Two Kings in Arabia: Sir Reader Bullard's Letters from Jeddah [Hardcover]

Reader Bullard (Author), E. C. Hodgkin (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

This series is intended to included works that deal with the politics, international relations and political economy of Middle Eastern countries or regional organizations. Also of interest to the series are works on social forces, ideological discourses and strategic affairs pertaining to the Middle East.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 289 pages
• Publisher: Ithaca Press (GB); 1st edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0863721672
• ISBN-13: 978-0863721670
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,465,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Letters from Arabia inFelix, September 28, 2011

By 

S. L. Kay "brown bag buddha" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Two Kings in Arabia: Sir Reader Bullard's Letters from Jeddah (Hardcover)

Sir Reader Bullard (1886-1976) was British consul in what today is known as Sa'udi Arabia twice in his long career, which included postings in Iran and the Soviet Union. His first Arabian Peninsular assignment was to the Hejaz (then an independent kingdom) from 1922 to 1925 where he encountered the post-WWI disenchantment of its ruler, King Hussein [great-grandfather to Jordan's King Abdullah II], after he had set the Arab world alight with his revolt against the Turks (abetted by the British with guns, money and T.E.Lawrence). Most of Bullard's letters betray his impatience and frustrations with Hussein, who was constantly complaining of British faithlessness after the war, his own country's wounded pride and various issues concerning the annual pilgrimage (hajj). Bullard, a man gifted with a perverse sense of humor, sent reports and letters filled with stories about Hussein's petulance, the vicissitudes of impoverished Indian pilgrims unable to afford passage back home, and the struggles of a small country with no natural resources to exploit and no power to protect itself. His departure in 1925 came on the heels of Hussein's tragic tenure as king (he abdicated in late 1924) and when the forces of Ibn Sa'ud were at the gates of Jiddah (the only town in the Hejaz open to non-Muslim foreigners).

Bullard's second visit was in 1936 when Ibn Sa'ud was firmly established as the king of a united kingdom covering most of the Arab Peninsula. Oil was an important factor by then, many companies were criss-crossing the desert in search if it & paying the local government for the privilege to do so. Bullard's relationship with the Sa'udi ruler was vastly different from that with Hussein; Ibn Sa'ud was a man who elicited respect and the British star was beginning to fade in the Middle East. Nevertheless, Bullard's observations are no less pointed as he traverses the country representing British interests in a nation ruled by Shari'a law and the stringent Wahhabi creed (which still governs the country to this day). Bullard's is a chronicle of personalities with his acid humor and the situation of a medieval people living on the edge of the 20th Century. His stay is again short, he departs before the start of WWII in 1939 with the Sa'udis just beginning to drill for oil in earnest (the massive reserves of the Hasa fields were discovered in 1938).

His letters are coupled with some declassified reports he wrote to his government in Whitehall and all are delightful reads. His official documents are no less entertaining that the missives he sends to family and friends; he describes in lively detail a place and a time that is lost today.