The Kingdom

Few academic books are composed and delivered in an engaging style. This book has accomplished that level of excellence. One criticism of this book is not enough information on the royal family-almost no books on Saudi Arabia will deliver that info. Nevertheless, the info on the royal family in his book is sufficient to boost more interest in the House of Saud. One thing is for sure: if you have a quest for History the book is a must read. However, the book is verboten in the kingdom.

If all your knowledge of Saudi Arabia comes from a couple of screenings of "Laurence of Arabia" and a nervous eyeful of screeming extremists blaring out of the front pages, this book is a must-read. From a Western point of view, the whole concept of Saudi is impossible madness, but Mr. Lacy very deftly untangles its subtlties in a vivid, sympathetic style that mercifully excludes both political correctness and zenophobia.Arabia's rise from Ottoman backwater to fabulous wealth is an odyssey too weird for fiction. Mr. Lacy concentrates on the country as pawn of the Europeans in the 1800's and moves into the tummultous 20th century and the rise of the house of Sa'ud, their capitalization on world events, their fatal attraction to wahabbiism, and their government based on tribal loyalties and a system of patronage so labyrinthine it will make your head spin. It's a heck of a read, and Mr. Lacy does it by immersing you in their world. By the time scientists from Standard Oil California appear poking around the eastern peninsula "searching for signs of the sea", it is they who seem alien. The book only needs an update to bring it up to speed with Saudi's frightening present.

I first read The Kingdom in paperback version while working on an oil rig in the middle of the Persian Gulf. Lacey's book helped me get over my Western prejudices and misperceptions about my host employers by portraying historical struggle for survival of a tenacious people in a harsh, unforgiving land. The Kingdom almost reads like a historical novel, but it is clear that it is not fiction. Lacey has done extensive research and interviews to back his point of view. If you need a quick study of Saudi Arabia prior to working or traveling, this is it.

An excellent introduction to the The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in an almost-novelistic, simplistic and non-controversial format, and an excellent collection of the vignettes and oral lore that comprise that history. This book provides a good base for understanding the historical, cultural, religious, political and economic background of the Kingdom. The book is a bit dated by this point (2001) but remains a great starting point for investigation of a complex society whose structure today is largely a mirror of a much older tribal structure. Very readable.