An unprecedented document of one of the Middle East's most extraordinary cultures
In 1976, Peter Schlesinger (born 1948) visited the Yemen Arab Republic (as the northern part of Yemen was then called). He was accompanying the photographer Eric Boman, who was on a fashion shoot assignment for a French magazine. Yemen had been closed to foreigners for many years and in the interest of encouraging more tourism the government decided to court media outlets. Over the course of his eight-day stay, Schlesinger took hundreds of photographs documenting what he saw as he traveled from the capital, Sanaa, and on through the northern city of Sa'da.
Forty-two years later, as he began making this book, Schlesinger shared these images with Bernard Haykel, a professor at Princeton University and an expert on the Middle East. He was taken aback at their existence, since documentation of Yemen in the '70s is so rare. Haykel provides an enriching introduction that brings to life the world Schlesinger captured.