Yemen is an intriguing, strategically located country that is the perennial "poor relation" of the wealthy oil monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula and has been plagued by deadly conflict since early 2015. In 2011, it saw a broad eruption of the mass protests associated with the "Arab Spring." But four years later, that popular movement was largely over-run by a series of deadly conflicts, stoked from outside by a lengthy, lethal military intervention led by neighboring Saudi Arabia. The Saudis and their allies pounded Yemen’s major cities with billions of dollars’ worth of advanced bombs and missiles—most of them US-supplied. Catastrophe ensued for Yemen’s already impoverished population of 27 million. In large areas of the country, meanwhile, a resilient branch of Al-Qaeda had also sunk deep roots.

Arabia Incognita helps readers understand Yemen’s unfolding crisis by tracing the country’s modern history from the strong anti-imperial movement of the 1960s through the present complex of conflicts. Reporting at-the-time and mostly from on-the-spot, the book’s contributors focus on Yemen’s own social/political dynamics. They also explore parallel disharmonies in the neighboring Gulf petro-kingdoms and the roles played by wider pan-Arab movements and various US military and paramilitary bodies. The "dispatches" in this anthology were originally published in Middle East Report. They were chosen by renowned Yemen expert Dr. Sheila Carapico, who also contributes an Introduction and other guides for readers.

Arabia Incognita is published in collaboration with the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), which has published Middle East Report since 1971.