City in the Desert describes the results of the excavation of an extraordinary early Islamic site carried out by the Kelsey Museum, University of Michigan, and Harvard University. The ruins of Qasr al-Hayr are located almost exactly in the center of Syria, between the Euphrates and the ancient city of Palmyra. Founded around 825 A.D. by the dynasty of the Umayyads, the settlement continued to flourish until the twelfth century. At once palatial and nomadic, rural and urban in character, Qasr al-Hayr mirrored many social and cultural aspects of the medieval Islamic world. How such contrasting features were contained in a single entity for over four hundred years is a puzzle that the authors seek to solve. They also examine how, in a semi-arid region, contentious tribes were able to forge and preserve a common culture.