There is a long-running debate about whether Saudi Arabia exportation of its highly conservative form of Islam known as Wahhabism has distorted or "corrupted" more moderate forms of Islam around the world. This volume is the first study to explore this question in detail based on social science research.

Making sense of Saudi Arabia is crucially important today. The kingdom's western province contains the heart of Islam, 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, 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. This volume focuses on different sectors of Saudi society and examines how the changes of the past few decades have affected each. It reflects new insights and provides the most up-to-date research on the country's social, cultural, economic and political dynamics.

Some call it a friend to the U.S.; others a foe. Now get the facts on this complex and crucial nation. A detailed and comprehensive overview of this complex Middle Eastern country, this book covers Arabia's early history, the rise of the House of Saud, the discovery of Saudi oil, Islamic fundamentalism, day-to-day-life, and the country's connection to 9/11, as well as the country's future.

Saudi Arabia is a wealthy and powerful country which wields influence in the West and across the Islamic world. Yet it remains a closed society. Its history in the twentieth century is dominated by the story of state formation. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Ibn Sa'ud fought a long campaign to bring together a disparate people from across the Arabian peninsula. In 1932 the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was born. Madawi al-Rasheed traces its extraordinary history from the age of emirates in the nineteenth century, through the 1990 Gulf War, to the present day. She fuses chronology with analysis, personal experience with oral histories, and draws on local and foreign documents to illuminate the social and cultural life of the Saudis. This is a rich and rewarding book which will be invaluable to students, and to all those trying to understand the enigma of Saudi Arabia.

This thematic encyclopedia examines contemporary and historical Saudi Arabia, with entries that fall under such themes as geography, history, government and politics, religion and thought, food, etiquette, media, and much more. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, known for its petroleum reserves and leadership role in the Middle East, is explored in this latest addition to the Understanding Modern Nations series. Organized into thematic chapters, Modern Saudi Arabia covers both history and contemporary daily life. Chapter topics include: Geography; History; Government and Politics; Economy; Religion and Thought; Social Classes and Ethnicity; Gender, Marriage, and Sexuality; Education; Language; Etiquette; Literature and Drama; Art and Architecture; Music and Dance; Food; Leisure and Sports; and Media and Popular Culture. Each chapter contains an overview of the topic and alphabetized entries on examples of each theme. A detailed historical timeline spans from prehistoric times to the present. Special appendices are also included, offering profiles of a typical day in the life of representative members of Saudi society, a glossary, key facts and figures about Saudi Arabia, and a holiday chart. This volume will be useful for readers looking for specific topical information and for those who want to read entire chapters to gain a deeper perspective on aspects of modern Saudi Arabia.

Among the intelligence failures that came to light after the attacks of September 11, there was one that did not result from the failures of spying, decoding secret messages, or interagency communication. Rather, it arose merely from not paying sufficient attention to circumstances that were relatively out in the open—the simmering anti-Western rage that had been swelling up in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s. Mark Caudill was there, in the ancient Hejazi port city of Jeddah, at a critical time. From September 1999 to July 2002 he served as an American diplomat at the U.S. Consulate General. Engaged in cultural research, he wrote dispatches to his superiors in the U.S. State Department about what he learned of the Saudis from participating in the most important rituals and activities of their lives. His unclassified essays served as the inspiration for this enlightening book. Now everyone can learn what the U.S. government knew about Saudi society, and when they knew it. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many intelligence failures have come to light. The United States has become obsessed with who knew what when, and with why the various warnings weren't pieced together, why agencies failed to coordinate, and who is to blame. Asked less frequently, lost in a sea of details, is the question of how and why we failed to pay attention to the simmering anti-Western rage that had been swelling up in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s, as their economy sputtered, their youth sat idle, and their oil profits enriched the already wealthy and did nothing for the vast majority. As the United States government and the Saudi royal family cemented their ties and became closer than ever, young extremists who felt betrayed by the Saudi government concentrated their anger on the Americans, partly because it was safer than criticizing their own authoritarian government. Although many of the ranters engaged in anti-American trash talking for sport, some meant what they said, and some acted, with tragic consequences. Mark Caudill was there, in the ancient Hejazi port city of Jeddah, the Kingdom's commercial capital, at a critical time. From September 1999 to July 2002, he served as an American diplomat at the U.S. Consulate General. He was engaged in cultural research, one might say, writing dispatches to his superiors in the U.S. State Department about what he learned of the Saudis from participating in the most important rituals and activities of their lives. A converted Muslim who could pass for Syrian due to his appearance, he was often incognito, attending weddings, funerals, and the pilgrimage to Mecca; visiting markets, mosques, and holy cities; and learning all the while about this all-too-little understood ally of ours. His unclassified essays served as the inspiration for this enlightening book, and now we can all learn what the U.S. government knew about Saudi society, and when they knew it.

