
Sean Leong. Also helpful along the way were Kristian Coates- Ulrichsen,
now a colleague at Rice, who provided comments on my nearly finished
manuscript and often read and critiqued early work, as did Mary Ann
Tétreault, Pete Moore, Jocelyn Sage Mitchell, and Matthew Gray. Mike
Wood at the Kuwait Ministry of Electricity and Water provided useful
details and encouragement, and Abdullah Baabood at Qatar University
helped with the accuracy of my Oman anecdotes.
I must also offer profuse thanks to my ever- diligent editor, Bridget
Flannery- McCoy, at Columbia University Press. Bridget has been exactly
what I wanted in an editor: thorough, exacting, professional, kind, and
enthusiastic.
Finally, my family. This book would have emerged much earlier if it
weren’t for Jay and Connie, whose infectious personalities lured me home
by dinnertime most nights— even earlier during little- league baseball
season. My wife, Chloe, deserves a Ghawar- sized reservoir of my love
and gratitude for helping with the most important aspects of writing this
book: allowing me the indulgence of going back to school, putting up
with the resulting economic privations, and being the stabilizing cor-
nerstone of our new life in Houston. Chloe did all this while keeping the
home fires burning, raising our kids, helping Syrian and Iraqi refugees
adjust to life in America, and being an outrageously lovable wife in gen-
eral, all in good humor.