Search -
The House of Saud: The Rise and Rule of the Most Powerful Dynasty in the Arab World
The House of Saud The Rise and Rule of the Most Powerful Dynasty in the Arab World Author:David Holden, Richard Johns Today, the House of Saud controls more than a quarter of the world's oil resources and accounts for half of O.P.E.C.'s total output. Since the oil price explosion of the mid-seventies, Saudi Arabia has become an international force of incalculable importance to the United States and the West and a pivotal influence in the Middle East. Ye... more »t it remains the fiefdom of a prolific, perplexingly interconnected Royal family -- a family torn by concern for maintaining the nation's Islamic beliefs, values, and way of life, and the headlong rush to modernize.
Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, a young prince from the heart of the Arabian interior, began his extraordinary ascent to power in 1902. He reclaimed the realm of his ancestors, extending his domain from one coast to the other and establishing guardianship over the Muslim Holy Places. He laid the basis of the modern Saudi state in a land where life had changed little since the time of Muhammad: religious faith, clan loyalties, and personal honor were its moral inspiration, the dreadful heat and menacing emptiness of the desert its frame.
Cutting through the cliches that cover the West's lack of understanding of the House of Saud, David Holden and Richard Johns offer a highly informed, balanced assessment of the kingdom and its ruling family -- from the emergence of this desert dynasty on the world stage to its current key position in oil politics. The turbulent story that unfolds is of a colorful people in an exotic land intertwined with the machinations of Western diplomats, soldiers of fortune, foreign financiers, and multinational oil interests.
In precise detail, these foremost Middle East experts answer the crucial questions about the oil-rich Saudis that directly affect our lives and the stability of the world.« less
ISBN-13: 9780030437311 ISBN-10: 0030437318 Publication Date: 1/1982 Pages:569 Edition:1st American ed Rating: