The Battle for Saudi Arabia

Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power

Browse Return to Previous Page       Related Subjects All Subjects History Middle Eastern History Political Science/Sociology

by As' Ad Abukhalil

Seven Stories Press

Due/Published September 2004, 248 pages, paper

ISBN 1583226109

Saudi Arabia is an enigma to most Americans. The country is home to Islam's holiest sites and the world's largest proven oil reserves. A strategic partner to the U.S. in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is also the homeland of Osama bin Laden, and--fifteen of the nineteen hijackers who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001. Although officially considered a "moderate" Islamic state by the U.S., Saudia Arabia enforces the same state religious ideology as did the Taliban.

In Saudi Arabia & the U.S. , Arab American scholar As'ad AbuKhalil examines Saudi society, its history, religion, and ethnic tribalism, and the shared interests, tensions, and contradictions inherent in U.S.-Saudi relations.