Conditioned by the past, man lives in the present and looks forward to the future with great hopes and expectations. Past scenarios stimulate beloved memories, recalling previous events represented by people, their achievements and their activities. All these thoughts passed through my mind when I was inspecting the destruction of our home after the barbaric invasion, when I was looking at the vast collection of photos kept by my king father, Shiekh Jabir Al-Abdullah Al-Jabir Al-Sabah, who has keenly collected them for many long years. Unfortunately, the destruction touched papers, documents, books, photos and even personal possessions. The great collection of photographs were what I most wanted to safeguard and review, as they represent an important stage in the history of Kuwait, reflecting on some of Kuwait's rulers and key figures of authority, providing a record of sites, places and people who were cornerstones of these activities. Given their importance, I therefore felt the need to collect these photos in a book for documentation purposes, to write comments introducing the people appearing in the and the occasions on which the photos were taken... My aim is to breathe life into a part of our past and to present a vivid picture reflecting the social culture prevailing in Kuwait at the time..." from the book's preface. I, Jon Wobber, am responsible for any misspellings as my typing is not great.
