Saudi Arabia Exposed : Inside a Kingdom in Crisis

Library Journal

Bradley worked in Saudi Arabia for two and a half years as a reporter for Arab News. His visa and residency permit, plus fluency in Arabic, allowed him to travel more freely in the kingdom than is common for Westerners and to get candid opinions from citizens at many levels of society. Here he depicts a country in which allegiance to the central authority is in strong conflict with other, more traditional allegiances, such as to tribe or region. Differences among groups within Islam are especially sharp in this country, and recent oil wealth and development imposed from the top down have created additional divisions. Bored, unemployed youth are exposed to Western cultural influences via satellite television and the web but are told in the mosque that this influence is decadent and corrupt. The crisis of the title, then, is the need to navigate the shoals of conflicting demands; the solution will need to come from within. Carmen bin Laden's recent Inside the Kingdom dealt with life for the upper classes; this covers lower classes and immigrant labor as well. Recommended as popular background reading on a country much in the news.-Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

From the Publisher

"A highly informed, temperate, and understanding account of a country that. . . is an enigma."—The New York Times"Contribute[s] substantially to the debate"—Los Angeles Times"[A] thoughtful, incisive portrait of a fractured nation….a remarkable volume"—Newsweek International"[Bradley] uses a graceful journalist's pen to write with scholarly authority...shows a sensitivity rare for a Westerner, reaching directly to the society's core."—The Nation