Neither a nation nor a state, the Arabia now called "Saudi" is an empire only recently forged in rivers of blood. Between 1902 and 1932, the Al-Saud clan annexed to its family estates the formerly independent territories of Asir, Hijaz, and Shammar. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - "Arabia of the Sauds" in Arabic - is thus younger than either the Soviet Empire or the Yugoslav Federation (both born of World War I) before their collapse.
Today's Arabia is the joint offspring of the internal combustion engine; the shifting positions of British imperial policy; the efforts of a clumsy amateur - an American philanthropist with a passion for diplomatic intrigue; a pro-Nazi Englishman converted to Islam; an American geological engineer with a penchant for archeology; an eighteenth-century visionary preacher with a good head for business; and a succession of buccaneers with a taste for power and a gift for strategy.
Conquered by the sword, the Empire displays the weapon on its banners: on the Saudi flag is not only the shahada, the profession of faith - "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet" - and the palm tree, but above all the sword. "In the Middle East", an Egyptian politician used to say, "there are no nations but only tribes with flags." Monopolized by the Al-Saud clan, this Arabia is not a state, but a family business, the only one in the world with a seat in the United Nations."
And that's just page one of "Princes of Darkness": it's gets better - and darker - as you read on. The book depicts Saudi Arabia as a violent, benighted place whose ruling family is pursuing a decades-long plan to subvert American power. This is not a serious work of history; the author's portrayal of Saudi Arabia as the "kernel of evil" in the Muslim world is simply ridiculous, and his account of the long history of close U.S.-Saudi relations is equally slanted.
I'm glad I didn't read this book before I went to live in Saudi Arabia or I may never have gone; still, it adds to the sum total of my knowledge about Saudi Arabia. To listen to the author discuss his book, click here.
