The History Book Club discussion

This thread is focused on Saudi Arabia.

Since we are doing the Middle Eastern challenge; setting up one thread per Middle Eastern country is a good idea.

Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden--from 9/11 to Abbottabad

by Peter L. Bergen

Synopsis:

The gripping account of the decade-long hunt for the world's most wanted man.

It was only a week before 9/11 that Peter Bergen turned in the manuscript of Holy War, Inc., the story of Osama bin Laden--whom Bergen had once interviewed in a mud hut in Afghanistan--and his declaration of war on America. The book became a New York Times bestseller and the essential portrait of the most formidable terrorist enterprise of our time. Now, in Manhunt, Bergen picks up the thread with this taut yet panoramic account of the pursuit and killing of bin Laden.

Here are riveting new details of bin Laden’s flight after the crushing defeat of the Taliban to Tora Bora, where American forces came startlingly close to capturing him, and of the fugitive leader’s attempts to find a secure hiding place. As the only journalist to gain access to bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound before the Pakistani government demolished it, Bergen paints a vivid picture of bin Laden’s grim, Spartan life in hiding and his struggle to maintain control of al-Qaeda even as American drones systematically picked off his key lieutenants.

Half a world away, CIA analysts haunted by the intelligence failures that led to 9/11 and the WMD fiasco pored over the tiniest of clues before homing in on the man they called "the Kuwaiti"--who led them to a peculiar building with twelve-foot-high walls and security cameras less than a mile from a Pakistani military academy. This was the courier who would unwittingly steer them to bin Laden, now a prisoner of his own making but still plotting to devastate the United States.

Bergen takes us inside the Situation Room, where President Obama considers the COAs (courses of action) presented by his war council and receives conflicting advice from his top advisors before deciding to risk the raid that would change history--and then inside the Joint Special Operations Command, whose "secret warriors," the SEALs, would execute Operation Neptune Spear. From the moment two Black Hawks take off from Afghanistan until bin Laden utters his last words, Manhunt reads like a thriller.

Based on exhaustive research and unprecedented access to White House officials, CIA analysts, Pakistani intelligence, and the military, this is the definitive account of ten years in pursuit of bin Laden and of the twilight of al-Qaeda.

Editorial Reviews:


Chosen by the Washington Post As One of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2012

"Virtually crackles with insider details...Bergen’s Pakistani sources gave him new insight into bin Laden’s home life...The details of the SEAL raid itself...[make] for compelling reading. Bergen puts the raid into a broader intelligence framework and deftly re-creates the heart-thumping tension of that night and the calculations that went into pulling off the daring mission...Bergen’s three other books have become required reading for national security buffs and counterterrorism reporters. But Manhunt is different. It goes to a higher level...Bergen has accomplished a journalistic feat: He manages to make the story of bin Laden’s end sound new. He has put together a real-life thriller that will be a must-read for years to come."
--Dina Temple-Raston, Washington Post

"A gripping read...Bergen has an eye for memorable close-ups. His narrative has authority...Packed with satisfying observations...Highly readable."
--The Economist

“Some of the more illuminating sections of Manhunt concern the efforts of intelligence analysts to piece together a 'working theory' about Bin Laden’s whereabouts...Also fascinating are the descriptions of internal debates within the Obama administration.”
--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

“The best reporting we have on the subject.”
--Michelle Dean, The Nation

"Bergen...draw[s] on his excellent government sources, his deep knowledge of al Qaeda, and his reporter’s instincts (which got him into the Abbottabad compound just after the raid). His book is full of fascinating details and illustrates the immense pressure on national security bureaucracies to provide options to policymakers and then reduce the risks associated with their implementation."
--Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs

"Gripping...Dramatic...A masterful account of bin Laden’s life and activities, how al Qaeda operated in the aftermath of Sept. 11, and the American government’s success in tracking down the world’s most notorious terrorist leader."
--Joshua Sinai, Washington Times

"Terrific...A fast-paced narrative that takes you into the search for the most-wanted man in human history."
--Bruce Riedel, The Daily Beast

“The story is riveting because it is as if Bergen were embedded everywhere--the situation room of the White House, three miles high in the rugged mountains of Tora Bora and alongside the Navy SEALS who would put a quick and dramatic end to bin Laden’s life.”
--San Antonio Express

“I devoured it. It’s an important book, which I urge you to read as soon as you can…Bergen’s moment-by-moment account of the raid makes for gripping, even breathless, reading.”
--Clay Jenkinson, Bismarck Tribune

“This superbly researched account of the United States' decade-long effort to track and kill bin Laden provides the intimate details on virtually every critical decision along the way…The book actually transcends its subject matter, demonstrating the best practices of critical thinking by the people who do it best…Present[s] the evidence on both sides of even the most controversial issues, without agenda or bias…Compelling and authoritative.”
--Huffington Post

"Dispassionate and authoritative...What the author brings to this epic story is context and perspective...Bergen has the credibility to tell this story."
--Frank Davies, Miami Herald

“Uncanny access and research…a fascinating account...The story is riveting because it is as if Bergen were embedded everywhere…Gives some interesting insight into the complex personality of bin Laden.”
--Mark Stoeltje, San Antonio Express-News

“Bergen offers rather intriguing profiles of the four wives...Bergen’s telling of the actual operation--flashing from Special Ops movements to administration anticipation, including the White House Correspondents Dinner, where Seth Meyers famously made a crack about Bin Laden having a show on C-SPAN--is riveting.”
--Swati Pandey, Los Angeles Review of Books

