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Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis (Hardcover)

by John R. Bradley (Author)
Key Phrases: religious police, flower men, Saudi Arabia, United States, Ibn Saud (more...)
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
An Arabic-speaking Westerner who seized a rare opportunity to travel freely throughout Saudi Arabia, Bradley offers a dense, abstract study that reads more like the "culture and history" section of a guidebook than a juicy, insider account. But Bradley did get access to high-profile Saudis, most memorably to Osama bin Laden's nephew, with whom Bradley went on a picnic. An accomplished journalist and scholar who prefers facts to sensory-let alone salacious-details, Bradley successfully compiles research, information, geographical data and flat-footed descriptions of observed events to explain the political dynamics and historical roots of a strong authoritarian state, characterized particularly by the close relation between the Al-Saud ruling family and the conservative Wahhabis. He conveys a sense of a country fraught with fear, hostility and suspicion while remaining aloof from much of the drama he describes. 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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Bradley arrived in Saudi Arabia to work as a journalist from 2001 to 2003 for the -English-language Arab News just as a ban on internal travel by Western journalists was lifted. 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. The geopolitics of oil is beyond the author's scope, but for readers interested in the social forces at work in the country, including terrorism, Bradley provides perceptive access to current trends. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (May 19, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1403964335
  • ISBN-13: 978-1403964335
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #621,006 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
religious police, flower men
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Saudi Arabia, United States, Ibn Saud, Eastern Province, Arab News, Crown Prince Abdullah, Third World, Prince Naif, Abdul Rahman, Arabian Peninsula, King Fahd, Middle East, National Guard, Red Sea, Abdul Aziz, King Faisal, Ministry of Information, Prince Turki, Abdul Wahhab, Dumat Al-Jandal, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Press Agency, New York Times, Prince Fahd, Asharq Al-Awsat
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33 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the money for just the chapter on Asir, July 4, 2005
By J D Baldwin (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
This book by veteran Middle East journalist John R Bradley is worth the money for just the chapter on the Asir region and the ideological/regional/religious background of the Saudi hijackers on 9/11. Also excellent are the insights into the bizzare Bin Laden-Bush-Al-Saud entanglement, the hypocrisy and duplicity inside the state-controled media, and the exploration of how Saudi Arabia is an empire in the same way the Soviet Union was -- inhabited by people who are historically not Wahhabis and in fact remain (in the author's view) in many ways resistant to Wahhabism. Bradley doesn't appear to recognize the fact, but with its clear distinction between the tyrannical regime and the oppressed people, there is a strong message in theis book about how the Saudis might be natural allies of the West if it chose to overthrow the Al-Saud regime... Very highly recommended!
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional, June 14, 2005
I bought this from amazon after I saw Bradley on Fox & Friends on Sunday 12 June. He was the most articulate speaker on Saudi Arabia I have seen on the networks. Crucially, he lived there for 2.5 years and speaks Arabic. He is also unusual in that his book combines very literary prose (he has edited and published critically acclaimed books on the great Anglo-American author Henry James) with political journalism and travel narrative. The result, Saudi Arabia Exposed, is far from the usual boring academic book you have to struggle through to get useful information. If you are a layperson who wants to know what makes the Saudis tick, what makes them seem to be our allies and our enemies at the same time, this is the book to buy.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars On the Whole Wonderful, but..., May 23, 2005
I liked this book a lot, but didn't like the ending which is why I'm giving it four stars instead of five. The author gives four different scenarios of what will happen in Saudi Arabia. It's very well done, and he obviously knows the Kingdom better than most outside observers, but he totally rejects outside interference of the military kind like what happened in Iraq and follows the likes of Tom Freidman (though he doesn't name him) in arguing that the cash spent on bombs would be better spent on cultural centers etc. I take his point about trying to change hearts and minds in a quietly suberversive way, but that will take generations. In the meantime, the Wahhabis, as John R Bradley admits, are a far more powerful force, and they have real control over the minds of the youth. Bradley writes fantastically well, and this is a humane book that challenges all the misconceptions people in the West usually have about Saudi Arabia. I can iamgine it will become the standard book on the subject, at least from the point of view of someone who has been there. But I wanted a more forceful ending...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Saudi Arabia : A Confusing Place
Saudi Arabia, a place of half hearted loyalties and a struggle for power John R. Bradley tells several intriguing stories of the power struggle between the Al Said royal family... Read more
Published 17 days ago by Michael Griswold

2.0 out of 5 stars Through a Glass Darkly
Perhaps on a sunny day I might have given it a 3-star rating. Unlike much of the Saudi-bashing literature available, John Bradley not only actually visited Saudi Arabia, he lived... Read more
Published 16 months ago by John P. Jones III

2.0 out of 5 stars Important Subject Matter Poorly Handled
With the amount of attention the country gets in the western press, you'd think that there would be a metric ton of decent books out there on the modern history of Saudi Arabia... Read more
Published 17 months ago by S. T. Sullivan

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful Portrayal Of The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia
Bradley is a journalist who lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for more than 2 years. This book describes what he observed, obviously from a Western perspective, while living there... Read more
Published on June 4, 2007 by Chris Luallen

3.0 out of 5 stars A little bias detected
This was the fourth book that I read about Saudi Arabia and although I thought the descriptives were very good in that Bradley goes into some depth that other authors may consider... Read more
Published on June 2, 2007 by Saudi American

1.0 out of 5 stars Try Again
really needs to try again here I was in the kingdom the same time as this man and have read his account, but cannot agree, one thing to put straight here is that the mention of a... Read more
Published on May 22, 2007 by P. J. Allen

3.0 out of 5 stars Tipical Orientalist
I GREW UP IN A MIDDLE CLASS SAUDI FAMILY AND READ THE WHOLE BOOK.
John R. Bradley goes to Saudi Arabia for 2 ½ years, befriends upper class kids and some liberal journalists... Read more
Published on May 16, 2007 by Ahmad Hassan

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful look at an understudied country
This is an informative book for those wishing to gain a better understanding of the political and social situation in contemporary Saudi Arabia. Read more
Published on April 5, 2007 by Brandon Wilkening

5.0 out of 5 stars good first hand account
This book provides a good first hand description of the mysterious land of Saudi Arabia. I have read several books on Saudi Arabia and I got a much better understanding of the... Read more
Published on January 27, 2007 by Renee B. Fulton

5.0 out of 5 stars Portrait of a society on the verge of eruption
This is an excellent book giving insight into a country that affects the rest of us enormously. I had always thought of Saudi Arabia as a homogenous country since they are all... Read more
Published on August 8, 2006 by saskatoonguy

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