Lacey provides a colorful portrait of Arabia and the House of Saud, important players in history of the Middle East. Abdul Aziz ibn Saud and his descendants, ibn Abdul Wahhab, the Rasheeds, the Husains, Philby, Shakespear, and many others are vividly portrayed in a skillful narrative.

Though first published in the early 1980s, this remains one of the best profiles of the land and dynasty.

It's called HISTORY! Not "dated" material! Jeez!!!

Few academic books are composed and delivered in an engaging style. This book has accomplished that level of excellence. One criticism of this book is not enough information on the royal family-almost no books on Saudi Arabia will deliver that info. Nevertheless, the info on the royal family in his book is sufficient to boost more interest in the House of Saud. One thing is for sure: if you have a quest for History the book is a must read. However, the book is verboten in the kingdom.

If all your knowledge of Saudi Arabia comes from a couple of screenings of "Laurence of Arabia" and a nervous eyeful of screeming extremists blaring out of the front pages, this book is a must-read. From a Western point of view, the whole concept of Saudi is impossible madness, but Mr. Lacy very deftly untangles its subtlties in a vivid, sympathetic style that mercifully excludes both political correctness and zenophobia.

Arabia's rise from Ottoman backwater to fabulous wealth is an odyssey too weird for fiction. Mr. Lacy concentrates on the country as pawn of the Europeans in the 1800's and moves into the tummultous 20th century and the rise of the house of Sa'ud, their capitalization on world events, their fatal attraction to wahabbiism, and their government based on tribal loyalties and a system of patronage so labyrinthine it will make your head spin.

It's a heck of a read, and Mr. Lacy does it by immersing you in their world. By the time scientists from Standard Oil California appear poking around the eastern peninsula "searching for signs of the sea", it is they who seem alien. The book only needs an update to bring it up to speed with Saudi's frightening present.

Robert Lacey's book is a well-researched book that gives valuable insights into the history of Saudi Arabia and the mindset of its ruling family. Unfortunately, it lacks critical distance and paints an overly flattering portrait of the House of Saud, and should be balanced by reading Said K. Aburish's "The Rise, Corruption and Coming Fall of the House of Saud".

My father worked with the USSR in the 70s and Saudi Arabia in the 80s, and he told me Saudi Arabia was the most stifling place he ever was in, even worse than communist Russia (this is not anti-muslim bigotry, by the way, I am one myself).

A lot has changed since this book was written, due to demographic pressure and the collapse of the oil-driven welfare state after Gulf War I, so this book should be used mostly as a reference for the period before 1980.

It reads like a novel, but it's history.

Abdul Aziz did for Saudi Arabia what George Washington and Thomas Jefferson did for the United States. Despite his personal flaws and his Wahabism, he deserved admiration and respect.

You're in for a treat if you can get your hands on this book.