A Land Transformed: The Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia and Saudi Aramco

What you're looking at is a large coffee table book about how oil has transformed the nation of Saudi Arabia. It discusses both early and contemporary petroleum exploration, how living standards have dramatically changed there over the last 50 years, and the development of the Saudi national oil company. Throughout all this, it juxtaposes many luscious, interesting pictures of the way things used to be with the way they are now. The text is well-done and respectable, within limits. What I mean is that this is an official production of the Saudi national oil company, so while the information it offers about the technical challenges and triumphs of oil extraction can be depended upon, any other information given is strictly the party line. If you're interested in thornier questions about, say, how the sudden oil wealth has sent Arabia's culture into a tailspin, the details of the many behind-the-scenes deals with Western governments, the doings of the royal family, or the role that all that "free wealth" (as development economists call it) has played in helping to create an environment conducive to extremism -- well, you ain't gonna get it here. But the book, of course, isn't aiming for any of that. For what it does set out to do, it's quite nice to have.