Isolation -- Depression Stalinism -- Postwar: the Bretton Woods Cold War -- Aspiration -- Restoration: resuming the relationship with capitalism -- Maelstrom: the decolonization vortex -- Integration -- Conformity and profit: the Soviet economy under American hegemony -- Poor relations: the...

Contents -- Foreword -- Cast of characters -- Captive narratives: a brief and unexceptional introduction to the history of firms and states -- Part 1. The nearest faraway place -- Arabian frontiers -- American camp -- The wizards of Dhahran -- Part 2. Desire's empty quarter -- Ayyam al-Kadalak...