Jeremy Jones runs a consultancy based in Oxford, UK. He is also Senior Associate Member of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, UK. He has worked on Oman since the late 1970s. His previous book Negotiating Change: New Politics in the Middle East, (I.B.Tauris 2007), shows some prescience against the background of the Arab spring. Nicholas Ridout has worked with Jeremy Jones in London and New York as a researcher, writer, and policy analyst since 1989. He is also Reader in Theatre and Performance Studies at Queen Mary University of London, and has published extensively in and beyond this field

This is a fascinating book, investigating relatively new ground by linking a nation's culture to its diplomacy... The authors provide by far the best account I have ever read of Ibadhism and how its tolerance fits into Omani culture and helps shape the Omani approach to foreign policy. Their explication of Omani culture is brilliant... The brilliance of this book lies in its linking of culture to the conduct of foreign policy.

• Map 1: Oman in the Indian Ocean; Map 2: Oman in the Gulf; Introduction; PART I: 1. A Cosmopolitan Nation; 2. A Culture of Diplomacy; PART II: Introduction to Part II; 3. Muscat and Mysore: Between the Empire and the Republic; 4. Diplomacy and 'Piracy': 1797–1819; 5. An Englishman in Oman; 6. Moving to Zanzibar; 7. Zanzibar, Britain, the USA and the Slave Trade; PART III: Introduction to Part III; 8. Dealing with Iran: A Delicate Balance; 9. Managing During the Cold War; 10. Neighbours in Arabia; 11. The Key Strategic Ally: Oman and the United States; 12. Working Towards Peace: Oman and the Middle East Process; 13. Oman, Cosmopolitanism and 'Globalisation'; Acknowledgements; Bibliography; Index.