Saudi Arabia Exposed : Inside a Kingdom in Crisis, Updated Edition - Softcover

Bradley, John R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1403970777 ISBN 13: 9781403970770

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2006

Synopsis

UPDATED EDITION: Saudi Arabia: land of oil, terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism, and a crucial American ally. As the only Western journalist to have extensively worked in the Saudi Kingdom, John R. Bradley is uniquely able to expose the turmoil that is shaking the House of Saud to its foundations. From the heart of the secretive Islamic kingdom's urban centers to its most remote mountainous terrain, from the homes of royalty to the slums of its poorest inhabitants, he provides intimate details and reveals underlying regional, religious, and tribal rivalries. Bradley highlights tensions generated by social change, focuses on the educational system, the increasing restlessness of Saudi youth faced with limited opportunities for cultural and political expression, and the predicament of Saudi women seeking opportunities but facing constraints.

About this title

From the Back Cover

PRAISE FOR SAUDI ARABIA EXPOSED

"A highly informed, temperate, and understanding account of a country... that is an enigma.... Bradley, although based in Jeddah, traveled far and wide throughout the country in an effort to map the regional tensions and cultural distinctions that make Saudi Arabia much more diverse and complicated than the smooth propaganda of its government would allow."--The New York Times

"Bradley is at his best when he profiles common Saudis, juxtaposing their humanity with the brutality and profligacy of the Saudi regime. Saudi Arabia Exposed brings to life the tensions between rulers and ruled, offering poignant evidence of widespread disillusionment with the royal family."--Foreign Affairs

"The most revealing and important book on the real Saudi Arabia to have been published in years... Bradley gives the insights of a Saudi insider who knows and loves the country, and one who is also a Western journalist; he is someone who knows how the game is played on both sides, as very few Westerners do."--United Press International

"[Bradley] uses a graceful journalist's pen to write with scholarly authority [and] shows a sensitivity rare for a Westerner, reaching directly to the society's core."--The Nation

"A thoughtful, incisive portrait of a fractured nation... [a] remarkable volume."--Newsweek

"Cultured, curious, and with a fine journalistic sense..., Bradley got deeper into the grains of this desert country than most other Westerners. [He] observed the contradictions, tensions, and resistance that undermine the legitimacy of the Saudi regime."--BBC ONLINE

"Bradley's book... could not be more timely. Brimming with hard-won information, it lifts the lid on a key Arab country."--Al-Ahram Weekly (EGYPT)

"A book recommendation: Several reviewers call Saudi Arabia Exposed... the best work on the country in decades."--Knight Ridder

"Offers insight into Saudi life seldom reported in the West.... Bradley had a rare opportunity to travel, meet people from different backgrounds, and... experience the 'downstairs' side of life there."--The New York Post

"Making an excellent case for future trouble from religious fanatics bent on regional and world domination, Bradley explains how the tenets of Islam are perverted to manipulate the poor, the malcontents and the dispossessed, who then aim their hatred at America and Europe . . . This is a disturbing and well-written book."--The Oklahoman

"Bradley . . . succeeded in traveling to [Saudi Arabia's] most remote corners . . . This book makes the Saudi kingdom into an energetic and multi-dimensional place where religion and its perils are no doubt important, but only part of the picture."--Haaretz (ISRAEL)

"Bradley occupied for two years a privileged position from which to observe the evolution of the kingdom following the Sept. 11 attacks. [He] immersed himself in the world of the Saudis."--Le monde diplomatque

"Recounting visits to Saudi Arabia's regions, Bradley underscores the quasi-imperial composition of the regime: rule by the centrally situated al-Saud clan, and acquiescence to varying degrees by the tribal south, the Shiite east, and the historically commercial Hijaz along the Red Sea. The al-Saud alliance with the Wahhabi clergy completes Bradley's picture frame of the regime, although the picture itself is provided in details from the day-to-day lives of ordinary Saudis whom the author meets. The image posits the modern alongside the medieval, and the attractively hospitable against the repellently barbaric, though Bradley remains curious and engaged throughout. For readers interested in the social forces at work in the country, including terrorism, Bradley provides perceptive access to current trends."--Booklist

"Contribute[s] significantly to the debate. . . . Bradley had a unique vantage. Buy this book."--The Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Bradley is at his best when he writes about the press, providing what is truly an insider's look and untangling some of the knotted ties between the media, the Saudi government and the United States."--Publishers Weekly

"Recommended as popular background reading on a country much in the news."--Library Journal

"The author's empathy for the ordinary, the customary and the contingent . . . makes this a remarkable book."--The Straits Times

About the Author

JOHN R. BRADLEY was born in England and was educated at University College London, Dartmouth College in the United States, and Exeter College, Oxford. He is the author of four non-fiction books on the contemporary Arab world published by Palgrave Macmillan that draw heavily on his personal experience: Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis (2005); Inside Egypt: The Land of the Pharaohs on the Brink of a Revolution (2008; updated edition 2012); Behind the Veil of Vice: The Business and Culture of Sex in the Middle East (2010); and After the Arab Spring: How Islamists Hijacked the Middle East Revolts (2012). Fluent in Egyptian Arabic, Bradley has been covering the Middle East for almost two decades. He has written essays, dispatches, reviews, and op-eds for dozens of publications, including: The Washington Quarterly, The New Republic, The Times Literary Supplement, The Spectator, Salon, The London Telegraph, The Forward, The London Evening Standard, The New York Post, The London Sunday Times, Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times, The Daily Mail, The Independent, The Jewish Chronicle, The Washington Times, Newsweek, Asia Times, Prospect, and The Economist. He has been interviewed about the Middle East by CNN, the BBC, PBS, NPR, CBS, Fox News, Al-Jazeera English, Sky News, Russia Today, Channel 4 News, Bloomberg TV, and many other media outlets. Bradley's public lectures have most recently taken place at The Pacific Council for International Affairs in Los Angeles, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, London's Intelligence Squared, and The Athenaeum in Claremont, California.

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1403970777
• ISBN 13: 9781403970770
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256