Inside Qatar

John McManus

From Shelf: Orwell Prize For Political Writing. Finalists 2023

An intimate portrait of life in the world's richest nation ahead of the FIFA 2022 World Cup.

'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.