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This is a review article of J. B. Kelly's three-volume work Desert Dispute: The Diplomacy of Boundary-Making in South-Eastern Arabia, ed. Saul B. Kelly (Gerlach Press, Berlin, 2018 and 2020). It covers in detail the diplomatic background to the development of the frontiers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman, from 1911 to the 1990s, including the involvement of tribal shaikhs, Ibn Saud, the Ottomans, the British and American governments, and also the oil companies prospecting in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews are presented for several books relating to the Middle East, including "The Struggle for Arab Independence: Riad el-Solh and the Makers of the Modern Middle East," by Patrick Seale, "The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History," by Ian J. Bickerton, and "The Persian Gulf in History," edited by Lawrence G. Potter.

A review of the book "The Persian Gulf and Pacific Asia: From Indifference to Interdependence," by Christopher Davidson is presented.