When I heard old men round the fire telling legendary tales of courage and generosity, it was ... of tattered herdsmen in the deserts of Arabia

Alexander too had passed this way, and in Central Asia the magic of his name still lingers in the mountain valleys where men swear they are descended from his soldiers. In Iraq, however, he was forgotten. When I heard old men round the fire telling legendary tales of courage and generosity, it was never of two-horned Alexander that they spoke, nor of Caliphs who had ruled in splendour in Baghdad, but of tattered herdsmen in the deserts of Arabia.

W. Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs (1964), 97

As people are more important to me than places I decided to return to the Arabs

Besides, being fond of Arabs, it was probable that I could never really like Kurds, Although the landscape appealed to me the people did not. Admittedly I was hampered by not speaking their language, but even had I done so I felt I should still have not liked them. As people are more important to me than places I decided to return to the Arabs.

W. Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs (1964), 20-21

This is the kind of brutal introduction that I don't think you could publish anymore.