Growing up in an Arabian oil camp made exotic desert fantasies everyday realities. Surprisingly, it also fulfilled a seemingly impossible dream — an all-American childhood.
On a steamy August day in 1953, Rick Snedeker, then just three years old, stepped from an Arabian American Oil Co. (Aramco) airplane with his family into a life as different from their life in America as sandpaper is to silk.
It was to prove fabulously exotic and, simultaneously in many ways, just like “home.”
In his charming memoir — 3,001 Arabian Days: Growing up in an American Oil Camp in Saudi Arabia (1953-1962) — author Snedeker enthralls readers with this tale of his childhood in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. In those years oil companies hustled to bring in American experts — and their families — to surface the Saudi desert oil. To ease the transition for the new residents, Aramco built comfortable communities with many aspects that felt like family life in the States.
As a child, Snedeker considered the camels, endless sand dunes and kindly Saudis that filled his life in the desert as nothing unusual. Kids enjoyed the Nativity pageants highlighted by Santa’s arrival on a camel; crowded, boisterous family desert fairs, and Dhahran dining hall chocolate milkshakes churned in Waring blenders. Occasionally, too, they confronted dangerous diseases unknown in America. But everywhere, watchful eyes looked out for the children in Dhahran, creating an enveloping sense of safety and security and, the author recalls, a great deal of happiness.
Being raised in the unique environment of oil-camp Dhahran made the kids who grew up there different from other American children. When the expatriate Aramco dependents returned to the U.S., they were often seen as “other” by their untraveled peers. But for the Aramco “brats,” this unusual childhood created treasured memories, as you’ll discover in the entertaining read of 3,001 Arabian Days.
Advance Praise:
“The author lucidly and often poetically conveys his remembrances in a series of brief, impressionistic anecdotes that reflect the gossamer quality of youthful recollection … His commentary is remarkably insightful, and he has a gimlet eye for nuanced portraiture. … thoughtful and elegantly written … marvelous black-and-white photographs.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“I thoroughly enjoyed this involving and enchanting period piece about Arabia and America in (mostly) more innocent times of the ’50s and early ’60s … a disarmingly humane, affectionate, and insightful memoir.”
—Peter Theroux, author of Sandstorm: Days and Nights in Arabia (1991) and Translating L.A. (1995)
“Snedeker’s wit and insights illuminate the book’s easy narrative. His journalistic style faithfully recreates the people, places and events, and keeps the story crisp and moving from one chapter to the next … it’s a moving tribute to the intricacies of family, a celebration of Saudi Arabian culture, and a glimpse into a time gone by.”
—Mark Kennedy, Saudi Aramco writer/editor, Dhahran
“… a heartwarming and informative book, laced with lots of humor … a memoir that’s enjoyable, endearing, and engaging.”
—Bill “Beanie” Mandis, teacher, writer, musician and Aramco Brat
