As Prince Bawad, ambasador to the U.S. from the Middle Eastern nation of Wasabia, prepares to return home after a twenty year posting in Washington, D.C., one of his four wives, Nazarah, decides to stay behind in the U.S. Knowing that her husband, the Prince, would never willingly allow her to stay behind, Nazarah decides to flee their residence in one of their cars and seek asylm. Having little experience in driving a car, Nazarah, ends up crashing the car and being taken to a hospital where she calls a acquaintance, Florence Farfaletti, an Arabic speaking Middle Eastern expert who is deputy to the deputy assistant secretary for Near East Affairs at the State Department. Florence tries to help Nazarah, but her superiors decide, in the interest of maintaining good dipliomatic relations that Nazarah be denied asylm and returned to her husband. Her husband, Prince Bawad, puts her on a private plane and flies her home to Wasabia where she is publically beheaded for the crime of embarrasing her husband.
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Florence, upset by the death of Nazarah and by the harsh treatment of women in Wasabia, writes a report outlining a bold plan to improve the plight of women in the Arab world. Wanting to shake things up in the stoggy State Department, she bypasses her boss and submits the report directly to his superior. The report causes a major tremor within the bureaucracy and Florence is promptly fired. However, a few days after her firing, Florence is approached by a mysterous gentleman who goes by the name of Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam never reveals who he works for. Uncle Sam has read Florence's report and is prepared to both finance her plan and provide the other human and material resources neded for the operation.
What follows is both comical and dramatic as Florence and three aides set up a TV station in the relatively liberal emirate of Matar and begin broadcasting feminist TV shows into neighboring Wasabia. One can easily imagine what follows.
The review of this Book prepared by Chuck Nugent