Understanding Saudi Arabia Today is an accurate and contemporary presentation that explores the Middle Eastern nation of Saudi Arabia with a focus on the country as it is today: current issues, culture, and lifestyle. The book is written in an easy-to-read enjoyable narrative form for elementary readers grades 3-6. The Saudi Arabia title includes a native recipe and craft for students to create. Elementary students are encouraged to consider evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Series titles have been developed to address many of the Common Core specific goals, higher level thinking skills, and progressive learning strategies for middle grade level students.

Combining vast scholarship and a deep understanding of Arab culture, Nadav Safran has written a sophisticated book about the politics of Saudi Arabia. In a narrative that emphasizes the Saudis' sense of the precariousness of their state and of their position in the Middle East, Safran demystifies the behavior of the Kingdom's rulers. Security has long been the predominant concern of Saudi Arabia. In 1981, the Kingdom's defense and security budget was an immense $25 billion, the fourth largest in the world, after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, and the highest in the world on a per capita basis. Safran traces the roots of Saudi preoccupation with security through half a century, discerning political struggles and policy differences in the Saud family and how they have affected the position of the country. His treatment provides an enlightening perspective on the interplay of the politics of the elite; shifting inter-Arab alignments and rivalries; war, revolution, and other cataclysmic events in the Persian Gulf; the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict; and the involvement of the United States in the Middle East.

With over thirty years of experience writing about Saudi Arabia, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and former publisher of The Wall Street Journal Karen Elliott House has an unprecedented knowledge of life inside this shrouded kingdom. Through anecdotes, observation, analysis, and extensive interviews, she navigates the maze in which Saudi citizens find themselves trapped and reveals the sometimes contradictory nature of the nation that is simultaneously a final bulwark against revolution in the Middle East and a wellspring of Islamic terrorists. Saudi Arabia finds itself threatened by fissures and forces on all sides, and On Saudi Arabia explores in depth what this portends for the country’s future—and our own.

'Clear-eyed and illuminating.' Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor 'A rich, superbly researched, balanced history of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.' General David Petraeus, former Commander U.S. Central Command and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency 'Destined to be the best single volume on the Kingdom.' Ambassador Chas Freeman, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Assistant Secretary of Defense 'Should be prescribed reading for a new generation of political leaders.' Sir Richard Dearlove, former Chief of H.M. Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Something extraordinary is happening in Saudi Arabia. A traditional, tribal society once known for its lack of tolerance is rapidly implementing significant economic and social reforms. An army of foreign consultants is rewriting the social contract, King Salman has cracked down hard on corruption, and his dynamic though inexperienced son, the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is promoting a more tolerant Islam. But is all this a new vision for Saudi Arabia or merely a mirage likely to dissolve into Iranian-style revolution? David Rundell - one of America's foremost experts on Saudi Arabia - explains how the country has been stable for so long, why it is less so today, and what is most likely to happen in the future. The book is based on the author's close contacts and intimate knowledge of the country where he spent 15 years living and working as a diplomat. Vision or Mirage demystifies one of the most powerful, but least understood, states in the Middle East and is essential reading for anyone interested in the power dynamics and politics of the Arab World.