Four-decade historian of UAE finally translates lifes work into native language
ABU DHABI– “From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates” will be published in its fourth language, German – the native tongue of author Dr Frauke Heard-Bey, a historian who documented at first-hand the country’s creation.
Heard-Bey, who has witnessed huge changes in her four decades as an Abu Dhabi resident, has seen her book become a valuable resource for students of Arabian Gulf history since it was first published in English in 1982 by Longman in London.
It is now in its third edition published by Motivate in Dubai and is also available in Arabic and French. Sponsored by leading German private bank BHF-BANK and Abu Dhabi government-owned financial services firm Invest AD, the German translation will appear in bookshops in early 2010.
“This book has had a long life because it’s a very useful reference,” Heard-Bey said of a work that took her a decade to research, while she worked at Abu Dhabi’s Centre for Documentation and Research.
“But when I arrived, the British were pulling out, and I just found it fascinating to imagine how society would change,” she added.
Heard-Bey moved to Abu Dhabi in 1967, shortly after marrying her husband David Heard, an oil industry expert who had been based in the emirate since the early 1960s.
With a PHD in history and political science recently completed in Berlin, she began work at the Centre for Documentation and Research in 1969, just two years before withdrawal of British tutelage from 11 territories in the Gulf, which included the “Trucial States” – the –seven emirates that now form the United Arab Emirates...
Read entire article at Eye of Dubai
Heard-Bey, who has witnessed huge changes in her four decades as an Abu Dhabi resident, has seen her book become a valuable resource for students of Arabian Gulf history since it was first published in English in 1982 by Longman in London.
It is now in its third edition published by Motivate in Dubai and is also available in Arabic and French. Sponsored by leading German private bank BHF-BANK and Abu Dhabi government-owned financial services firm Invest AD, the German translation will appear in bookshops in early 2010.
“This book has had a long life because it’s a very useful reference,” Heard-Bey said of a work that took her a decade to research, while she worked at Abu Dhabi’s Centre for Documentation and Research.
“But when I arrived, the British were pulling out, and I just found it fascinating to imagine how society would change,” she added.
Heard-Bey moved to Abu Dhabi in 1967, shortly after marrying her husband David Heard, an oil industry expert who had been based in the emirate since the early 1960s.
With a PHD in history and political science recently completed in Berlin, she began work at the Centre for Documentation and Research in 1969, just two years before withdrawal of British tutelage from 11 territories in the Gulf, which included the “Trucial States” – the –seven emirates that now form the United Arab Emirates...