"In Manhunt, Peter Bergen has produced a page-turner rich with new information and insight into the search for Bin Laden and his killing. Only Bergen, America's foremost counterterrorism writer, could have produced a book of such energy and authority--a triumph."
--STEVE COLL, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

"Ten years of grit, intelligent hard work, and daring led to Operation Neptune Spear, and Bergen captures it all in a story that is both a riveting page turner and a definitive history. Revealing details of bin Laden's last years in self-imposed prison, the debates of the CIA analysts who tracked him, and the training of the SEALs who killed him, Manhunt is essential reading for anyone who wants to know the real story of how the world's most wanted terrorist was finally brought to justice."
--ERIC GREITENS, author of The Heart and The Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL

"With masterly reporting, Peter Bergen takes us where we've never been: behind the high walls of Osama bin Laden's last hideout and behind the scenes of the heroic and painstaking hunt for the Al Qaeda mastermind. Manhunt is a thrilling read."
--ANDERSON COOPER, CNN anchor

On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines - and Future

by Karen Elliott House

Synopsis:

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter who has spent the last thirty years writing about Saudi Arabia—as diplomatic correspondent, foreign editor, and then publisher of The Wall Street Journal—an important and timely book that explores all facets of life in this shrouded Kingdom: its tribal past, its complicated present, its precarious future.

Through observation, anecdote, extensive interviews, and analysis Karen Elliot House navigates the maze in which Saudi citizens find themselves trapped and reveals the mysterious nation that is the world’s largest exporter of oil, critical to global stability, and a source of Islamic terrorists.

In her probing and sharp-eyed portrait, we see Saudi Arabia, one of the last absolute monarchies in the world, considered to be the final bulwark against revolution in the region, as threatened by multiple fissures and forces, its levers of power controlled by a handful of elderly Al Saud princes with an average age of 77 years and an extended family of some 7,000 princes. Yet at least 60 percent of the increasingly restive population they rule is under the age of 20.

The author writes that oil-rich Saudi Arabia has become a rundown welfare state. The public pays no taxes; gets free education and health care; and receives subsidized water, electricity, and energy (a gallon of gasoline is cheaper in the Kingdom than a bottle of water), with its petrodollars buying less and less loyalty. House makes clear that the royal family also uses Islam’s requirement of obedience to Allah—and by extension to earthly rulers—to perpetuate Al Saud rule.

Behind the Saudi facade of order and obedience, today’s Saudi youth, frustrated by social conformity, are reaching out to one another and to a wider world beyond their cloistered country. Some 50 percent of Saudi youth is on the Internet; 5.1 million Saudis are on Facebook.

To write this book, the author interviewed most of the key members of the very private royal family. She writes about King Abdullah’s modest efforts to relax some of the kingdom’s most oppressive social restrictions; women are now allowed to acquire photo ID cards, finally giving them an identity independent from their male guardians, and are newly able to register their own businesses but are still forbidden to drive and are barred from most jobs.

With extraordinary access to Saudis—from key religious leaders and dissident imams to women at university and impoverished widows, from government officials and political dissidents to young successful Saudis and those who chose the path of terrorism—House argues that most Saudis do not want democracy but seek change nevertheless; they want a government that provides basic services without subjecting citizens to the indignity of begging princes for handouts; a government less corrupt and more transparent in how it spends hundreds of billions of annual oil revenue; a kingdom ruled by law, not royal whim.

In House’s assessment of Saudi Arabia’s future, she compares the country today to the Soviet Union before Mikhail Gorbachev arrived with reform policies that proved too little too late after decades of stagnation under one aged and infirm Soviet leader after another. She discusses what the next generation of royal princes might bring and the choices the kingdom faces: continued economic and social stultification with growing risk of instability, or an opening of society to individual initiative and enterprise with the risk that this, too, undermines the Al Saud hold on power.

A riveting book—informed, authoritative, illuminating—about a country that could well be on the brink, and an in-depth examination of what all this portends for Saudi Arabia’s future, and for our own

Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources

by Martin Lings

Synopsis:

A revised edition of the internationally acclaimed biography of the prophet
• Includes important additions about the prophet’s spread of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states

• Contains original English translations from 8th and 9th century biographies, presented in authoritative language

• Represents the final updates made on the text before the author’s death in 2005

Martin Lings’ biography of Muhammad is an internationally acclaimed, comprehensive, and authoritative account of the life of the prophet. Based on the sira, the eighth- and ninth-century Arabic biographies that recount numerous events in the prophet’s life, it contains original English translations of many important passages that reveal the words of men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life.

Scrupulous and exhaustive in its fidelity to its sources, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources is presented in a narrative style that is easily comprehensible, yet authentic and inspiring in its use of language, reflecting both the simplicity and grandeur of the story it tells. This revised edition includes new sections detailing the prophet’s expanding influence and his spreading of the message of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states. It represents the final updates made to the text before the author’s death in 2005. The book has been published in 12 languages and has received numerous awards, including acknowledgment as best biography of the prophet in English at the National Seerate Conference in Islamabad.

“This work is widely recognized as the most readable account of the life of the Prophet to date.” (Times of London )

Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia

by Jean Sasson

Synopsis:

Sultana is a Saudi Arabian princess, a woman born to fabulous, uncountable wealth.

She has four mansions on three continents, her own private jet, glittering jewels, designer dresses galore. But in reality she lives in a gilded cage. She has no freedom, no control over her own life, no value but as a bearer of sons.

Hidden behind her black floor-length veil, she is a prisoner, jailed by her father, her husband, her sons, and her country.Sultana is a member of the Saudi royal family, closely related to the king.

For the sake of her daughters, she has decided to take the risk of speaking out about the life of women in her country, regardless of their rank. She must hide her identity for fear that the religous leaders in her country would call for her death to punish her honesty.

