Yemen is one of the oldest countries of the Arab nation, Land of the legendary Queen of Sheba, called Happy Arabia by the Ancients, and guardian o. . .  f the Gate of Tears linking the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. It is also a country whose history is both grandiose and majestic. Charles Saint-Prot brings this extraordinary history to life, while simultaneously analyzing the wider trends of Yemeni political life. These are, of course, largely determined by Yemen's geopolitical situation, situated at the crossroads of several civilizations and numerous international trade routes. Yemen also constitutes the strategic underbelly of the Arabian Peninsula, thanks to its large population and agricultural resources so envied by its neighbors. Little-known Yemen has had to confront numerous crises over the past century. But the country nevertheless managed to unify in 1990, and has since followed the road to democracy and modernization under the leadership of the father of reunification, Ali Abdullah Salih. Caught between a religious fudamentalism offering a past without a future, and forced Westernization offering a future without a past, the modern, unified Yemen has made a choice in favor of progress. It is this '' Yemeni exception'' which Charles Saint-Prot uncovers in this work.   Show.