Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia - Softcover

Lacey, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143118277 ISBN 13: 9780143118275

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2010

Synopsis

"It's all here-Islam, the family tree, a sea of oil and money to match, palace intrigue...This is high drama and an epic tale."
-Tom Brokaw

Though Saudi Arabia sits on one of the richest oil deposits in the world, it also produced fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers. In this immensely important book, journalist Robert Lacey draws on years of access to every circle of Saudi society giving readers the fullest portrait yet of a land straddling the worlds of medievalism and modernity. Moving from the bloody seizure of Mecca's Grand Mosque in 1979, through the Persian Gulf War, to the delicate U.S.-Saudi relations in a post 9/11 world, Inside the Kingdom brings recent history to vivid life and offers a powerful story of a country learning how not to be at war with itself.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Lacey is a British journalist and the author of the bestselling books The Kingdom, Majesty, and Ford: The Men and the Machine. For the past three years he has split his time between Saudi Arabia and London to research this book.

Review:

“Richer, more considered and more damning than the first...What distinguishes Mr Lacey’s account is his use of Saudi voices—many of them, even in this most reticent of cultures, on the record—to anatomise a deeply rooted culture of intolerance. ...The voices of the victims are especially poignant. ... He portrays the misery and isolation of Saudi women ...Lacey conveys the simple, homely character of the current ruler, King Abdullah..... Compelling” - The Economist

"A book of startling insights.” - Financial Times

"The real triumph of this book ... is the way it peels away the layers of mystery that shroud a civil society of which we have almost no knowledge.... Lacey goes in on the ground level, and to say that this book is journalistic is not a criticism, for in parts it is also rigorously analytical. But his background as a reporter allows him to bring to life the remarkable material he has amassed by living there for the past three years" - The Times

"Robert Lacey, a great reporter and stylish writer, has given us a valuable, insightful and provocative look into one of the world's most powerful and still mysterious societies?the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It's all here: Islam, the family tree, a sea of oil and money to match, palace intrigue, and the place of Osama Bin Laden. This is high drama and an epic tale. Dazzling on every level" - Tom Brokaw

“[An] important, welcome and most timely book." - Washington Times

"Robert Lacey explains one of the world's most complicated governments and societies with sweeping, beautiful writing, intellectual brilliance and unparalleled insight. Inside the Kingdom is the most penetrating and substantial book on the Saudi state and society since September 11. Once again Lacey has proved that no outsider understands Saudi Arabia better than himself. This is a thoughtful masterpiece about a country that lies at the heart of the Muslim world." - Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban and Descent into Chaos

"Lacey does a good job of encapsulating Saudi domestic history over the past 30 years...Inside the Kingdom" tells an important story...Few other writers are as well-positioned as Lacey to give a prognosis. He has been watching the kingdom for 30 tumultuous years, and has become a trusted source" - Washington Post

"Gripping...With its account of how and why the country became a laboratory of international jihad, [Inside the Kingdom is] an even more urgent read than its predecessor.... It is those outside Saudi Arabia, though, who most need to read this page-turning account of a country with a power to affect all of us, but which the rest of the world seems reluctant to know. Those who wish to dismiss it as a rogue nation protected by its wealth should make sure they're blaming the right people for." - The Independent

“Beautifully written and thought-provoking ... Lacey has a very good feel for the Anglo-Saxon aetheling structure of the ramified ruling dynasty, whereby the most competent, rather than the most senior, prince generally gets to the top.... Lacey is good on the pretensions of the clergy, who have their own cane-wielding religious police....Lacey is also informative about why the US-Saudi relationship is not so special any longer.. A highly accomplished book which should go into the bags of anyone who has to travel to the kingdom.” - Literary Review

"Robert Lacey has returned to the Kingdom to provide an insightful and intimate portrait of a country?and a family?chained to tradition and challenged by the remorseless march of modernity. Lacey provides many startling and often delicious details that make this history fresh, surprising, and essential." - Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower

“Provide[s] a different perspective...An insider’s view...What it does have is people: the women who saw female GIs driving trucks and decided to give driving a try, too (they were arrested); victims of injustice and millionaires; dissidents and the princes who jail them.” - Telegraph (UK)

" Lacey's conversational tone and anecdotal approach to storytelling and analysis gives us a vivid portrait of personal and political life in Saudi Arabia's public and personal spheres...Lacey's eye for sweeping trends and the telling detail combined with the depth, breadth and evenhandedness of his research makes for an indispensable guide." - Publishers Weekly

" A lucid exploration of profound divisions in Saudi society... A culturally sensitive portrayal of a troubled-and potentially troublesome-region. " - Kirkus

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0143118277
• ISBN 13: 9780143118275
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 404