Only a woman in her position could possibly hope to escape from being revealed and punished, despite her cloak and anonymity.Sultana tells of her own life, from her turbulent childhood to her arranged marriage--a happy one until her husband decided to displace her by taking a second wife--and of the lives of her sisters, her friends and her servants.

Although they share affection, confidences and an easy camaraderie within the confines of the women's quarters, they also share a history of appaling oppressions, everyday occurrences that in any other culture would be seen as shocking human rights violations; thirteen-year-old girls forced to marry men five times their age, young women killed by drowning, stoning, or isolation in the "women's room," a padded, windowless cell where women are confined with neither light nor conversation until death claims them.

By speaking out, Sultana risks bringing the wrath of the Saudi establishment upon her head and te heads of her children. But by telling her story to Jean Sasson, Sultana has allowed us to see beyond the veils of this secret society, to the heart of a nation where sex, money, and power reign supreme.

The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of al-Qaeda

by Yaroslav Trofimov

Synopsis

On November 20, 1979, worldwide attention was focused on Tehran, where the Iranian hostage crisis was entering its third week. The same morning—the first of a new Muslim century—hundreds of gunmen stunned the world by seizing Islam’s holiest shrine, the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Armed with rifles that they had smuggled inside coffins, these men came from more than a dozen countries, launching the first operation of global jihad in modern times. Led by a Saudi preacher named Juhayman al Uteybi, they believed that the Saudi royal family had become a craven servant of American infidels, and sought a return to the glory of uncompromising Islam. With nearly 100,000 worshippers trapped inside the holy compound, Mecca’s bloody siege lasted two weeks, inflaming Muslim rage against the United States and causing hundreds of deaths.

Despite U.S. assistance, the Saudi royal family proved haplessly incapable of dislodging the occupier, whose ranks included American converts to Islam. In Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini blamed the Great Satan—the United States —for defiling the shrine, prompting mobs to storm and torch American embassies in Pakistan and Libya. The desperate Saudis finally enlisted the help of French commandos led by tough-as-nails Captain Paul Barril, who prepared the final assault and supplied poison gas that knocked out the insurgents. Though most captured gunmen were quickly beheaded, the Saudi royal family responded to this unprecedented challenge by compromising with the rebels’ supporters among the kingdom’s most senior clerics, helping them nurture and export Juhayman’s violent brand of Islam around the world.

This dramatic and immensely consequential story was barely covered in the press in the pre-CNN, pre–Al Jazeera days, as Saudi Arabia imposed an information blackout and kept foreign correspondents away. Yaroslav Trofimov now penetrates this veil of silence, interviewing for the first time scores of direct participants in the siege, including former terrorists, and drawing on hundreds of documents that had been declassified on his request. Written with the pacing, detail, and suspense of a real-life thriller, The Siege of Mecca reveals how Saudi reaction to the uprising in Mecca set free the forces that produced the attacks of 9/11, and the harrowing circumstances that surround us today.

Thank you Jerome for the add.

Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam

From the Harvard University Press

by Venetia Porter

Synopsis:

The Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is the largest pilgrimage in the world today and a sacred duty for all Muslims. Each year, millions of the faithful from around the world make the pilgrimage to Makkah, the birthplace of Islam where the Prophet Muhammad received his revelation.

With contributions from renowned experts Muhammad Abdel Haleem, Hugh Kennedy, Robert Irwin, and Ziauddin Sardar, this fascinating book pulls together many strands of Hajj, its rituals, history, and modern manifestations. Travel was once a hazardous gamble, yet devoted Muslims undertook the journey to Makkah, documenting their experiences in manuscripts, wall paintings, and early photographs, many of which are presented here. Through a wealth of illustrations including pilgrims’ personal objects, souvenirs, and maps, Hajj provides a glimpse into this important holy rite for Muslim readers already grounded in the tradition and non-Muslims who cannot otherwise participate.

Hajj does not, however, merely trace pilgrimages of the past. The Hajj is a living tradition, influenced by new conveniences and obstacles. Graffiti, consumerism, and state lotteries all now play a role in this time-honored practice. This book opens out onto the full sweep of the Hajj: a sacred path walked by early Islamic devotees and pre-Islamic Arabians; a sumptuous site of worship under the care of sultans; and an expression of faith in the modern world.

Growing Up bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World

by Jean Sasson

Synopsis:

The New York Times calls GROWING UP BIN LADEN: "The most complete account available of the terrorist’s immediate family." (May 15, 2011)

A true story that few ever believed would come to light, GROWING UP BIN LADEN uncovers startling revelations and hidden secrets carefully guarded by the most wanted terrorist of our lifetime, Osama bin Laden.

"I was not always the wife of Osama bin Laden. Once I was an innocent child dreaming little girl dreams…"

Thus begins this powerful story as Najwa bin Laden, who married her cousin Osama bin Laden at the age of 15 to become his first wife and the mother to eleven of his children, and her son, Omar bin Laden, the fourth-born son of Osama bin Laden. Together, mother and son tell an extraordinarily powerful story of a man hated by so many, yet both loved and feared by his family, with spine-tingling details about the life and times of the man they knew as a husband and father, including:

Osama’s disapproval of modern conveniences, including electricity and medicine

His plan to toughen up his sons by taking them into the desert without food or water

Transporting his wives and children to the rough terrain of Sudan, where he claimed to be preparing them for attacks from western powers, commanding them to dig holes, and to sleep in those holes, allowing nothing more than sand and twigs for cover

Omar’s horror at the rape and murder of a boy his own age, by members of a jihadist group living among them in the Sudan.

