Reviews of The Duke of Dubai

“Fast paced adventure novel with historical background of the blossoming city of Dubai. Based on personal experiences of the author, read how American gas dollars built Dubai’s Desert Disneyland.

Carved from the sun-baked sands of Arabia, Dubai has evolved from an oil boomtown into one of today's most exciting and opulent metropolises. In this world of wealth and power, mystery and intrigue, Luigi Falconi is transformed from a naïve youth to Lou Falconi—The Falcon. Adopted into the brotherhood of eccentric expatriates, amusing Arabs and assorted adventurers led by The Duke, Lou is swept up in the excitement of Dubai's burgeoning development, discovers its morally conflicting cultural codes and uncovers many of its secrets.

He also discovers within himself greed—the desire to accumulate wealth like that of his compatriots, which leads him through the back streets of his conscience to various get rich quick scams and schemes.

This book takes the reader on a magic carpet ride deep into the political, cultural and sometimes perilous realm of modern Dubai—one of the wonders of the modern world, where money begets power, and power rules.”

More about The Duke of Dubai

Book Details

The Duke of Dubai
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Headline Books, Inc. (May 9, 2008)
LanguageISBN-10: 0929915763
ISBN-13: 978-0929915760
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
$24.95
BOOK BANNED IN DUBAI

From Sand Dunes to Indoor Ski Slopes
Did American Gas Dollars Build Dubai’s Desert Disneyland?
Or Are Arabs Just Good Businessmen?

FORMER DUBAI EXPATRIOT WARNS IT’S MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER FOR AMERICA TO STAY FRIENDLY WITH DUBAI

For most people, Dubai conjures up images of grandeur and wealth. The Arab city is home to the world’s only seven-star hotel, some of the world’s most extravagant shopping centers, and man-made islands shaped like palm trees. Celebrities flock to Dubai to experience the latest innovations. But how does such a small city pay for these luxuries?

Louigi ‘Lou’ Falconi, author of The Duke of Dubai, says oil money built Dubai, but not necessarily from the US consumer. He knows that about which he speaks, having worked with movers and shakers in the region for decades in the oil business.

“Dubai is no longer a major oil producer – their production has dropped considerably,” says Falconi. “But Dubai got their oil-rich neighbors – Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and even Russia – to invest their oil dollars in Dubai. Arabs aren’t bad people – they’re just good businessmen.”

Falconi spent 35 years in Dubai and watched as it evolved from an oil boomtown into one of today’s most opulent cities. Falconi says America’s need for oil has made Dubai one of the richest cities in the world and that wealth is slowly destroying them.

He’ll take on the tough topics such as:

Are our high gas prices supporting this desert Disneyland?
Oil and how it’s changing the world
The Middle East versus our oil and gas supply
The misunderstanding between Islam and Christianity
Why it is more important than ever for America to maintain a friendly relationship with Dubai
How ordinary Dubai residents have had to change their life because of American greed
The lengths Dubai is willing to go to protect its wealth

Lou Falconi uses his years in Dubai and his oil company experience to help America better understand the Gulf Arabs and, in turn, understand how we can work together to bring an end to our oil and gas crisis.

Meet Luigi Falconi, author of The Duke of Dubai

The love child of the local priest and the parish housekeeper, Luigi Falconi was born in Tricarico, italy, in 1945. Soon after his birth his parents immigrated to the United States.

He attended Mary Magdalene High School in Hoboken, New Jersey. Although an honor student with a football scholarship to Notre Dame, he left school to study Kabbalah. When fear of adult circumcision led him to give up the idea of converting to any religion that required surgery, he became an apprentice to a shoemaker on Mackinac Island, Michigan.

A skilled artisan, Luigi designed and crafted Chippewa moccasins while attending Michigan State University where he earned a BA in 1967 and an MA in 1969. While shoemaking and taking full-time university classes toward his Ph.D. in rocket science, he wrote three unpublished novels and one volume of poetry. The shoe shop burned in 1971, destroying Luigi’s manuscripts and his innocence. Mentally drained from this tragedy, he did the only thing left for an educated shoemaker to do: he became a teacher and, soon after, an administrator.

In 1974, Luigi uprooted his family from the security and comfort of their middle-class American home to become the headmaster of a small oil company school in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. he left education in 1978 and went to work in the Middle East oilfields.

After thirty-two years in the hot desert sun of Arabia, Luigi, unable to distinguish fact from fiction in his own life, left Dubai and moved to Italy to learn Italian and rediscover the truth.

http://www.thedukeofdubai.com/

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