The Gulf is home to some of the world's fastest growing economies but how much do expatriates and visitors really know about its history and people? According to the author of a new book about the six Gulf states that make up the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), not enough.

Edmund O'Sullivan's The New Gulf: How Modern Arabia is Changing the World For Good is aimed at people who are living or have lived in the Gulf and want to know more about its roots. A British journalist with 30 years' reporting experience in the region, O'Sullivan says he wrote the book, his first, for people like himself who wanted a better understanding of current events.

"It's written for outsiders who may or may not be Muslim," he says.

To get a better understanding of today's Gulf, O'Sullivan takes the reader back through more than 4,500 million years of history looking at how Arabia was formed geographically and why oil has been left in abundance. He charts Islam from its roots – and before that Judaism and Christianity – and why there are Sunnis and Shias and other Muslim sects as well as the different tribes of the Gulf.

Focusing on the six GCC states, the author gives a background to events before bringing us up to the present day with detailed sections on each country. "You cannot look at the future without understanding the past and there has to be some consideration of why oil is in the ground in the Gulf," says the Dubai-based author. "Looking back at history there has been some great events such as the coming of Islam and you cannot look at the new Gulf without explaining some of the religion's practices."

O'Sullivan is chairman of events company Meed, which also publishes a number of magazines and has a news portal. He began working in 1979 as a specialist reporter on energy and finance, which saw him report from Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq war.

"When I started reporting in the Middle East in 1979 people said the political system of the Gulf would collapse and will be replaced by communist of Baathist regimes. They said the GCC states' survival was laughable. But they have proved resilient and more flexible and stable than the republics," he says.

And it is the current economic situation in the GCC, coupled with the forward-thinking leaders that O'Sullivan pins his argument on.

"My argument from an economic point of view is that if you have a large middle-class that is affluent and has what it needs, this will breed moderation and solve some of the social problems of radicals," he says.

"The second element of this is that you will encourage moderate Islam."

The book's detailed chapters on each of the six GCC states gives the reader an insight into their make-up and progression after the discovery of oil.

But one downside, although he claims it is not an academic presentation, is that it does not have an extensive bibliography. However, there are some 50 to 60 books referred to in the text throughout the book.

The official book signing at Old Palace Hotel in Downtown Dubai earlier this month was also attended by dignitaries who championed the book.

Anthony Harris, former British head of chancery in the UAE and Ambassador to the UAE, said it was about time that people knew more about the region and the UAE.

"When I was the ambassador many of the CEOs of today's companies were off studying in America and now they are moving the country forward," he says. "The lack of understanding from the West about the region, the UAE and especially Dubai still astounds me and some of the assumptions made by America are off the mark: they should stop for a second and think.

"I think this book will be great and I hope they keep coming."

Hosain Jashanmal, general manager of magazines and books for Jashanmal, said the book was already selling well and had ordered more copies.

"It appeals to a broad audience both to the people who have lived in the region a long time and to those who have recently moved and want to understand more," he adds. "The tag line is absolutely right and the UAE in its existence has been stable and a stabilising factor in the region."

The New Gulf: How Modern Arabia is Changing the World For Good by Edmund O'Sullivan is published by Motivate and priced at Dh85.