I am not going to lie, I really enjoyed this book. It provides a keen insight on the closed-off Saudi Arabia, a land where most Westerners will never travel to. This is an extremely enjoyable and easy read; however, I felt as if House was a bit condescending at times to Saudi culture. Her adjectives were strong at times and I felt there could have been a more academic way of putting certain things, especially things of sensitivity. A bit more statistics and hard facts and evidence (if there is any) could have been more useful as well in proving House's points. After all, this is a book merely on the research and perception of House herself. The ending of the book was great, I thought and to make no mistake, there are certainly some insurmountable problems in Saudi that the kingdom must come to terms with. I would definitely recommend this book; however, I would advise to certainly take some things with a grain of salt as after all, they are merely perception. Overall, a great read and would recommend. Saudi Arabia is a key player in the tensions of the US with the Middle East and this book shows with clarity why these tensions have built and I understand the relations of all these ME small countries we hear about like Bahrein, Quatar, etc. How can we improve on diplomatic relations and why the Saud royal family would need to stay in power, but then the author correlates the country with Iran and the Shah. One cold shiver I got was when the author relays the ex-Iran President mentioning how great that the US sells weapons for billions to Saudi, considering how many weapons they got from the Shah of Iran when he was deposited. Basically Ahmadinejad was simply stating that Iran is waiting for the Saudis royal family to lose power and Iran to take advantage of putting their hands on all these weapons waiting for them in the Saudi Arabia oil fields. ScaryA detailed analysis is given of the various components and elements explaining the tensions in this country. I was astounded to learn 60% of population are under 20. I wished there would have been explanations on why such an explosion of youth population but the book focuses more on the Saudis political issues than sociological. Tensions are well explained but a lot is made of women position in the Saudi society. However I'm not sure the author is objectively looking at women. I believe she did not make the case strong enough that having women involved in society would actually help in this men's society Aside from this women's view the rest of this analysis is griping.
What do You think about On Saudia Arabia (2000)?
Impressive, but boy is this a depressing book! The level of hypcrisy in this society is stupefying.
—ckelliher10
Informative but highly repetitive. Could have been edited down to a long New Yorker article.
—Erin
A good book , recommended. However, I see little near term success for the Saudis
—mozeqmom
An expert, insightful analysis of an essential, if reluctant, ally.
—Val
