As a sequel to his Arab Contemporaries (1973) and as further evidence of his deep knowledge of Arab politics, Professor Khadduri draws portraits of Sadat, Asad, Husayn of Jordan, Qabus of Oman, Zayid of Abu Dhabi, and Khalid and Fahd of Saudi Arabia, all of whom he finds representative of the current age of "realism." He has interviewed them all, and while not uncritical, his approach to the present is one of benevolent understanding, and to the future, one of guarded optimism about greater democracy.