What happened in the bin Laden home in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on the morning of September 11, 2001, and Omar’s surprise phone call with his mother, who escaped from Afghanistan only two days before the shattering events that killed so many innocent people

Since September 11, 2001, journalists have struggled to uncover carefully guarded information about Osama’s private life.

Until now, Osama Bin Laden’s family members have not cooperated with any writers or journalists.

Now, with unprecedented access and insight, Jean Sasson, author of the bestselling Princess: A True Story Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia, takes us inside the secret world of Osama bin Laden.

Thicker Than Oil: America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia

by Rachel Bronson

Synopsis

For fifty-five years, the United States and Saudi Arabia were solid partners. Then came the 9/11 attacks, which sorely tested that relationship. In Thicker than Oil, Rachel Bronson reveals why the partnership became so intimate and how the countries' shared interests sowed the seeds of today's most pressing problem--Islamic radicalism.

Drawing on a wide range of archival material, declassified documents, and interviews with leading Saudi and American officials, Bronson chronicles a history of close, and always controversial, contacts. She argues that contrary to popular belief the relationship was never simply about "oil for security." Saudi Arabia's geographic location and religiously motivated foreign policy figured prominently in American efforts to defeat "godless communism." From Africa to Afghanistan, Egypt to Nicaragua, the two worked to beat back Soviet expansion. But decisions made for hardheaded Cold War purposes left behind a legacy that today enflames the Middle East.

In this landmark work, Bronson exposes the political calculations that drove this secretive relationship. Her lively narrative is interwoven with colorful stories of diplomatic adventures and misadventures--including details of high-level backchannel conversations, awkward cross-cultural encounters, and a bizarre American request for the Saudi government to subsidize Polish pork exports, a demand the U.S. Ambassador refused to deliver. Looking forward, she outlines the challenges confronting the relationship.

The Saudi government faces a zealous internal opposition bent on America's and Saudi Arabia's destruction. Yet from the perspective of both countries, the status quo is clearly unsustainable. This book shows how this crucial relationship evolved, and suggests ways to chart its future course.

Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia

by Robert Lacey

Synopsis

Saudi Arabia is a country defined by paradox. It is a modern state driven by contemporary technology and possessed of vast oil deposits, yet its powerful religious establishment would have its customs and practices rolled back a thousand years to match those of the prophet Muhammad.

With Inside the Kingdom, journalist and bestselling author Robert Lacey has given us one of the most penetrating and insightful looks at Saudi Arabia ever produced. While living for years among the nation's princes and paupers, its clerics and progressives, Lacey endeavored to find out how the consequences of the 1970s oil boom produced a society at war with itself. Filled with stories that trace a path through the Persian Gulf War and the events of 9/11 to the oilmarket convulsions of today, Inside the Kingdom gives us a modern history of the Saudis in their own words, revealing a people attempting to reconcile life under religious law with the demands of a rapidly changing world. Their struggle will have powerful reverberations around the globe, and this rich work provides a penetrating look at a country no one can afford to ignore.

Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present

nby Mark Weston

Synopsis

To many in the West, Saudi Arabia is easy to criticize. It is the birthplace of Osama bin Laden and fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers. Saudi women are not permitted to drive, work with men, or travel without a man's permission. Prior to 9/11, the Saudis sent millions of dollars abroad to schools that taught Muslim extremism and to charities that turned out to be fronts for al-Qaeda.

In Prophets and Princes, a highly respected scholar who has lived in Saudi Arabia contends that despite these serious shortcomings, the kingdom is still America's most important ally in the Middle East, a voice for moderation toward Israel, and a nation with a surprising ability to make many of the economic and cultural changes necessary to adjust to modern realities.

Author Mark Weston offers an objective and balanced history of the only nation on earth named after its ruling family. Drawing on interviews with many Saudi men and women, Weston portrays a complex society in which sixty percent of Saudi Arabia's university students are women, and citizens who seek a constitutional monarchy can petition the king without fear of reprisal.

Filled with new and underreported information about the most controversial aspects of life in Saudi Arabia, Prophets and Princes is a must-read for anyone interested in the Middle East, oil, Islam, or the war on terror.

Inside The Mirage: America's Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia

by Thomas W. Lippman

Synopsis

The relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia has always been a marriage of convenience, not affection. In a bargain cemented by President Roosevelt and Saudi Arabia’s founding king in 1945, Americans gained access to Saudi oil, and the Saudis responded with purchases of American planes, weapons, construction projects and know-how that brought them modernization, education, and security. The marriage has suited both sides. But how long can it last?In Inside the Mirage, journalist and Middle East expert Thomas W. Lippman shows that behind the cheerful picture of friendship and alliance, there is a darker tale. With so much at stake, this compelling account looks at the relationship between these two countries, and their future with one another.

Great adds Jerome - thank you very much.

Thank you Libby.

I finished Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia, an easy read compared to Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia showed a fair humanist side to the rulers of the House of Sa'ud. It did reveal its cruel and controlling side, in particular to women. There's an interesting account of how women were arrested for protesting by driving. Women were not allowed to drive, and were to maintain modesty at all times. It became economically unfeasible when women have to work, and either pay a driver or have a male relative drive them. Foreigners would come into the country to work as drivers. The catch is that women were also not supposed to be alone with a strange male. This story is nothing compared to the Qatif (spelled Qateef in the eBook) rape case. The account of how a rape victim was persuaded to seek justice but ended up being punished is surreal. Here's a wiki on the famous case:

Qatif rape case

Lacey clearly made the case of how tribal thinking clashed with modernity.

