In 1979, Steven C. Caton went to a remote area of Yemen to do fieldwork on the famous oral poetry of its tribes. The recent hostage crisis in Iran made life perilous for a young American in the Middl
"Caton's imagination was deeply affected by the power of Lawrence of Arabia, a cinematic classic that he knows intimately . . . and analyzes intelligently. Having read his multi-layered critique of Le
"Caton's study joins a brilliant ethnography of tribal poetic tradition with a discussion of central issues in anthropological thought."--Dale F. Eickelman, Dartmouth College
