The book is set in a gulf country that is never actually named, but is suspected to be Jordan around the time of the 1930s. In the novel, the Bedouin residents of a little oasis and community called Wadi al-Uyoun have their lives forever changed when Americans come to their tiny area and discover that there is oil there (Munif, 1989). Instead of having just one person in this community relate what has happened because of this, there is a large and diverse cast of Bedouin individuals that are used in the story, so that it can be seen through the eyes of many and given various perspectives.

There are many different manifestations that are created from the upheaval that is seen when the Americans arrive, and the author of the novel believed that it was important to see the issues from many sets of eyes and from many different...
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