Here's a more recent case on child rape and how that was horribly handled:

Saudi Arabia's Child Rape Case

I'm currently listening to The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa'ud which started from how the House of Sa'ud was formed. I'm waiting for the hardback to come in the mail.

by Robert Lacey

by Michael B. Oren

Thank you both - great info.

I've read a lot of articles on Waris Dirie. I'll add the book to my read. Thank you, Libby.

I finished The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa'ud. Considering the disapproval from the House of Sa'ud's banning of this book, it was sympathetic to the main figures, starting with the great Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (Ibn Saud), who formed the Kingdom and fathered over a hundred children, and his sons Saud and Faisal. This first book offers human insight into the monarchs. It brushes over and treats lightly the human rights aspects. The second book Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia detailed more of that. Insightful and enjoyable quick reads considering that the two books together are about 1200 pages. Granted, I didn't "read" but listen to the first book, since the hardback still has not arrive.

by Robert Lacey

Good for you Aloha

Interesting.

I am currently reading

by Robert Lacey

The book is from 1983, still I can imagine it will be very interesting.

The Metro will be great as the streets in Riyadh are sometimes so packed and full.

Wonder if there will be a family only section and a women only section.

Have you been to Saudi Arabia Desiree? I have never been there in the Middle East but have been to Dubai and Abu Dhabi - as well as Turkey.

You asked an interesting question because in a crowed train - that might be a problem for them based upon local beliefs.

While this book spans many middle-eastern nations, but with a little more focus on Turkey (via the ottoman empire) and Iran, still, I've already got entries on those nations, so I'm putting this book here, since it does include Saudi Arabia...

The Middle East: A Brief History of the last 2000 years

Bernard Lewis

Synopsis

The Middle East is a dense but quick, as it has to cover 2000 years of Middle Eastern history. The book is split into three major sections. The first section covers a quick history of the Middle East itself, starting pre-Christ, then pre-Islam (between founding of Christianity to the early years of Mohammad's life, then a quick history of Islam, how it spread, the rise and fall of various Islamic caliphate periods (such as the Umayyads, Abbadsids, and Fatimids), the invasion of the Mongols, and the Ottoman and Muslim Persian empires.

The 2nd part discusses various areas under muslim civilizations, such as government structure, the economy, the elites, the common people, and religion/law. One has to remember that during the height of Islam, Europe was in the dark ages. Also discussed are topics like the lack of interest in non-Muslim history, where studies of the cultures pre-Islam are mostly done by non-Muslims, such as Hittites, Babylonian, and Assyrian histories and languages. Also covered are what mosque, jihad, apostacy, and shari'a really mean.

The last section covers what had happened in modern times, how the Ottoman empire started losing power and influence, how the Ottoman sultans were aware that the Western civilizations somehow got ahead of them, attempts to catch up. It quickly describes the rise and defeat of Wahhabi militants, who overtook much of what is now Saudi Arabia, but was easily defeated by the Ottoman empire. Then it covers the breakup of the Ottoman empire, the partitioning of former Ottoman lands, the weakening of Iran (with Russia and Britain), attempts to introduce western-style governments by France and England, aligning with Italy/Germany in WWII (and later the Soviet Union), the rise of Israel, Kemal Ataturk and the rise of Turkey, and the rise of the House of Sa'ud.

The book ends with the challenges the Middle East faces, particularly after Iraq's invasion and eviction from Kuwait, and how America left Saddam Hussein in power, and what that should signify to Middle Eastern nations. The book was published in 1995, when Bill Clinton was President, so it doesn't cover the 2nd Iraqi invasion.

Remember, Lewis is covering 2000 years of history in a little less than 400 pages, so he can't get into too much detail on any particular era or topic. But it's a good introduction to the history of the middle east and of Islam itself.

Libby I just try to find bigger images under more sizes and just copy the image address (right click and copy image address) in and paste it between the pair of ". Before the first parens you just place [image error] - that seems to help with elongation.

Libby wrote: "Desiree wrote: "I am currently reading

by Robert Lacey

The book is from 1983, still I can imagine it will be very interesting."


Hi ..."

Libby, right this book is great to read. I thought I knew a lot already about the Al-Saud family, bit this goes much deeper. Will read "Inside the Kingdom" too.

Marc wrote: "While this book spans many middle-eastern nations, but with a little more focus on Turkey (via the ottoman empire) and Iran, still, I've already got entries on those nations, so I'm putting this bo..."

marc, I read some other books by B.Lewis. Great author with good knowledge.

Hi Desiree - remember our citations.

post 38 -

by Carmen Bin Ladin (no cover)

and in post 39

Bernard Lewis

The King's Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan and America's Tangled Relationship With Saudi Arabia

by David B. Ottaway (no photo)

Synopsis:

The story of the last thirty years in the complex relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia centers around its principle actor: Prince Bandar, the controversial longtime Saudi ambassador.

“Just how oil, arms, and Allah have served over time either to bind or sunder the United States–Saudi Arabia relationship is the focus of this book,” writes David Ottaway, who has chronicled the “special relationship” over the course of more than three decades at the Washington Post. No two governments and societies could be more different, and yet we have been bound together since 1945 by vital national security interests, based on a simple quid pro quo: Saudi oil at reasonable prices in return for U.S. protection of the House of Saud from all foreign foes.

However, the balance points of the relationship—often tenuous even in peacetime—have been fractured by the attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Iraq: the price of oil has skyrocketed and Saudi Arabia has been powerless to stop its rise; the Iraq war has unleashed the prospect of a Shi’ite-dominated regime allied to Iran on Sunni Saudi Arabia’s borders; and militant elements within Saudi Arabia are ever more threatening. Not since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran has the House of Saud felt itself in such peril, and the Saudis have not forgotten the inability, or unwillingness, of the United States to save the Shah.

