Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135786 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Synopsis
The House of Saud can no longer bribe its people and Arab neighbours into silence. Throughout the Middle East, Islamic movements deplore the Saudi royal family's waste of the country's wealth on private expenditure and costly Western armaments. They are also opposed to the immorality of a dynasty whose men have purchased women in bulk and plundered the country's oil revenues in pursuit of pleasure and who cling to retrograde policies such as expelling, imprisoning and executing dissenters. The developed countries of the West, in particular the USA, are committed to seeing on the Saudi Arabian throne a king who will keep the oil flowing at the right price. Yet the future of the country is likely to see the birth of a militant, vengeful Islamic regime and a huge increase in the price of oil, possibly leading to a world depression and even greater conflict between the West and the Islamic world.

Customer Reviews

Exposes the immorality of the Saudi royal family brilliantly
This is an excellent account of the history of the Saudi royal family. The book begins by blowing away the myths surrounding the first House Of Saud monarch, Ibn Saud, who is invariably described by Middle East 'experts' as the unifier of the tribes of Arabia and the man who brought them out of the dark ages and into the Twentieth Century. Aburish completely deconstructs this widely held view and shows how Ibn Saud was basically used by the British as a bargain basement monarch to act as a front man for their oil companies. He then goes on to show how this role was taken over from the British by the Americans after WWII and how the Americans refused to become involved in Saudi Arabia's internal affairs in a responsible way (i.e. influencing the royals to build schools, hospitals etc) as the British had done in their colonies. Instead they pandered to the royal family's every whim, encouraging the House Of Saud to see the countries wealth as their own personal possession. This led to widespread corruption and both social and political injustice on a massive scale. Aburish then goes on to document the misdeeds of each one of the kings and their most wayward relations (of whom there are many), revealing the House Of Saud as an inherently immoral institution. He also goes into some detail of their effects on the wider Arab world, their opposition to moves towards democracy in the Gulf States and Yemen and their control of Arab press in most other Arab countries, most importantly the pan-Arab press centred in Beirut. He goes on to show the similarities between the House Of Saud's reign and the Reza Shah's in Iran - we all know what happened there. Despite the fact that this book was written in 1994, the author's arguments are so persuasively made and so well backed up with excellent research that as you finish it you can't help but agree that it is just a matter of time before the Saudi monarchy falls. And you will certainly agree that that is no bad thing either.

Detailed history of the House of Saud
Firstly a quick warning, this book was written in 1994 and re-printed in 2005, with only a minor preface detailing the events of the last decade. This book lacks any analysis of the W Bush administrations policies in the Middle East or of the Clinton administrations relations with the House of Saud. An additional chapter detailing the House of Sauds reaction and involvement in the second Iraq war would have been welcome. That said this book is still relevant, given the importance of Saudi Arabia and the House of Saud as the worlds largest exporter of crude oil.

I have read a great deal about the Middle East post-1919 having studied it at University. A lot of books on this subject are superficial, written from a western perspective. This book really gives a detailed insight into the House of Saud, its links with the US and its oil and business dealings. The tone of this book is decidedly against the ruling dynasty but the criticisms are always well supported, which makes the content of this book even more alarming. Aburish's prediction has not yet come about but for a history of the kingdom this is certainly well worth a read.

A barbaric regime empowered by western leaders
As America is in the midst of 'liberating' Iraq, perhaps one should consider this book.

It details how the House of Saud were a barbaric family on the verge of being terminated forever. They were viewed as barbaric by other ruling classes in the Arabian peninsula. However the ruling classes in Britain obviously felt differently and decided to give these barbarians money and arms to make them rulers of 'Saudi' Arabia. Once the British were out of the scene, the Americans stepped in allowing the House of Saud to consolidate their power. Why did they do this? Oil and strategic power. In other words the House of Saud were/are a puppet government. Who are the losers? The Arabian people who must put up with corruption and a backward and restrictive religion called Wahhabism. So much for western governments liberating oppressed people ruled by barbaric regimes!

I am sure a similar picture is true of many other countries in the Middle East.

This book has been made more relevant than ever by the recent invasion of Iraq. Once the book has been read, the reader will be in no doubt of the real motives of America in the Middle East and will be saddened by the fact that in the western world we have not really moved on since the 1920's with regards to foreign policy(in my opinion).