Nobody has been more emblematic of the Saudi-U.S. relationship, nobody has been at its center for longer, than Prince Bandar, the first Saudi royal ever to serve as ambassador to Washington. David Ottaway’s frequent access to the prince has allowed him unparalleled insight into the complex geopolitics that govern and have governed Saudi Arabia’s long dance with the United States, and his book, coming at a crucial juncture, explores what new common ground may be found between the two countries, and what may ultimately pull them apart.

No problem, Libby; it does look interesting.

I read that, it was pretty interesting.

I don't recall anything in particular (I read it almost two years ago), but bin Laden's brother Shafiq was at an investor's conference in DC at the time of the 9/11 attacks. And, of course, Osama bin Laden's father was basically a celebrity in Saudi Arabia, having built so much of the country's infrastructure.

Very interesting Jerome and Libby.

Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia

by Toby Craig Jones (no photo)

Synopsis:

Oil and water, and the science and technology used to harness them, have long been at the heart of political authority in Saudi Arabia. Oil’s abundance, and the fantastic wealth it generated, has been a keystone in the political primacy of the kingdom’s ruling family. The other bedrock element was water, whose importance was measured by its dearth. Over much of the twentieth century, it was through efforts to control and manage oil and water that the modern state of Saudi Arabia emerged.

The central government’s power over water, space, and people expanded steadily over time, enabled by increasing oil revenues. The operations of the Arabian American Oil Company proved critical to expansion and to achieving power over the environment. Political authority in Saudi Arabia took shape through global networks of oil, science, and expertise. And, where oil and water were central to the forging of Saudi authoritarianism, they were also instrumental in shaping politics on the ground. Nowhere was the impact more profound than in the oil-rich Eastern Province, where the politics of oil and water led to a yearning for national belonging and to calls for revolution.

Saudi Arabia is traditionally viewed through the lenses of Islam, tribe, and the economics of oil. Desert Kingdom now provides an alternative history of environmental power and the making of the modern Saudi state. It demonstrates how vital the exploitation of nature and the roles of science and global experts were to the consolidation of political authority in the desert.

Thanks Jerome.

An upcoming book:
Release date: March 5, 2015

Path of Blood: The Story of Al Qaeda's War on the House of Saud

by Thomas Small (no photo)

Synopsis:

Path of Blood tells the gripping and horrifying true story of the underground army which Osama Bin Laden created in order to attack his number one target: his home country, Saudi Arabia. His aim was to conquer the land of the Two Holy Mosques, the land from where Islam had first originated, and, from there, to reestablish an Islamic Empire that could take on the West and win.

Thomas Small and Jonathan Hacker use new insider evidence to expose the real story behind the Al Qaeda. Far from the image of single-minded holy warriors they present to the world, the bands of sol­diers are riven by infighting and lack of discipline. Drawing on unprecedented access to Saudi govern­ment archives, interviews with top intelligence of­ficials both in the Middle East and in the West, as well as with captured Al Qaeda militants, and with access to exclusive captured video footage from Al Qaeda cells, Path of Blood tells the full story of the terrorist campaign and the desperate and deter­mined attempt by Saudi Arabia’s internal security services to put a stop to it.

Mecca: The Sacred City

by Ziauddin Sardar

Synopsis:

Mecca is, for many, the heart of Islam. It is the birthplace of Muhammad, the direction to which Muslims turn when they pray, and the site of pilgrimage that annually draws some three million Muslims from all corners of the world. Yet the significance of Mecca is more than purely religious. What happens in Mecca and how Muslims think about the political and cultural history of Mecca has had and continues to have a profound influence on world events to this day.

In this insighful book, Ziauddin Sardar unravels the meaning and significance of Mecca. Tracing its history, from its origins as a “barren valley” in the desert to its evolution as a trading town and sudden emergence as the religious center of a world empire, Sardar examines the religious struggles and rebellions in Mecca that have significantly shaped Muslim culture. An illuminative, lyrical, and witty blend of history, reportage, and memoir, Mecca reflects all that is profound and enlightening, curious and amusing about Mecca and takes us behind the closed doors to one of the most important places in the world today.

Ibn Saud: The Desert Warrior Who Created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia



Synopsis:

Ibn Saud grew to manhood living the harsh traditional life of the desert nomad, a life that had changed little since the days of Abraham. Equipped with immense physical courage, he fought and won, often with weapons and tactics not unlike those employed by the ancient Assyrians, a series of astonishing military victories over a succession of enemies much more powerful than himself. Over the same period, he transformed himself from a minor sheikh into a revered king and elder statesman, courted by world leaders such as Churchill and Roosevelt. A passionate lover of women, Ibn Saud took many wives, had numerous concubines, and fathered almost one hundred children. Yet he remained an unswerving and devout Muslim, described by one who knew him well at the time of his death in 1953 as “probably the greatest Arab since the Prophet Muhammad.” Saudi Arabia, the country Ibn Saud created, is a staunch ally of the West, but it is also the birthplace of Osama bin Laden and fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers. Saud’s kingdom, as it now stands, has survived the vicissitudes of time and become an invaluable player on the world’s political stage.

In the Kingdom of Men
Note: Novel

by Kim Barnes

Synopsis:

Here is the first thing you need to know about me: I’m a barefoot girl from red-dirt Oklahoma, and all the marble floors in the world will never change that.
Here is the second thing: that young woman they pulled from the Arabian shore, her hair tangled with mangrove—my husband didn’t kill her, not the way they say he did.

1967. Gin Mitchell knows a better life awaits her when she marries hometown hero Mason McPhee. Raised in a two-room shack by her Oklahoma grandfather, a strict Methodist minister, Gin never believed that someone like Mason, a handsome college boy, the pride of Shawnee, would look her way. And nothing can prepare her for the world she and Mason step into when he takes a job with the Arabian American Oil company in Saudi Arabia. In the gated compound of Abqaiq, Gin and Mason are given a home with marble floors, a houseboy to cook their meals, and a gardener to tend the sandy patch out back. Even among the veiled women and strict laws of shariah, Gin’s life has become the stuff of fairy tales. She buys her first swimsuit, she pierces her ears, and Mason gives her a glittering diamond ring. But when a young Bedouin woman is found dead, washed up on the shores of the Persian Gulf, Gin’s world closes in around her, and the one person she trusts is nowhere to be found.

Set against the gorgeously etched landscape of a country on the cusp of enormous change, In the Kingdom of Men abounds with sandstorms and locust swarms, shrimp peddlers, pearl divers, and Bedouin caravans—a luminous portrait of life in the desert. Award-winning author Kim Barnes weaves a mesmerizing, richly imagined tale of Americans out of their depth in Saudi Arabia, a marriage in peril, and one woman’s quest for the truth, no matter what it might cost her.

Good, Teri good.

Upcoming release:

Saudi Arabia in Transition: Insights on Social, Political, Economic and Religious Change

by Bernard Haykel (no photo)

Synopsis:

Making sense of Saudi Arabia is crucially important today. The kingdom's western province contains the heart of Islam, its two holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina, and it is the United States' closest Arab ally and the largest producer of oil in the world. However, the country is undergoing rapid change: its aged leadership is ceding power to a new generation, and its society, which is dominated by young people, is restive. Saudi Arabia has long remained closed to foreign scholars, with a select few academics allowed into the kingdom over the past decade. This book presents the fruits of their research as well as those of the most prominent Saudi academics in the field. The fifteen chapters in this volume focus on different sectors of Saudi society and examine how the changes of the past few decades have affected each. Many of the authors have conducted archival and fieldwork research in Saudi Arabia, benefitting from the recent opening of the country to foreign researchers. As such, the volume reflects new insights and provides the most up-to-date research on the country's social, cultural, economic and political dynamics.

An upcoming book:
Release date: June 1, 2015

Saudi Arabia: A Kingdom in Peril

by Paul Aarts (no photo)

Synopsis:

The Saudi royal family has survived the events of the Arab Spring intact and unscathed. Any major upheavals were ostensibly averted with the help of oil revenues, while the Kingdom's influential clerics conveniently declared all forms of protest to be against Islam. Saudi dollars bent events to the Kingdom's will in the Arab world-particularly in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain, but also in Egypt and Lebanon, Saudi cash has had a profound impact.

Does this mean that all is well in Saudi Arabia itself, which has an extremely youthful population ruled by a gerontocracy? Problems endemic in Egypt, Tunisia and Syria-youth unemployment, corruption and repression-are also evident in the Kingdom and while young Saudis may not yet be taking to the streets, on Twitter and Facebook their discontent is manifest.

Saudi Arabia remains the dominant player in the Gulf, and the fall of the House of Saud would have explosive repercussions on the GCC while the knock-on effect worldwide would be immeasurable. Saudi Arabia is the only oil exporter capable of acting as a 'swing producer', a fact of which this book reminds us. Aarts and Roelants have drawn a compelling picture of a Middle East power which, while not presently endangered, may soon deviate from the trajectory established by the House of Saud.

Thank you Jerome.

Getting God's Ear: Women, Islam, and Healing in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf

by Eleanor Abdella Doumato (no photo)

Synopsis:

The circumscribed role of women in orthodox religious societies has long intrigued scholars and general readers alike. How these roles evolved and how women today reconcile feminism with traditional religious practice is a subject of controversy both within the academy and in religious communities. "Getting God's Ear" considers this subject by examining the role of religious worship and spiritual affairs in women's lives in the twentieth-century Arab world.

The meaning of women's exclusion from the "sacred precincts" of the mosque and their limited access to religious learning--as well as the effects of this exclusion on women's lives--is the focus of the book. Exploring both their role as midwives, healers, and ritual participants in spite of such exclusion, Eleanor Doumato examines the ways women strive for agency and sacralize their own space in an effort to experience community, to heal and be healed, and to find ways of getting God to hear them.

Focusing on the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula region during the first half of the twentieth century, the book weighs the influence of Wahhabi Islam on women's religious experience against the experience of women in the Sunni and Shia towns of Kuwait and Bahrain. At the same time, the author incorporates the voices of American missionaries and others who wrote about women of this region and whose writings form the informational core of the book. Connecting doctrine and practice in pre-oil Arabia to current sociopolitical developments, she raises an intriguing question: Is there something in the historical experience of women under Wahhabi Islam that can help us understand the persistence of women's separation in Saudi Arabia today?

Creating Shamsiyah: Empowering the Saudi Feminist Movement

by T.L. McCown (no photo)

Synopsis:

As result of recent events and continual unrest in the Middle East, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the most intriguing countries in the world. Adding to the intrigue, Saudi Arabia's self-imposed isolationism limits the amount of true information written about the Kingdom, its people, and their values. From 1991-2001, Teresa McCown had the unique opportunity to experience the "inner circle" (as coined by best-selling author, (Jean Sasson) of a Saudi Arabian royal family. First as the English tutor for the princess' children and later as the director for an educational learning center for Saudi women, Teresa shared ten years with her royal family and the Saudi women that very few westerners have ever experienced. Soon after her return to the United States in the summer of 2001, Teresa knew that she should step out publicly and tell of the
daily experiences she had during her ten years life in the Kingdom.

She began this mission in her first memoir, Shifting Sands: Life in Arabia with a Saudi Princess. As the only author to ever write about the personal lives of Saudi royalty and women from personal experience, Teresa broadened her educational message to include speaking to various civic, religious, academic, and social organizations in an effort to dispel common misnomers about the Kingdom and its women. To date, Teresa and her timely topic have been well received by over 275 organizations in seven states.

Teresa's mission and story continue in her sequel, Creating Shamsiyah: Empowering the Saudi Feminist Movement. Creating
Shamsiyah shares the personal growth and deep friendship between Teresa and Princess Madawi, while documenting for future's sake the events and the vision behind the first educational learning center for women in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

‘Iffat al Thunayan: An Arabian Queen

by Joseph A. Kechichian (no photo)

Synopsis:

‘Iffat Al Thunayan, spouse of the late King Faysal bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al Sa‘ud (r. 1964–1975), was a pillar of the ruling Al Sa‘ud family. Born and raised in Istanbul to an uprooted Sa‘udi family, she returned to the Kingdom in 1932, a few months before the founder ruler, ‘Abdul ‘Aziz bin ‘Abdul Rahman, reinstituted the monarchy. ‘Iffat used her influence to infiltrate many progressive ideas into the Kingdom, including significant strides in education for both boys and girls as well as major advances in health care. An astute observer and a doer par excellence, Queen ‘Iffat left her mark on the contemporary history of the Al Sa‘ud, as she protected and empowered her kin. She raised a formidable family, listened carefully, guided conversations as necessary, spoke with moderation, and recommended policies to her husband and, after he was assassinated, to her brothers-in-law who succeeded him. A politically conscious spouse, Queen ‘Iffat played the leading role in Sa‘udi female society, attended many state functions, and received female state guests. She traveled extensively, especially in Europe and the United States, supported myriad charities, and cajoled many to invest in the Kingdom. Universally respected, many people sought her advice for she shared her ambitions and ideas to benefit the entire country. Based on multiple interviews conducted with members of the al-Faysal family, friends, and acquaintances of the late queen, Joseph A. Kéchichian offers the first political biography of a Sa‘udi monarch’s spouse. This work is an important resource for social scientists and political analysts, and of interest to all who wish to learn about Arab women in general, and Sa‘udi women in particular.

The Arab Spring: Pathways of Repression and Reform

by Jason Brownlee

Synopsis:

Several years after the Arab Spring began, democracy remains elusive in the Middle East. The Arab Spring that resides in the popular imagination is one in which a wave of mass mobilization swept the broader Middle East, toppled dictators, and cleared the way for democracy. The reality is that few Arab countries have experienced anything of the sort. While Tunisia made progress towards some type of constitutionally entrenched participatory rule, the other countries that overthrew their rulers - Egypt, Yemen, and Libya - remain mired in authoritarianism and instability. Elsewhere in the Arab world uprisings were suppressed, subsided or never materialized.

The Arab Spring's modest harvest cries out for explanation. Why did regime change take place in only four Arab countries and why has democratic change proved so elusive in the countries that made attempts? This book attempts to answer those questions. First, by accounting for the full range of variance: from the absence or failure of uprisings in such places as Algeria and Saudi Arabia at one end to Tunisia's rocky but hopeful transition at the other. Second, by examining the deep historical and structure variables that determined the balance of power between incumbents and opposition.

Brownlee, Masoud and Reynolds find that the success of a domestic campaign to oust the ruler was preconditioned by two variables: oil wealth and the precedent of hereditary succession. When rulers were ousted, the balance of power at the time of transition goes far in predicting the character of new constitutional provisions and the trajectory of democratization writ large.

Wahhabism in Tribal Arabia: Politics, Power and Religion in the Rise of Al-Saud

by Tarik Firro (no photo)

Synopsis:

Wahhabism, the conservative creed underpinning the ruling ideology of the Saudi dynasty, has become a commonplace word. But whilst many examinations of Wahhabism jump straight from its founder, Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (1702-91) to the present day, here Tarik K. Firro examines the period in between, after the Ottoman-Saudi War and the subsequent occupation and then partial withdrawal of Ottoman-commanded Egyptian troops in the early nineteenth century. From the Al-Saud's consolidation of their position after Egyptian occupation to their relative decline at the end of the nineteenth century, Firro analyses the 'second Saudi state' in the Nejd. Firro offers insight into the Arabian tribal system and the relationship between the ruling princes, such as Turki Ibn 'Abdallah Ibn Saud and his son Faysal Ibn Turki, with the ulama, such as the al-Shaykh family. In the process he highlights the reasons for the rise and reconsolidation of Wahhabism, as it cemented its claims to be the legitimating touchstone for rulers of the modern Saudi state.

Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis

by John R. Bradley

Synopsis:

Saudi Arabia: land of oil, terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism, and a crucial American ally. John R. Bradley uniquely exposes the turmoil that is shaking the House of Saud to its foundations, including the problems within the new leadership. From the heart of the secretive Islamic kingdom's urban centers to its most remote mountainous terrain, he provides intimate details and reveals regional, religious, and tribal rivalries.

Bradley highlights tensions generated by social change, the increasing restlessness of Saudi youth with limited cultural and political outlets, and the predicament of Saudi women seeking opportunities but facing constraints.

What are the implications for the Sauds and the West? This book offers a startling look at the present predicament and a troubling view of the future.